The Ballad of Sam and Freddie: Second Verse
by eleanorr1gby
Summary: Sequel to The Ballad of Sam and Freddie! College brings new challenges and difficulties to Sam and Freddie's life, and they're about to face their biggest hurdle to date, while Carly and Brad contemplate their future.
1. Chapter 1: Early Indifference

**The Ballad of Sam and Freddie, Second Verse**

**A/N: This is the sequel to The Ballad of Sam and Freddie (duh), and I'm gonna try to bring the same level of passion and dedication to this story as its predecessor! I hope you guys enjoy it as much as the last one!**

**If you haven't read The Ballad of Sam and Freddie yet, I highly recommend you do so before starting this one, otherwise you may be a little confused. **

**This story begins during their sophomore year of college, so there is a one year time gap. When we left off, Sam and Freddie were very, very much in love, and Brad went against his father's wishes to stay with Carly and go to WSU to pursue his dream of becoming a filmmaker. They've all been living in the loft together for a year now, and Spencer and April have their daughter Maggie, who is a year old now. Now we get to see what has changed over the past year, how the iCarly gang is coping with adulthood, and what's in store for them next.**

**Now, anyone who is familiar with my work knows how I enjoy using one band's songs for my chapter titles, so this story's band will be...Incubus! And now, on with the show!**

**Chapter One:  
><strong>**Early Indifference**

~*Carly*~

I grumbled to myself as I sat at the kitchen counter, reading over my World History book for what felt like the billionth time. Finals were a mere week away, and studying was absolutely killing me. Things sure had been ramped up for me this year! I hoped I'd manage to pass this semester, otherwise, talk about a wrench being thrown in the gears! Still, I didn't have much to complain about...life was good. The past year and a half had been nothing short of amazing!

Things changed drastically the day Brad had elected to defy his father and not go the military academy in New York. He'd decided he couldn't be without me, and I was ecstatic over it. We were more in love now than ever, but it had caused a few difficulties for Brad. For one thing, he'd waited to late to confirm going to WSU, so he'd had to defer by an entire semester, so he was technically a freshman, while Sam, Freddie, and myself were now sophomores, almost finished with our first semester. The most difficult thing for Brad had been losing contact with his family. Even though we'd pay Mr. Harrison back for the tuition with money from the iCarly affiliate sales, it hadn't made a bit of difference, he was absolutely furious. He was so angry that they'd almost come to blows that day. If Freddie hadn't stepped in, Brad probably would have gone postal on his own father, but Freddie just dragged him out of the Harrison family apartment and onto the elevator, and that was the last time they'd spoken. It absolutely killed him, he'd been cut off from his entire family, not just his immediate family, but his grandparents, uncles, aunts, even his crazy cousins. To them, he was a deserter, anti-military, anti-government, whatever. He wasn't any of those things, it just wasn't what he wanted to do with his life.

He really missed his siblings. Heather managed to pop upstairs every now and then when she could sneak away, and Brad was grateful for that, but he missed Bryson and Leah terribly. Little Leah especially. She was almost three years old, and he hadn't seen her in over a year and half. But he kept going, kept pursuing his goal at WSU of being a filmmaker. He'd even gotten better with doing his own camera work. Freddie still took care of the shooting during iCarly though. We'd tried letting Brad handle it a few times, and he did it just fine, but it was a lot easier to keep Sam's eyes focused on the lens if Freddie was the one holding the camera. Otherwise, her eyes would just keep drifting off frame to wherever Freddie was standing.

Sam and Freddie. Now there was an interesting topic. Sam was absolutely kicking ASS in Pre-Law, and I was not exaggerating one bit. She was blowing right through it. All of her sneakiness, quick reaction time, and ability to think unconventionally and on her feet really came in handy. She was still having difficulty in her math classes, but Freddie helped her out a lot, even if that meant sometimes doing her homework for her, which was kind of cheating, but still, it was sweet.

Freddie was doing well in the Engineering program as well. Nowhere near as good as Sam with Pre-Law, which had been sort of a shock to all of us, but still, he was doing well. When the two of them got done with school, including Grad school for Freddie, and Law school for Sam, their futures were SET. And they'd be making a LOT of money. Brad and I, maybe not so much, it's hard to make a good living in entertainment unless you're super famous, but who cared? We were happy together.

Now, back to Freddie and Sam. You would think after two and a half years of marriage, those two would have cooled off, but they hadn't. Not. One. Bit. It was frustrating, the amount of noise Brad and I had to put up with on a daily basis, but we got used to it, and sometimes even gave them fierce competition in that department, now that I was a little less shy concerning my sexuality, but still. Nothing could compare to level of Sam and Freddie's sexual intensity. It was almost comical, but at the same time, it was solid proof that those two were perfectly matched on every level. Each one made up for the other's short-comings, they were very committed to each other, and invested in each other's lives and futures, and like I said, very sexually compatible.

Until about two weeks ago. Something weird happened. Like a switch had been flicked or something, because all they'd been doing was arguing. A lot. In fact, they were holed up in their room, arguing right now, which was why I was having trouble concentrating on studying right now. I'd learn how to ignore the moans and groans and sounds of furniture banging against walls and any other noise that may come out of their room in the middle of the night, or the middle of the day for that matter, but I couldn't get used to them arguing. Probably because it was such a rarity, but lately, that's all they'd been doing.

I closed my eyes and sighed as I heard the sound of something hit the wall and then shatter, laying my head down on my book and groaning. Finals. One week. And I couldn't study, because they were having an all-out war. It was like they were twelve again!

I heard Sam start yelling, and the door flung open, revealing a VERY pissed off Freddie, who just glared at me before slamming the door shut behind him as he stormed out, heading to the kitchen. The door opened again, and Sam stuck her head out, throwing something at him.

"Take your shot, dumb ass! Then leave me the fuck alone!"

"Gladly!" he hollered, bending down to pick up the insulin pen she'd flung at him. "I don't want to be around your bitchy ass anyway!"

The door opened again, and Sam gave him a death glare. "I will beat the living shit out you," she threatened, and he just stood there, his arms crossed over his chest, leering at her.

"Be my guest," he stated, and she just rolled her eyes, before slamming the door shut. He whirled around, looking angry, and I just stared at him in shock. Whoa. This sounded really, really bad.

"At least she still cares enough to make sure you take your shot," I offered weakly, and he shook his head, sighing.

"Only so she won't feel guilty," he responded, walking around to the other side of the counter and leaning against it, running his hand over his hair. "Man...this is bullshit." He looked exhausted, stressed out, worried, and I could see a little bit of fear in his eyes. This wasn't good at all.

"So what happened this time?" I asked softly, and he just sighed, laying his head down.

"She turned me down again," he muttered against the counter, and my eyebrows went up. This wasn't the first time this had happened this week, but I was still caught-off guard about it. It was epically uncharacteristic for Sam and Freddie to not be all over each other, she was acting like she hated him these days!

"Really? That's like..."

"The fifth time this week?" he finished. "Yeah. Carly?"

"Yeah?"

"Is everything okay between you and Brad?"

I looked at him strangely. Things couldn't be better between me and Brad, he knew that. Why was he asking me that? "Yeah, it's great. Why?"

"I'm just thinking," he responded glumly, and I gave him a Look, knowing exactly what he was getting at.

"Didn't we get this out of the way like...two years ago?" I asked, and he shrugged.

"I know! I just...man...something's really wrong."

"What do you mean?"

He looked up at me, biting his lip, looking like he was trying to choose his words carefully, and I just stared at him, waiting for his response.

"Okay," he finally said. "Don't say anything to Sam, please, but..." He looked up at the door to make sure Sam was still locked in their room. "We haven't had sex in two weeks."

"What?" I cried, absolutely shocked. "Are you serious? But you guys...you guys can't keep your hands off each other!" What. The. Hell?

"Couldn't. Past-tense. Now she doesn't want me anywhere near her. She doesn't want me to touch her, when we're in bed, she gets as far to the other side as she can...I'm really worried, Carly. Every time I try to make it go further than a kiss she flips out and starts yelling at me!"

"Wow..." I said, unsure of what to say. This was bad. This was really bad.

"Has she said anything to you?" he asked, and I shook my head.

"We haven't talked about you. Just school. And how Brad is taking this whole thing with his family."

"Christmas season is hard for him," Freddie commented, and I nodded.

"I absolutely hate his dad, I swear to god. He misses Bryson and Leah so much!" It was literally killing Brad not to be able to see his two youngest siblings, to the point when Spencer and April would bring Maggie over, he almost couldn't bear to look at her.

"I know," Freddie said with a sigh. "Maybe his dad will have a change of heart."

"His dad doesn't have a heart, remember?" I responded with a roll of my eyes.

"True," Freddie said with a shrug. "Carly, what do I do? I'm lost. What if...what if she doesn't wanna be with me anymore?"

"I'm sure it's not that," I replied, trying to reassure him. "Maybe she's just really stressed out. I mean, when you're not trying to initiate something, how does she act?"

"Fine," Freddie replied with a shrug. "She'll kiss me, she'll hug me. If she's in a good mood, she'll call me baby like usual, tell me she loves me, but when it goes beyond that...she just freaks out."

"I don't know what to tell you," I replied. "It doesn't make sense."

"Am I getting out of shape or something?" he asked, looking down at his arms and examining them carefully. "You'd tell me if I needed to bulk back up, right?"

"Freddie!" I scolded. "Sam is NOT going to stop loving you just because your arms are getting smaller!"

"So they are!" he exclaimed. "Shit!"

"No! You're just as...beefy...as you were two years ago!" I replied. That was the honest truth, if anything, he'd gotten even more muscular! Of course, so had Brad, and for that matter, I was beginning to fill out more too. I'd actually gone up an entire cup size over the past year, and I was thrilled about it. But the issue right now was Freddie, not my rapidly developing body. "I don't know what's going on with her, but I can try to find out."

"Yeah," he said with a roll of his eyes. "Do that, please. I gotta go the gym, work off this frustration."

"Take your shot first," I reminded him, and he just grunted.

"Yes, mother," he replied, lifting his shirt before pulling the cap off the insulin pen and sticking himself in the stomach with it, before discarding it in the trash. With that, he walked to the front door, grabbing his jacket, before looking back at me. "Later."

"Bye. Hope things get better."

He looked back in the direction of him and Sam's room, frowning. "Yeah, I hope so too." With that, he walked out the door, leaving me to go back to studying.

I groaned, laying my head back down. Finals were going to kill me, if Sam and Freddie fighting didn't kill me first.

~*Brad*~

I looked around nervously as I sat in the Groovie Smoothie as I waited for my sister to show up. I didn't know why I got so nervous when we did this, it wasn't like my dad ever came here, but still. It always made me nervous. Heather and I had to keep the fact that we were still talking absolutely top secret, and it absolutely drove me crazy.

I missed my family so much, but nobody would dare defy my father. He absolutely hated me. Ever since the day I'd decided to blow off the military academy. He'd yelled at me, told me what a screw up I was, how much of a disappointment I'd turned out to be, how I wasn't welcome in his family anymore, that I wasn't his son. The final straw was when he told me if I wasn't going to be the son he wanted, he'd make damn sure Bryson would turn out the way he was supposed to. Bryson was a sensitive, prolific artist, not a military boy, and trying to force him to be would irreparably damage my little brother. I'd just thrown the check at him for the tuition refund, and he'd torn it up, before shoving me out the door. If Freddie hadn't been there, I would have beaten him senseless, but luckily Freddie just dragged me away before it could happen. I still regretted the way things turned out, but I knew I'd made the right decision. Every time I worked on a project I loved, passed a class, sat around and talked shit with my friends, or worked on iCarly, I knew I'd made the right decision. Every time I looked at Carly, kissed her, made love to her, held her in my arms at night, I knew I'd made the right decision. I didn't regret that, I just wished my dad wasn't such a hard-ass.

I sat up straight as I saw the door open and Heather walk in. My god, she was getting tall, and she was getting prettier every time I saw her. She was nearly fourteen now, she'd be in high school next year. It was so hard not seeing her every day, not being able to talk to her. We couldn't even text or talk on the phone, because our dad checked her phone daily to see if she was talking to me, and I didn't want to get her in trouble. But the kid was doing a damn good job of getting in trouble on her own. Without me around on a constant basis, she was rebelling more and more, sneaking out, doing poorly in school, getting mouthier. It worried the hell out of me, but what could I do? Besides be there for her as much as I could? If I came down on her too hard, she might get angry and cut me out too, and that would absolutely break me. I tried to put it out of my mind and be in good spirits, we didn't get many opportunities like this.

I stood up, waving a little, and Heather bounded over to me, giving me a big grin before throwing her arms around me.

"Hey, sis," I said, kissing her on the forehead. "How goes it?"

"Eh," she said with a shrug. "Hey, check this out!" She lifted her shirt up, displaying her belly button, and my eyes widened as I took stock of it, before glaring at her.

"What the hell is THAT?" I barked, and she just gave me a smirk.

"Belly button ring. You likes?"

"I hates," I replied. "First of all, who in their right mind would pierce a thirteen year old without parental consent?"

"Oh, I got it done at a slumber party last week, don't worry," she responded with a wave of her hand.

"Oh, yeah, cuz that makes me feel a lot better, a fellow teenager sticking a needle in your skin!"

"Whatever," she responded.

"If Dad's sees that, he's gonna kill you."

"Dad can kiss my ass!" she grumbled, and I grabbed her shoulder, shaking it firmly.

"Heather Marie Harrison!" I shouted. "Don't say that!"

"Why not? Why don't you hate him like me and Bry do? He's completely ruined our family! Why do you NOT hate him, Brad?"

"Because I can't," I replied. "Am I angry? Yeah. But I can't hate him. I can't explain it, I just can't."

"Well, I have enough hatred built up for the both of us," Heather stated. "And Bry's got a pretty decent stockpile of hatred too."

"How is Bryson?"

Heather shrugged. "He's okay. He's been making a lot of scary pictures though. Lots of black figures, red eyes, evil looking houses...borderline blasphemous religious art, that kind of thing. And I think he's been listening to The Cure."

I rolled my eyes. "Are you serious? The Cure? I wasn't even alive when The Cure was making music!"

"I know, believe me," Heather said. "But he really misses you."

"Maybe we can work something out. I'll put Sam on it, she's usually good at coming up with sneaky plans. Although, these days..." I trailed off. "I'll talk to her, she may have something up her sleeve."

"Why, what's wrong with Sam?"

I shrugged. "She and Freddie have been fighting a lot."

Heather's eyebrows went up. "So Freddie may be single soon?"

"Heather! Back off! You're still jailbait, Freddie's nineteen, and he is STILL in love with Sam. Even though they fight a lot, Freddie still loves her. He's a married man, Heather."

"Fine," she grumbled. "I met someone anyway. He's really hot. He lives in our building."

"Really?" I asked, my eyebrows going up. "Who?"

"I don't want to tell you. He's a little bit older than me."

"Heather," I gave her a Look.

"What?"

"Just tell me his name."

"Fine," she sighed. "His name's Griffin."

"WHAT?" I cried. "You've gotta be fucking kidding me!" I grimaced as I realized I'd just dropped an f-bomb in front of my little sister, but I didn't care, this was SERIOUS SHIT! I really, REALLY hoped she was talking about a different Griffin, and not Carly's ex-boyfriend, but what are the chances of THAT? He was even older than me and Carly!

"What?" Heather responded. "He's really nice!"

"He's a child predator!" I snapped. "Heather! How old is Griffin?"

"I don't know!" she replied. "Like nineteen, twenty, something like that. You know I like older men."

"Heather! You are thirteen! Number one, any grown man that's gonna go out with a thirteen year old is just SICK, and number two, he could go to jail! And number three, if Dad found out, you'd be in a Catholic all-girls school in a heartbeat, and he would SHOOT the guy!"

"Well...Griffin doesn't really know my age," she said weakly, and I gave her a Look.

"How old does he think you are?"

"Um, sixteen."

"Heather!" I yelled. "You don't even look sixteen!"

"I do when I have my slut makeup on!" she said brightly, and I rolled my eyes.

"And did Griffin happen to mention who his ex-girlfriend was?"

"He just said it was someone who lived in our building. I figured it was that dumb girl Patrice. She's getting really fat."

"Yeah, she is," I agreed with a roll of my eyes. "But no. He didn't go out with Patrice. Not to my knowledge, anyway."

"Then who?"

"MY girlfriend!" I yelled, and Heather's face took on a shocked expression.

"Carly? Really?" she asked, her hand going to her face. I thought she was going to freak out, but she just grinned. "Wow! This is so cool!"

"Are you brain damaged?" I barked. "What the hell is cool about it?"

"He thinks I'm mature!" she squealed. "If he went out with Carly, then me, then he must think I'm mature..."

"That's not saying much, Heather...he collects Pee-Wee Babies!"

"I know," she said with a shrug. "I think they're cute. He even let me hold onto one of them. Uni the Unicorn. I sleep with it!"

"Wait...so...you've been in his room?" I asked, horrified, and she nodded.

"Uh-huh," she responded. "What's so wrong about me dating Griffin? I like him!"

"It's illegal, Heather!" I reminded her. I couldn't deal with this right now, I didn't want to have a blow up, not at my sister, and not in the middle of the Groovie Smoothie! "Look, I gotta go. Go home! Take that stupid thing out of your navel. You know what? On second thought, go to Confession! You are being bad, Heather! Acting this dumb isn't gonna get me to be able to come home!"

"I'm not acting dumb, Brad! I'm growing up!"

"Then try acting like an adult, instead of making all these stupid decisions without thinking things through! I'm not done with this Griffin situation! But I gotta go meet Freddie. I love you, Heather." I bent down to kiss her on top of her head. "But you gotta calm down. I'm worried about you."

"Well, stop it," she replied. "I can handle myself."

I didn't respond, just sighed, before walking out the door, heading to my car, so I could meet Freddie at the gym.


	2. Chapter 2: If Not Now, When?

**A/N: Already a pretty decent response to the sequel! Yay! And for those of you who have been pushing me to update 2,000 Lightyears, I'm working on it, I'm just still trying to figure out where I want it to go. It's really hard fleshing it out because I have less characters to play with, compared to this story. Anyway, who wants to find out why Sam and Freddie are fighting? Well, here ya go!**

**Chapter Two:  
><strong>**If Not Now, When?**

~*Freddie*~

Brad and I were silent as we stood in the elevator, heading back up to the apartment. He knew why I was in such an off mood, but I hadn't been able to get out of him what was bugging him. I knew he'd seen Heather today, maybe that was it. The kid had gone completely apeshit; it was like a live-action version of that movie Thirteen that Sam had made me watch last year the one that made me terrified to have a daughter. I knew that was really eating at Brad, that and the fact he couldn't see Bryson or Leah and he had to sneak around to see Heather. It sucked for him, but I couldn't get my own problems out of my mind.

I couldn't figure out why Sam was so angry with me. I'd gone over it in my head a million times. Sometimes she'd be fine, leaning her head on my shoulder when we watched TV, always making sure I ate and took my shot on time, but if I tried to get physical with her, she'd just get angry and push me away, or insult me so I'd get angry and wouldn't want to be intimate with her anymore. It was driving me crazy!

Had I been neglecting her? Had I been mean to her and not realized it? Was she stressed out with school? Or was it something else? What if she just wasn't in love with me anymore? What if the idea of being with me disgusted her?

This was going to make me insane. I had to get some answers, before this ended up splitting us up for good. I looked over at Brad, who was leaning against the elevator wall, deep in thought.

"Hey," I said, and he looked at me. "I need you to do me a favor."

"What is it?" he sighed. "I need to study. Finals coming up."

"Yeah, no shit," I responded. "Too bad I can't focus."

"Sam?" he asked, and I nodded.

"Can you just distract her for fifteen minutes?" I asked. "It's important."

"You gonna poke around your room and look for evidence?" he asked, and I nodded.

"I may not find anything, but I gotta try," I replied with a shrug. We stepped off the elevator and headed down the hallway, and Brad pushed the door open.

"Hey, babe," he said as he spotted Carly sitting at the counter right where I'd left her, hovering over her books. He walked over to her, kissing her neck and wrapping his arms around her from behind. "How's the studying coming?"

"Horrible," she sighed. "World History is killing me."

"Have you asked Sam for help?" I asked. "She's pretty good with History."

Carly shrugged. "She seems a little distracted these days..."

"You think?" I responded rudely, before sighing. "Sorry. Where is she anyway?"

"She's upstairs, updating the social media for iCarly."

"Okay. Brad?" I asked, and he pulled away from Carly after he'd kissed her.

"On it," he replied, heading for the stairs.

"What's going on?" Carly asked, giving me a Look.

"Re-con," Brad and I both said, and Carly rolled her eyes, turning around to go back to her studying.

I headed into me and Sam's room, rolling my eyes as I realized she hadn't bothered to pick up the broken pieces of the glass vase she'd thrown at my head after our most recent argument. I knew she hadn't actually meant to hit me with it, because if she had, it would have actually hit me. Sam's aim was always dead on, and the vase had hit about three feet away from my head. Too far away to be considered Sam trying to hit me with it, she was just trying to scare me off. I knew her, even when we were fighting, she always kept true to her word about not physically hurting me.

Emotionally was a different story, at least these days. She went straight for my jugular with that one. She could say the meanest shit sometimes, and I had to be honest, it stung, badly. But I couldn't think about that right now. I had to figure out what was going on with her. I went over to her side of the bed, trying to ignore the fact that the sheets were now destroyed on the bed. They'd been made up before I left, she must have taken a nap. She'd been doing that a lot too, like she'd rather be unconscious than deal with me. I opened the bedside table drawer and began going through it. I never did this, unless she sent me in there for something specific. The bedside table on the other side was mine, this one was hers. I didn't like going through Sam's stuff, but I was absolutely desperate to find out what was going on.

I started going through the few papers on top, it was mostly school stuff, but as I pulled those aside, my heart dropped as I looked at what I was holding in my hand.

It was an apartment guide, one of those little publications that had all the local apartments available for rent. I flipped through it, and I felt a sharp pain stab at my heart when I saw she had some of them circled in black magic marker. My hurt quickly evaporated as it turned to anger, and I nearly leapt to my feet.

I knew it! I knew she was tired of me! She wanted to just call it quits and move out without saying anything to me? Without even TRYING to fix whatever problems we were having, just throw away two and a half years of marriage? Fuck that! I was going to confront her, and confront her right now! I was DONE holding back! She'd said some pretty hurtful shit to me over the past two weeks, and for the most part I'd held my tongue, but not anymore. I was going to let her have it!

I stormed out of our room, slamming the door shut behind me, and glaring at Brad and Carly, who were making out by the counter, and they jumped apart at the noise.

"Thought you were distracting her?" I snapped at Brad, and he shrugged.

"I didn't have to, she's in the upstairs bathroom."

I shook my head. "Fine."

"Did you find anything?" Brad asked, looking at me nervously when he noticed I was pacing back and forth angrily.

"That's a fucking understatement," I responded, before walking to the bottom of the steps. "SAM!"

"Freddie, maybe you should..." Carly started, but my hand went up, silencing her.

"Not right now, Carly," I growled, before looking back up the stairs. "SAM! GET YOUR FUCKING ASS DOWN HERE! NOW!"

"Whoa, dude," Brad said, his eyes wide, as were Carly's, but I just ignored them, continuing to yell up the stairs.

"I SWEAR TO GOD, GET YOUR ASS DOWN HERE! RIGHT NOW! WE GOTTA TALK! RIGHT FUCKING NOW!"

I heard the bathroom door slam, and I bristled up, prepared to let her have it, and she came stomping down the steps, glaring at me.

"You bellowed?" she snapped, before wiping her mouth. I didn't have a clue what that was about, and honestly I didn't care.

"You are fucking unbelievable," I hissed, and she shot me an evil look.

"The fuck are you talking about?" she replied, stepping down the rest of the way, about a foot away from me and crossing her arms over her chest.

"You got anything to tell me?" I asked. "Do you?"

She froze, and I saw a hint of anxiety in her eyes, but it quickly went away. "Like what?"

"Oh I don't know, maybe the fact that you're planning on walking out on two and a half years of marriage without having the balls to tell me?"

She looked confused. "What the hell are you talking about, Freddie?"

"I'm talking about this!" I shouted, throwing the apartment guide at her. It hit her in the shoulder, but she didn't budge, she just stared at me in shock.

"You were going through my stuff?"

"Well obviously you weren't gonna tell me!" I shouted. "You're just gonna bail? Like it's nothing? Like the last two and a half years meant nothing? Are you fucking kidding me?"

Sam's face softened somewhat, and she stared at me. "Freddie, I..."

"Just tell me the truth, Sam," I said softly. "You don't love me anymore, I get it. Just say it."

"Freddie, it's not that!" she cried. "I..."

"Bullshit!" I yelled. "You know it is! Just tell me the truth! Tell me you don't love me! I can see it! You don't want me to touch you, every time I get near you, you start a fight! You don't love me anymore! Say it!"

"Freddie..."

"FUCKING SAY IT!" I roared.

"I'M PREGNANT!" she yelled, and my jaw dropped.

"What?"

"You heard me!" she hollered. "I'm pregnant!" She bent down to pick up the apartment guide I'd flung at her. "That's why I had this! That's why I've been looking! Look at this place!" she gestured around. "We can't raise a child in here! There's stairs, there's a million things the baby could choke on, it could crawl into the elevator shaft and get killed! I just didn't know how to tell you! This wasn't part of the plan! Now I have to give up school! And you're not gonna be able to focus, you're gonna fall behind, we're not even twenty years old yet...oh my god!" she yelled.

I just stared at her, in absolute shock, completely unable to speak, and she glared at me.

"How could you for ONE SECOND ever think I stopped loving you?" she screamed. "Dumb ass!" She shoved past me, before opening the front door and walking out, slamming it behind her.

I was still frozen, staring at the spot Sam had been standing in. Oh my god. Sam was pregnant? I was so fucking wrong! How could I NOT see this? The constant agitation, her never wanting to eat anymore, the irregular sleep schedule...had she just been in the bathroom throwing up?

And she was pregnant NOW? In the middle of school? Oh my god!

"Freddie?" I heard Carly say, but I couldn't respond. "Freddie!"

"Dude, snap out of it!" Brad yelled, walking over to me and shaking my shoulders.

"Holy fuck!" I cried. "How the hell did this happen?" I grabbed Brad's shoulders. "She's pregnant...what do I do? She was on birth control! How the fuck did this happen?"

"Dude, seriously? You guys have been screwing like wild animals, three or four times a day, for two and half years! It was bound to happen, birth control or no birth control!" Brad yelled.

"Go after her, you idiot!" Carly yelled.

"Fuck, you're right, I probably should," I stated, still shaken up, and Carly gaped at me, before hopping off the barstool and physically turning me around towards the door.

"Probably? Get your ass out that door! You know she's on the fire escape! Just go, Freddie!"

"Right, just go," I repeated, completely shocked to the core. She was pregnant? I was so dazed, I was surprised I was able to remember my jacket, let alone hers, before opening the front door and heading off down the hallway.

~*Sam*~

I am such an idiot.

Why didn't I just tell Freddie when I found out, instead of keeping this a secret? I hadn't even wanted to keep it a secret, I just...oh man. This wasn't how things were supposed to go.

I was so excited at my progress with school, thrilled I'd found something that I really seemed suited for, and now all that was going to go away. I wanted to be done with school and have a career before Freddie and I started having kids. What if the affiliate checks started dropping off? Freddie would have to get a job, and that would cut into his school too!

Oh god, why had I forgotten to take my pills? I'd fucked up so bad. He was probably going to be mad at me, this was so NOT the plan!

Of course, he had every right to be mad at me, the way I'd been treating him lately, but I couldn't help it, I just felt so terrible! I was so short-tempered, tired all the time, I ached, my head hurt, I felt nauseated. Not only that, but...I didn't know the rules about sex and being pregnant. As ill-timed as this pregnancy was, it was my baby, my child, and I didn't want any harm to come to it, especially harm from not being able to control my hormones. But Freddie was always so damn determined, the only way I could get him to back off was with a cutting remark. But they were just too cutting. I was too good at hurting his feelings. I'd been taking public speaking and debate classes as part of my curriculum, and they seemed to make me even better at arguing and cutting to the core with one well-placed insult. Things had been going so well for so long, and I'd managed to screw it up again. Once again, I was a bad wife!

Apparently I was already a bad mother too, because here I was, sitting on the fire escape outside in the middle of December, no jacket. I was freezing, shivering like crazy, but I didn't want to go back inside and face Freddie, or Carly, or Brad. My god, I'd screwed up so bad. This was my responsibility, keeping up with my birth control, and I'd forgotten. And now, because of that, we were now responsible for a new life that we just weren't prepared to care for yet.

I hugged my own arms tightly, rubbing them up and down, trying to curl into a ball as much as possible, before I began to cry. It was something I'd been doing a lot lately, it was probably just hormones, but I was constantly on the edge of bursting into tears. I'd been able to keep it under wraps, running to the bathroom to cry, but I guess the truth was out now. Of course, right before Freddie and I had just started arguing, I'd been in the bathroom again, not crying, but puking my brains out. I did that a lot too. I couldn't keep anything down. It was horrible. I felt sick all the time.

I rested my head against my knees, continuing to sob, jumping a little as I heard the window open, but I didn't look up. The next thing I felt was something warm being thrown over my shoulders, and my hand went to it, and I realized it was my jacket. Then I felt Freddie's arm go around me. That was unmistakable, the feeling of his arms, and he pulled me against him, rubbing my arms up and down, trying to warm me up and calm me down at the same time.

"How long have you known?" he asked softly, and I just stared at the ground, sniffling.

"Two weeks," I finally said. Freddie was quiet, and I dared to look at him, lifting my head. He just kissed me on my forehead, before speaking.

"You've been turning me down because you were afraid it would hurt the baby," he surmised, and I nodded.

"Baby, why didn't you tell me?" he asked gently, and I shrugged.

"I dunno. I forgot."

"You forgot?" he asked, in a tone of voice that implied he didn't believe me. I sighed, exasperated.

"I didn't forget I was pregnant, I forgot to take my pill. Like three days in a row. I'm sorry."

"It's okay, baby," he replied, kissing me on the side of my head. "I just wish you would have told me. Did you think I'd be upset?"

"I don't know," I said softly. "I just...I know it wasn't part of the plan."

"Plans can be adjusted, sweetheart," he replied. I laid my head on his shoulder, thankful he wasn't upset with me, thankful we weren't arguing, and he began to stroke my hair. "Baby," he whispered. "This is a good thing. Okay? It is."

"I'm gonna have to drop out of school," I said, and he shook his head.

"You may have to miss a semester, to have the baby, but you don't have to drop out. In fact, I won't let you. You're gonna be a lawyer if it kills both of us. I know how badly you want it."

"But..." I trailed off, starting to cry again. "Baby...I'm sorry..."

"Why are you sorry?" he asked. "It's not your fault. You didn't climb on top of yourself and get pregnant, Sam."

I had to laugh at that, but I went right back to crying. "I'm sorry I've been such a bitch."

Freddie shrugged. "If you would have told me you were pregnant, I would have handled things differently. Hormones can be intense, make you do crazy things. I get that, baby. How are you feeling?"

"Horrible!" I moaned. "I'm nauseous, my head hurts, I can't focus, I'm exhausted...god I just...Freddie it's so damn hard!"

"Aw, baby..." he said, playing with my hair. "It's okay. I'll take care of you. We'll get through this. We get through everything."

"I know," I said softly. "It's just so unexpected. I was so caught off-guard! And I'm sorry I didn't tell you! And I'm sorry I picked fights with you! And I'm sorry I-" I was cut off by Freddie pressing his mouth against mine, kissing me passionately.

"Stop it," he stated, both of his hands going to my face. "I don't wanna hear any more. I'm not gonna let you keep apologizing for being pregnant with my child, got it?"

I nodded. "Okay."

"Now, tomorrow I want you to find the number for an obstetrician, make an appointment. We'll go, make sure everything's good, you can talk to the doctor, they'll tell you it's perfectly safe to have sex while you're pregnant, I know it won't make any difference coming from me."

"It's not like I didn't want to," I said softly. "I love being with you. I just didn't wanna hurt the baby."

"It's fine, baby."

"You're not gonna be able to call me that for much longer," I commented, and he shook his head.

"Nah. You're my baby. My sweet sweet baby. Nothing's gonna change that, even if we have a million kids. You'll ALWAYS be my baby. Got it, sweetheart?" I nodded, and he kissed me. "Hey," he said softly, and I stared at him.

"What?" I asked.

"Stop being sad. Because in nine months, YOU, Sam Benson, are gonna be a mommy."

My eyes widened as his words began to register, and I grinned.

"See?" he asked with a smirk. "Pretty cool, huh?"

"Yeah," I said quietly, and Freddie kissed me softly, his hand drifting down to my stomach.

"That's my kid in there," he said. "That's amazing."

"Yeah, it is," I said. Now that I'd gotten over the fear of telling Freddie, it was dawning on me how incredible this was. I had this little piece of Freddie inside me now, his baby, our baby, and we were going to be parents! Oh my god! I threw my arms around his neck suddenly.

"Oh my god!" I exclaimed. "Baby...we're gonna have a baby!"

Freddie just kissed me again. "I know. This is...unexpected, but incredible! Come on, let's get you inside, out of the cold. I don't want my sweet sweet baby, or my other baby, to freeze."

"Okay," I responded, standing up. "Baby?"

"Yeah?"

"I love you. I never once, not even for a second, stopped loving you. I can't believe you thought that."

"I'm glad, sweetheart. And I love you too. But I didn't know what to think."

"I know. I'm sor-" I was cut off by Freddie putting his hand over my mouth.

"I said it knock it off," he replied. "I told you, no more apologizing."

"Right. Sorry," I replied, wincing when he gave me a Look, and then he just shook his head, laughing a bit.

"Come on, baby. I think we have a little explaining to do with Brad and Carly."

~*Carly*~

"Holy shit!" I cried, looking over at Brad, who seemed just as shocked as me. "Can you believe this?"

Brad was quiet for a moment, before shrugging. "I definitely did not see this coming. I just figured she was in hyper bitch mode because of finals or something."

"Yeah, me too!" I responded. "Oh my god! Sam and Freddie are going to have a kid!"

"Yep," he replied, grabbing my arm and pulling me over to the couch. We sat down, and then he laid back, his head in my lap, and I stroked his hair as my mind went over what had just happened. His hair was getting pretty long now, longer than it had been before he'd shaved his head senior year. I loved his hair, it was definitely "his thing" and pretty sexy.

"Your hair's getting kinda long," I commented, and he made a face.

"So's yours. It's almost down to your butt now."

"Yeah, but I'm a girl," I replied. "So what do you think?"

"I like your hair," he stated, and I rolled my eyes.

"Not that, idiot. Sam being pregnant. What's your opinion?"

Brad shrugged. "I dunno. But one thing's for certain."

"What's that?"

"A child that is half Freddie and half Sam is going to have the most epic temper tantrums known to man."

I groaned, rolling my eyes. "Yeah, you're so right! Although Freddie is usually better with those things for the most part...so let's hope the baby gets mostly Freddie's personality traits."

"I dunno, Freddie can be a little bitch sometimes. He throws quite the tantrum himself."

"Yeah, when he's not getting any!" I laughed, before getting serious. "You know they're gonna move out at some point, and we're gonna have to find another roommate."

"Do we have to?" he asked, looking up at me, and I shrugged.

"I mean, we don't have to, we could pay for this entire place on our own, but it'd save money if we didn't." The loft was three thousand dollars a month, so as it were, it was $750 split four ways. Sam and Freddie leaving was going to shift the financial balance in a big way.

"Ugh, you're right," he replied. "But still, it's not like we DON'T have the money!"

We'd really stepped our game up on iCarly, and it had paid off in a big way. I was getting SO much better at hosting, acting, ad-libbing, because of the Broadcast Journalism program. Sam and I were both even more brilliant at writing our bits, and the techie stuff and the way we shot the show had improved, thanks to Brad and Freddie. The affiliate program had really taken off, and we were charging thousands of dollars to advertise on the website, the blog, to promote stuff via social media. It had been a genius plan, and financially, the four of us were set. We didn't have to work lame minimum wage jobs, like other college students, or struggle with our studies, because if we needed to, we could afford tutors. But that didn't mean Brad and I needed to go willy-nilly with our funds. We should avoid having to pay for this place in full if we could.

"Have you even looked at the bank account lately?" I asked, and Brad shook his head.

"That's Freddie's thing, you know that. I trust him with it, he won't screw it up. That kid has a calculator built in his head."

"Well, I know, but...maybe we should take on a little responsibility ourselves? Or at least just keep an eye on it, so we're not in the dark?" I replied. "I mean, Freddie's going to have a lot on his mind to deal with now."

"That's a good point," Brad responded. "It's just so much easier letting Freddie deal with it!"

"I know," I said. "But easy doesn't mean better."

"Ah, the Tao of Carly," Brad said with a smirk, his hand going to the back of my head and pulling me down to kiss him. "Love you."

"Love you too, baby," I replied with a sweet smile.

"Hey, babe?"

"Yeah?"

"Just so we're clear..." he made a face. "You are all caught up on your birth control, right?"

I laughed. "Of course, baby." I was absolutely psychotic when it came to remembering to take those pills. The last thing I wanted right now was a child, especially since Brad and I weren't even married! We'd been together almost three years now, but no marriage or proposal. We were just happy in the place we were right now, we didn't see the point in rushing into anything. Maybe after we got done with school, but for now, we were perfect with the place we were in now.

"Good, cuz...yeah...the idea of two iCarly babies, now THAT would be frightening!"

"Awww!" I exclaimed. "There's gonna be an iCarly baby!"

Brad rolled his eyes, laughing. "God, women and babies, I swear."

I made a face at him, and he stuck his tongue out at me. We just sat there on the couch, Brad with his head in my lap, and me toying with his hair, just hanging out, letting my brain take a breather after hours of World History cramming. I really hoped I could survive finals this semester, otherwise I'd be in trouble.

"So how'd it go with Heather?" I asked, and he grimaced.

"I don't really want to talk about that right now. Sorry. Maybe in a few hours, after I've calmed down."

I shrugged. "Well, okay. But...just don't hold everything in, alright?"

"I won't, babe. Promise. I'll talk, just...not right now."

The front door opened, and Sam and Freddie walked back in, Freddie with his arm around her, and Brad sat up.

"Well?" I asked, staring at them.

"We're good," Freddie replied with a shrug.

"We're good?" Brad repeated. "After that epic argument, and the marathon fight you guys have been having for weeks, that's ALL you have to say?"

"It's complicated," Sam sighed. "I'm sorry I've been such a bitch, you guys...I just...I feel like I'm going crazy. And I'm always sick."

"You could have told us, Sam!" I responded, getting off the couch to hug her. "Oh my god! You're gonna have a baby! This is so cool!"

"Really?" Sam asked, looking at me. "I...I didn't know how you guys were gonna react, I was afraid it was gonna throw the balance off or something."

"Sam! No way!" I exclaimed. "I can't believe you've been keeping this a secret! I'm happy for you guys!"

"Yeah, but...we're gonna have to move out, we need more space for the baby and this place just isn't safe."

"That's okay, Sam!" I responded. "I mean, you guys aren't moving out right away, are you?"

"No," Freddie spoke up. "Definitely not. I gotta crunch some numbers," I looked at Brad pointedly, and he just smirked. "And we gotta find a place...hopefully there's a one level in Bushwell that's open, because that would be really convenient."

"Oh god, I hope so! The idea of you guys moving out of the complex would be heart-breaking!"

"What about the show?" Sam asked. "My stomach is going to get huge! I'm gonna be all...beached whale, on camera!"

"Well, we're gonna have to tell the viewers you're pregnant!" I replied. "Hey, maybe you'll get some cool gifts out of the deal."

"You know, she does have a point," Freddie said, rubbing his chin thoughtfully. "If we play our cards right, with the affiliate program, and companies always clamoring to get us to promote their stuff...we might not have to buy a thing!"

"My baby is not a cash cow," Sam stated grumpily, crossing her arms over her chest, and Freddie just gave her a smile, kissing her.

"I know that, sweetheart, and that's not what I meant. I'm just saying, we do that, we could worry about other things the baby needs...like tuition for private school, college fund...maybe a down payment on a house in the future..."

"Oh," Sam said softly. "I didn't think of it like that. You're right. We should totally promote the shit out of this pregnancy!"

"And, she's back!" I said with a grin. "Oh my god, I can't believe this! You and Freddie are gonna be parents!"

"I know! Isn't it weird?" Sam asked. "I mean, it's awesome, but it's...weird. I hope I can handle this."

"Aw, Sam! You guys will be fine! You know you will, you've had baby fever forever!"

"I know...I just...I was really making strides in school, you know? I don't want to fall behind!"

"And you won't, baby! I promise you," Freddie responded, his arms going around her. "I won't let you."

"Yeah, and you know Brad and I will help in any way we can!" I added.

"Uh, but before anyone gets any ideas, I refuse to film any 'miracles of life', forget it!" Brad yelled, crossing his arms over his chest.

Freddie glared at him. "And what makes you think I want you pointing a camera at my wife's vagina?"

"Eww, I hate that word!" Brad hollered, covering his ears. "Don't say it."

Freddie and Sam grinned at each other.

"Vagina," Sam stated, a mischievous look on her face.

"Stop it!" Brad yelled.

"Vagina vagina vaginaaaaa!" Freddie said, poking him.

"I mean it! Knock it off!"

"Vuh-gina!" Sam said in a sing-song voice.

"Panties!" Brad shot back, and Sam made a face.

"Ew."

"Panties cover vaginas," Freddie replied.

Brad made a face. "Alright, I'm going upstairs!" he replied, heading for the steps.

"Aw, whatsa matter man? I thought you liked vagina!" Freddie replied, following him.

"Dude! I hate that word! Knock it off!"

"Aw, come on! You know you like vaginas!" Freddie said, chasing him up the stairs.

Sam and I looked at each other, rolling our eyes.

"Boys," I replied with a sigh, flopping down on the couch. Sam sat down next to me, and I glanced at her. "So...you freaked out?"

"A little," she admitted. "I mean, I've wanted kids for awhile, but now that it's finally here...it's a little scary."

"Sam, you'll be fine," I said, putting an arm around her. "You know Freddie will take good care of you."

"I know," she responded, her head laying down on my shoulder. "I love him. I hate that I've been such a bitch."

"So...why'd you keep turning him down? You know that was messing with his head."

"I was worried about hurting the baby."

"Oh," I replied. Well, that explained a lot. I was wondering what was up with Sam. She was pretty much a documented nymphomaniac, but now that I thought about it, it made sense that she worried about hurting the baby, especially with her and Freddie's very active sex life. "Well, come on! People have sex while the woman's pregnant, like...all the time!"

"Yeah," she sighed. "I just...I don't want anything to go wrong. But Freddie's making me call a doctor in the morning."

"Probably a good idea. So when are you gonna tell his mom?"

"I don't know," she responded, looking down and fiddling with her rings. "You think she'll be upset?"

"Probably not, you know, if it doesn't affect Freddie finishing school."

"Oh, it won't. I won't let that happen."

"It better not affect you finishing school!" I replied, and she grimaced.

"Let's hope not."


	3. Chapter 3: Priceless

**A/N: Kind of a short chapter, but the next one's almost done, so it'll be up soon!**

**Chapter Three:  
>Priceless<strong>

~*Freddie*~

I groaned as I heard the alarm go off, rolling over to slap it off, before turning back to my sweet Sam, who was still asleep, and I just laid there, staring at her.

God, I was so glad she was pregnant, not just because we were seriously about to have a child together and be PARENTS, but because what I had feared, that she was leaving me, wasn't happening. I was still a little bit taken aback by this whole thing, but it was amazing.

I lifted the blanket up carefully, trying not to wake her, looking down at her flat stomach, and smirked a little bit. That stomach wouldn't be flat for much longer. She was going to be absolutely adorable pregnant, I was sure of it. I reached underneath the sheets, lifting her shirt up and running my hand over her stomach. Hard to believe there was a life in there, growing inside her right now.

It was exciting, but also scary. Our lives were about to change, drastically, and now I was going to be responsible for taking care of two people, instead of just my beautiful wife. A little boy or a little girl. I hoped I could do it. It wasn't like I had any example to follow, as far as a model for fatherhood. I barely remembered my own father, it had been eleven years since he'd passed. Sam wasn't in much better shape, her mother was by no means an example of any kind. Seemed like we'd have to figure this one out on our own, but I knew we could handle it, at least I hoped.

Sam stirred a little, her eyes opening, woken by the feel of my hand running over her stomach repeatedly, and she smiled at me.

"Hi," she said.

"Good morning, beautiful," I responded, kissing her. "How you feeling?"

She shrugged. "Okay, but I've only been conscious for a minute." She curled up against me, laying her head on my shoulder. "I love you."

"I love you too, baby. Don't forget to call the doctor today."

"I won't. I just hope we can get an appointment that's gonna fit around our schedule."

"If it comes down to it, I think I can miss a class," I replied.

"You sure?"

"Mmhmm. Gotta make sure my baby's coming along good."

She smiled a little, kissing my neck. "This is so strange. Isn't this strange?"

"I thought you wanted this."

"I do, I just didn't expect it to happen so soon."

"I know, sweetheart, but I don't mind. Not one bit." I pulled the covers back, scooting down the bed and lifting up her shirt, pressing my lips to her stomach. She sighed, looking down at me, her fingers running through my hair.

"I can't believe..." I said, kissing her belly again. "That right now..." Another kiss. "In here..." Yet another kiss. "...is my baby. My son or daughter."

"Yeah," she said with a smile. "What do you want it to be?"

"Healthy," I replied with a shrug, kissing her stomach one more time, before coming back up and pulling her into my arms. "I don't care if it's a boy or a girl. You?"

She shrugged. "I kind of want a boy."

"Really?"

"Mmhmm. A little Freddie," she said with a smile, and I kissed her.

"A little Sam would be pretty cool too."

"Well, either way. Like you, I just want the baby to be healthy."

I frowned suddenly. "Baby?"

"Yeah?"

"What if...do you think diabetes is hereditary?"

Sam sighed, brushing her hair out of her face, and one hand went to my shoulder, massaging it. "It doesn't matter. We're pretty well-versed in dealing with it by now. If it comes to that, we'll just...we'll deal with it."

"Okay," I said, nodding. I looked over at the clock and groaned, stretching a bit. "I gotta get ready for class. I want you to call the doctor in a few minutes, then go back to bed and get some sleep."

"Yes, boss man," she replied with a grin, and I rolled my eyes at her.

"I just want you to be healthy, baby. Not tired."

"But there's a huge pile of dishes in the sink."

"Let Carly or Brad deal with it. And don't lift anything heavy. And be careful on the stairs. And..." I was cut off by her kissing me.

"Baby, don't worry so much," she replied, and I gave her a Look.

"Uh, you're afraid to have sex right now, which is how that baby ended up in your stomach in the first place, and you're telling me not to worry?"

"And as soon as the doctor tells me it's okay, we'll go right back to it," she replied sweetly. "I love you. I love when you make love to me. I just want to be careful, okay?"

"You can ask Robert," I pointed out, referring to my mom's boyfriend, and she grimaced a bit.

"Let's wait until we tell your mom, before I go and do that!"

"Good point," I replied, sitting up. "Alright, well, text me when you get an appointment time, okay?"

"Okay," she said, and then a strange look crossed her face.

"Baby? You okay?"

She shook her head, looking a little pale, before throwing the sheets back and scrambling over me. "I'm gonna be sick!" With that, she ran to the bathroom, and I quickly got up, following her, just in time to see her drop to her knees in front of the commode. I held her hair behind her head, rubbing her back, as she continued to throw up.

"It's okay, baby," I said softly, rubbing her back, feeling bad she had to deal with this and there wasn't anything I could do to take the burden off her shoulders. "It's okay."

After a few minutes, she finally stopped, leaning back, her head going back against the door, wiping her mouth.

"God, this sucks," she whined. I stepped over her to get her some water, handing it to her and sitting back down next to her, rubbing her legs gently and trying to calm her down.

"Better?" I asked, and she nodded.

"How long is this supposed to last?"

I shrugged. "I'm not sure. But we'll find out, okay?"

"Okay," she said softly.

"Baby, go lay down," I said, grabbing her arms and pulling her up. "I'll get the number and I'll make the appointment, okay? Just go lay down."

"Are you sure?" she asked. "I don't want you to be late."

I shook my head. "It'll be fine."

"Don't forget your shot," she reminded me, before dragging herself back into our bed. I walked over to the bed, covering her up and kissing her on the top of her head.

"I won't. Don't worry about me. Worry about our baby."

"But you're my baby too," she replied softly. "I love you."

I smiled at her, bending down to kiss her forehead again. "I'll be right back, okay? I'm gonna go make coffee and do all that stuff, and then call the doctor. You need anything?"

She sighed. "I don't think I can eat right now."

"Well, I think you should try," I replied. "I'll try to find you something."

"Okay," she said quietly. "I love you."

"I love you too," I replied. "Be right back." With that, I opened the door to our room, shutting it gently, before walking through the living room to the kitchen, where Brad already was.

"Sup Pops?" he greeted me, and I smirked at him.

"Pops, huh?"

"In only a matter of months, dude. Pretty cool," he replied. "There's coffee already."

"Awesome," I responded, opening a cabinet and pulling out a mug.

"So where's your head at?" he asked, turning around to lean against the counter and stare at me.

I shrugged. "It's pretty cool, man. I mean, it was definitely a surprise, and it won't be easy dealing with school and a baby at the same time, but I can do it."

Brad eyed me carefully. "You're gonna blow this out of proportion and overcompensate, aren't you?"

I sighed. "You know me too well."

"Well, just try to chill. Don't drive Sam nuts."

"Yeah. Although she's going nuts already. She's already gotten sick this morning."

"Hence the term morning sickness," Brad responded flatly. "She needs to eat something."

"Yeah, but she says she's not hungry," I replied, going to the computer and pulling up the yellow pages website, trying to find an obstetrician for Sam.

"Doesn't matter," Brad replied. "She's gotta eat something. Baby needs food."

"True," I replied, clicking on a link and typing it into my phone. "But I gotta call for her and make an appointment."

"Look at you, already trying to handle everything yourself. You're gonna drive yourself insane"

"I thought you said I was already insane."

"True. You're right, go ahead," he replied with a wave of his arm. "I'm going back upstairs, to my lady love." He picked up the two cups of coffee he had sitting on the counter. "Time to get her all caffeinated and get a little morning lovin'."

"Lucky you," I grunted. "Sam's still freaked out about it, until the doctor gives her the okay."

"Now that's irony," he replied with a grin, and I glared at him.

"What do you mean?"

"The thing that got her in this position in the first place, she's now afraid of," Brad responded.

I rolled my eyes. "Well, whatever, hopefully it'll be over with soon."

"This has gotta be the longest time in years you've gone without getting any," he commented, and I nodded.

"Yeah, it sucks, but I'm not really thinking about that right now. I'm thinking about my sweet girl and that baby inside her."

"Well, looks like you've got the family man routine down already," he replied with a smile. "I'll be upstairs, later dude."

With that, Brad headed up the stairs, and I pressed send on my phone, dialing the number of the obstetrician.

"Hi, my name's Freddie Benson, I'm trying to book an appointment for my wife, Samantha Benson. She's two weeks pregnant, the sooner we can see a doctor, the better..."

~*Sam*~

I stepped out of the bathroom for the second time since I'd gotten up, collapsing on the bed and groaning. Oh my god, I was in SUCH bad shape right now. It seemed like the morning sickness was getting progressively worse! I hoped it would go away, or at least stave off, eventually, because right now it seemed bound and determined to kill me.

Still, the idea of having Freddie's baby inside of me, that was amazing. I couldn't wait to feel him or her kick for the first time. There was just SO MUCH to do...find a place, get tons of baby stuff, read everything I could on the subject of babies...oh my god, it was SO nerve-wracking! I just laid on the bed, staring at the ceiling, wondering how Freddie and I would handle everything.

The door opened a moment later, and Freddie walked in. "Baby, guess what?"

"You found a magical cure for morning sickness?"

He frowned. "No. Sorry...did you get sick again?"

I nodded, sighing. "This sucks."

"Maybe it would help if you ate," he suggested. "I brought you some yogurt, I figured it'd be hard for you to get sick off that."

"Okay. I'll try it," I responded, trying to not be difficult. "Did you call the doctor?"

"Mmhmm. And they had a cancellation today, so I got us an appointment today, at one."

"But you have class at two, is that going to be enough time?" I asked, and he nodded.

"It'll be fine," he replied, sitting down on the bed and rolling me onto my stomach before lifting my shirt up and rubbing my back. "I'm just really anxious to get you to a doctor so we can make sure you're healthy, the baby's healthy, all that."

"Wow, look at you, Mr. Take Charge," I teased, but it wasn't anything new, Freddie pretty much handled all the important details of our lives. It wasn't that he didn't trust me to do it, other than the laundry of course, but he just liked taking care of me, and I loved that about him. It made me feel so much better about being pregnant, I knew the baby and I would be well taken care of.

"Hey, you know me," Freddie replied with a shrug. "I gotta get dressed though, and then I gotta go. I don't wanna be late for class." I rolled back onto my back, staring up at him.

"I love you," I said softly, and he smiled, bending down to kiss me.

"I love you too, baby," he replied, before kissing my stomach. "And I love this baby too."

"God, you're so damn sweet," I sighed. "Well, get dressed, and then go. So you won't be late. The last thing I want is for you to get behind."

"I don't want you getting behind either, baby. So I'll be back the usual time, ten, to make sure you get to class."

"Okay," I replied.

"Eat that," Freddie said, gesturing to the yogurt he'd left on the bedside table. "And then get some more sleep. Alright?"

"Alright. Try not to let all this stuff get to your head so you can't focus. Go use your nerd brain."

Freddie rolled his eyes and then smirked at me. "Yes ma'am. Be back soon. Love you." He pulled his sweater over his head and then bent down to kiss me, before walking out the door. I sighed, sitting up, grabbing the yogurt off the bedside table along with my phone. No way would I ever make the mistake again of not telling my sister of big news in my life. I brought her number up in my phone, before pressing send, and she answered after about two rings.

"Yo-yo yiggity yo! What up sis?"

I made a face. "What the hell is in the water at Meredith?"

I heard Melanie laugh. "Just having a little fun. What's up? It's gotta be only eight-ish over there, why are you up so early?"

"Well, it's kind of hard to sleep when you're freakin' nauseous," I replied.

It was quiet on her end for a second. "Sam...don't tell me..."

"Yeah. I'm pregnant."

"Holy lord!" Melanie exclaimed. "That is fan-freakin-tastic! How long have you known?"

"Um...two weeks," I replied, arming myself for the inevitable barrage of blasphemy that was about to erupt from my sister's mouth.

"What? Two weeks! What the hell, Sam? You've known for two weeks and you didn't fucking call me? That's bullshit!"

"Melanie!" I exclaimed. "Calm down! I only told Freddie yesterday! I've been freaking out! I'm sorry, you know I love you, but I couldn't tell anyone without telling Freddie first!"

Melanie huffed a little bit. "Yeah, I guess you're right. Sorry. So is Daddy-to-be all excited?"

"Yeah...he is. He's already snapped into action mode."

"Of course, Super Freddie to the rescue," she said with a laugh. "Got a doctor appointment yet?"

"Yeah, at one today."

"Well, the second you find out your due date, you'd better call me and let me know!" Melanie exclaimed. "And don't do anything stupid like bungee jumping or whatever..."

"Mel, come on! I am going to be super-duper careful when it comes to this..." I bit my bottom lip. "I just hope everything goes okay."

"I'm sure you'll be fine, puddin' pop!" Melanie exclaimed. "Oh my god, this is so cool! I'm gonna be an aunt!"

"Yep," I responded with a smile. I made a face suddenly as I felt my stomach flip flop. Oh god, not again. "Mel, I gotta go..." I said weakly.

"Are you gonna barf?"

"Yeah! Bye!"

"Call me!"

I threw the phone down on the bed before racing to the bathroom, barely making in time before vomiting all over again.

Ugh, this was going to be a long nine months.

~*Brad*~

I pushed the door open to mine and Carly's room, setting the coffee on the table, before laying down next to Carly, pulling the blankets back and wrapping my arms around her from behind.

"Babe, you up?" I whispered in her ear, kissing her neck.

"I can see you are," she said in a soft voice, grinding her butt against my crotch. I smirked a little, continuing to kiss her neck, and she rolled onto her back, looking up at me.

"Morning, sexy," she said.

"Back at you. Ready for the World History review today?"

Carly groaned, grabbing her pillow and pulling it over her face. "Nooooo..." she moaned. "I hate World History! Why do I need to know anything about the Ming Dynasty or the Russian Revolution? I'm gonna be in television for pete's sake!"

"Well, you're almost done with it!" I replied. "Just suffer through it, finals are in four days, and then you're done."

"Unless I fail," she groaned, and I shook my head.

"You're not gonna fail, you're way too smart for that." We laid there for a second, and Carly lifted her head to look at me.

"You never did tell me how things went with Heather yesterday," she commented, and I rolled my eyes.

"She pierced her navel. And she's dating an older guy. Much older."

"Like, how much older?" she asked, making a face.

"Our age."

"Oh god!" she cried. "That's disgusting! Who is he?"

"Uh..." I said, running my hand through my hair. "Well...he lives here. In Bushwell."

"So...do we know him?" Carly asked, and I shrugged.

"I think you might know him pretty well."

"Me?" Carly asked. "But there's not that many people our age who live here! There's Patrice, and then Griffin...oh my god!"

"Bingo," I said flatly. "My baby sister is dating your ex."

"But...no way! Griffin's a lot of things, but a pedophile? I don't think so..."

"She told him she's sixteen."

"Oh, god!" Carly said. "Baby, what are you gonna do?"

I shrugged. "What can I do? If I come down on her too hard, she's gonna stop talking to me, and if I beat his ass, she'll still stop talking to me!"

"Well, don't beat his ass, you might get arrested, and your dad would have a field day with that," Carly replied with a roll of her eyes. "But come on, Heather loves you, she's not gonna stop talking to you."

"I don't know," I replied softly. "I still gotta think this through."

"Don't think right now," Carly responded, pushing me onto my back before straddling me, bending down to kiss my neck.

"Well, what should I do instead?" I asked with a smirk, and she just shook her head.

"Nothing. I'll do the work."

"How'd I get so lucky, getting someone so hot and sweet at the same time?" I asked with a grin, and she kissed me passionately.

"It's the hair."


	4. Chapter 4: Magic Medicine

**A/N: Thanks for the reviews so far! I know it may seem all sunshine and roses thus far, but c'mon people, you know me better than that! The drama's a-brewing, I promise! Anyway, lemon alert!**

**Chapter Four:  
>Magic Medicine<strong>

~*Carly*~

I stood in the hallway, outside the elevator doors, bouncing up and down anxiously. I SO didn't want to be late for my World History review, but it looked like I might be. I KNEW it was a bad idea to start going at it with Brad right before an early morning class. I kept meaning to stop that, but it was kinda hard to do so, especially considering Brad was getting hotter and hotter every day, at least to me.

Ugh, I couldn't believe that Heather was actually dating Griffin though, it was so weird. I guess I understood why she liked him, he was cute, but he was way too old for her. I wondered if she knew about the Pee-Wee Babies yet.

I couldn't believe my misfortune when the elevator doors opened, and who should be standing there, but Griffin himself! Oh my god, this was awkward! I stepped on the elevator nervously, staring straight ahead.

Griffin leaned against the elevator wall, and I could feel his eyes on me, but I wasn't about to break down and speak first. Nope. No way. He was my ex, number one, and he was dating my boyfriend's extremely underage little sister. Ew!

"Hey, Carly," Griffin said, and I finally willed myself to turn around and look at him.

"Griffin," I said with a curt nod.

"How's it going?"

"Fine," I replied solemnly.

"How's school?"

"Fine."

I could still feel Griffin's eyes on me, but I continued to stare straight ahead. Still, I had this antsy feeling welling up in me. I know I'd said in the past I was going to stop meddling around in other people's lives, but come on, this was a big deal!

I whirled around, glaring at him. "So, you got a girlfriend?"

"Kinda. Why do you ask, Carly? Have you finally gotten past being shallow?"

"What?" I asked, dumbstruck. "I am not shallow!"

"You stopped seeing me because I collect Pee-Wee Babies. That's shallow," he pointed out.

"Whatever," I responded. "I'm still with Brad anyway."

"The skinny guy?"

"He is not skinny! He's...lanky. And I happen to find him very attractive," I replied indignantly.

"Okay, whatever," Griffin said with a laugh.

I grumbled to myself a bit, before turning around and looking at him.

"So who's the girl you're seeing?"

"Her name's Heather. She's really sweet. Pretty cute too."

"Yeah, you can't go out with her," I blurted out, and Griffin just looked at me, amused.

"Jealous?"

"Of my boyfriend's little sister? No, not really. But you may wanna leave that one alone."

"Ooh, the plot thickens," Griffin said with a grin. "So your man's little sister has a thing for me. That's gotta bug you."

"No, what bugs me is she's way too young for you!" I replied, and Griffin rolled his eyes.

"She's almost seventeen, Carly, chill out."

Now it was my turn to smirk at him, and I did just that. Cocky bastard, he was really starting to get on my nerves! "Is that what she told you?"

"What are you getting at, Carly?" Griffin asked, glaring at me.

"Nothing. I've just never met a sixteen year old in eighth grade, that's all."

"WHAT?" Griffin exclaimed. "How old is she?"

"Too young for YOU, Griffin, so back off!" I replied. The elevator doors opened down at the lobby, and I tried to step off, but Griffin just grabbed my arm, yanking me back.

"Tell me how old she is," he growled, not letting go of my arm. I looked down at the hand that was gripping my forearm, and then back up at him, shoving at his chest.

"You're hurting me, let go!" I barked.

"Just tell me," he replied, shaking my arm a bit, and I looked up at him, trying to hide the little bit of fear that was welling up inside me. Despite his Pee-Wee Baby obsession, Griffin was pretty tough, and I suspected he had a little bit of an anger problem as well, though I hadn't stuck around long enough to see it in the past.

"She's thirteen," I replied. "Now let me go, or I will scream my head off."

He didn't respond, just growled a little, releasing me, and I picked up the bag that I'd dropped, before running through the lobby and out to my car.

I sighed, leaning my forehead against my car door, ignoring the cold feeling from the little bit of ice that had formed on the car. That was scary. I've never been in that kind of position before, and he didn't even hit me, just grabbed onto my arm. I hoped it wouldn't leave a bruise, Brad would flip out, and I was a little unsure over whether Brad could actually take Griffin. Brad was a great boxer, but boxing had rules, regular fights didn't, and I had a feeling Griffin could fight pretty dirty.

Okay, Carly. Shake it off. You gotta get this out of your head, start thinking about the things you need to be thinking about. Like the Russian Revolution. Why the Russian Revolution? God, I hated World History! With a final grumble, I unlocked my car and got in, starting the engine and backing out of my parking spot.

~*Sam*~

Do not throw up in the trash can. Do not throw up in the trash can. Do not throw up in the trash can.

That's all I could say to myself over and over as I waited outside for Freddie to pick me up. The only thing I'd eaten today was a yogurt, and I couldn't even keep that down. I didn't even know how I was able to throw up, because there was nothing in my stomach, but it didn't matter to my body, apparently. I couldn't stop it. Ugh!

I spotted Freddie pulling up, and I quickly bounded down the steps, anxious to get out of the cold, and even more anxious about going to the doctor. I got in, leaning my head back and groaning.

"Hey baby," Freddie said, leaning forward to kiss me, but my hand went to his chest and I shook my head.

"Not a good time," I sighed, closing my eyes.

"Did you throw up again?" he asked, concerned, and I shrugged.

"Yeah."

"Here, try this," Freddie said, handing me a cup, and I gave him a strange look.

"What is this?"

"Lemonade. I didn't have a lot of time to do research, but I did come across something that said that sour stuff can help with the morning sickness. Just try it."

I gave him a Look. "This isn't Carly's special lemonade, is it?"

Freddie laughed. "No. I wouldn't do that to you. I love you, remember? This is from a can, perfectly safe. Just try it, if it doesn't work, we'll figure out something else."

"Okay," I said uncertainly, lifting the straw to my lips and taking a tentative sip. It tasted like normal lemonade, thank god. I took another sip, and then it occurred to me that I was pretty thirsty, I was just afraid to drink too much because I didn't want to throw up again.

"Well?" Freddie asked, looking at me intently. My eyes flickered back and forth in confusion.

"Oh my god!" I exclaimed. "I don't feel like I'm gonna hurl!"

"So it works?" he asked hopefully, and I nodded.

"I think so..."

"Ugh, thank god. Okay, note to self, sour stuff curbs nausea. I'll remember that. You ready for this?"

"Am I ready to put my legs in stirrups and let some random doctor poke around in my holiest of holies? No, not really, but...necessary evil, right?"

"Well, if it makes you feel any better, it's a woman doctor," he replied with a shrug. "So, now that you're not pukey, can I kiss you?"

"Please," I said with a smile, grabbing his shirt collar and yanking him toward me, my mouth coming down over his. He growled a little against my mouth, trying to pull back a little.

"Baby," he whined. "Not right now...you're gonna get me all riled up, and it's been way too long."

"Sorry," I responded sheepishly. "Well, if the doctor says it's okay..."

"...your ass is grass the minute we get in the apartment," he finished, giving me a Look. "Alright, let's go..." With that, he started the car in motion, and as we drove to the doctor's, I stared out the window, my legs bouncing up and down nervously. Freddie's hand went my knee, rubbing it.

"Relax, baby," he said simply. "It's fine."

"Easy for you to say!" I exclaimed. "I have to get a pelvic exam, and then they have to draw blood..."

"Draw blood, really?" Freddie asked flatly, giving me a pointed look, and I sighed.

"Sorry." Freddie had to poke himself with sharp needles and prick himself to test his blood sugar multiples times a day, so the complaining about having blood drawn this one time sounded a bit silly to him, I guess.

"It's fine," he replied, taking my hand and kissing it. "Just try to relax, okay? I'll be there."

"I know," I said. "I love you."

"Love you too," he said.

Twenty minutes later, I was sitting in one of the exam rooms, in a ridiculous-looking paper gown, swinging my legs back and forth, looking down at the cotton ball that was taped over the inside of my arm after getting my blood drawn, poking at it.

"Stop that!" Freddie scolded me, jerking my hand away. "You'll get it infected."

"Yes, Dr. Benson," I said flatly, rolling my eyes. Freddie didn't respond, just gave me a mischievous smirk.

"Dr. Benson, huh? So...you wanna play doctor?"

I rolled my eyes again, trying not to laugh. "That's not what I meant." I looked back at him, noticing the way his sweater clung to his amazing arms and chest, and bit my lip. "And maybe."

"Could be fun..." he teased me.

"More fun than the time we played librarian? And you had to punish me because I couldn't be quiet?" I asked.

"That was pretty fun," he stated. "I don't know if we can top that..."

Oh god, please please PLEASE let the doctor tell me having sex while pregnant was perfectly safe! Because now that Freddie and I weren't fighting anymore, and he'd manage to find something that would curb my nausea, my libido was starting to come back. I wanted Freddie's hands all over me. And his mouth. And I wanted my hands and mouth all over him.

"We can sure try..." I replied. "But we may have to save it for another day, I doubt I'll wanna play doctor after a real doctor goes in and pokes around there."

"Duly noted," he responded.

"Besides, I like it best when we play Freddie and Sam. Those two get pretty hot when they're together."

"Mmhmm," he said, his eyes traveling over me.

"I bet I look pretty sexy in this paper gown, huh?" I teased, and he shrugged.

"I can see through it, so...it works for me."

"Freddie, we haven't had sex in two weeks. I could be in a burka and it would work for you."

"True," he said with a shrug. "I'm sorry, I just...I want you all the time, I can't help it."

"I guess that's not a bad thing," I replied with a smile.

We were interrupted by a knock at the door, and the doctor stuck her head in the door. She appeared to be in her mid thirties, and she looked nice enough, I suppose.

"Hello, Samantha and...Fredward?" the doctor made a face as she read over my chart. Freddie grimaced, but I just laughed.

"Sam and Freddie's just fine," I responded.

"Okay, well, I'm Dr. Boyd, it's nice to meet you," she replied. "Okay, well, your blood sample came back normal, and you are indeed pregnant. Based on the level of hormones, I'd say you're about a month along."

"A month?" I responded. "But I've only known for two weeks!"

Dr. Boyd shrugged. "Sometimes it takes a few weeks for symptoms to show up. Your blood pressure and everything else is normal, you seem to be in good health. Do you have any questions for me?"

"Uh, yeah...my husband has diabetes, we were wondering if it's hereditary?"

"Well, having a parent with it can make one pre-disposed to it, but it's not an absolute guarantee, particularly with Type 1."

I looked over at Freddie, who seemed to be totally relieved. I knew that was the one thing that had been worrying him.

"And...I'm a twin...so...I wanted to make sure that didn't like...guarantee me to have twins myself."

Dr. Boyd shrugged. "It's too early to tell, we'll be able to tell in a few weeks."

I nodded slowly. "Okay. Um, one more thing..." I looked over at Freddie, and he gave me a fervent nod, as if to say 'Ask her! It's killing me!'

"You can ask anything, Sam. I've heard it all."

"Sex...while pregnant...it's not going to harm the baby, is it?" I asked. "I'm really nervous about it. We haven't slept together since I found out."

"Well, I'm going to do your pelvic exam just to be sure, but for most normal pregnancies, it is absolutely safe," Dr. Boyd replied, and Freddie gave me a pointed look. I just rolled my eyes, trying to focus on what the doctor was saying.

The pelvic exam was pretty much the most uncomfortable, awkward thing I'd ever been through, but Freddie just sat next to me, trying to keep my mind focused off what was going on by talking about random stuff, and it was over before I knew it.

"Everything looks good," Dr. Boyd said. "So, in about thirty six weeks, you two will be proud parents. Your due date's September 3rd."

I looked over at Freddie, grinning, and he just gave me a big smile, leaning forward to kiss me.

Oh man. September 3rd seemed like a long time away, but I knew it would be here before we knew it.

~*Freddie*~

Ugh, damn everything to hell! I was so aggravated that I had a class immediately after Sam's appointment, because that meant I was going to have to wait to make love to her. College wasn't like high school, if you missed a class, they took it seriously, and I figured I'd be missing classes in the future, after the baby was born, so I had to just suck it up and deal. I dropped Sam back off at our apartment before heading to class, which I just couldn't pay much attention to. It wasn't that I was thinking about being with Sam, though I was, mostly I was thinking about the baby. Everything that had to be done for the baby.

After I got done with class, I decided to go to the mall and poke around the baby store, just to see what I was dealing with. Man, this was overwhelming! There were cribs, bassinets, changing tables, bouncy-seats, carseats, high chairs, oh man. We were going to need a LOT of stuff!

"Hi! You look a little lost!" A woman said to me. "Anything I can help with?"

"I hope so," I said with a sigh. "Just found out my wife's pregnant, and we really don't know what we're doing here..."

The woman gave me a sympathetic look. "Follow me," she replied, and I did, going through the maze of aisle after aisle, until she led me to the book section. "There's some good stuff in here, how far along is she?"

"A month," I replied.

"Okay, well, you don't need much right now, it's best to wait to start buying stuff until she's further along. For now, I'd recommend just getting a few books, and..."

I didn't wait for her to finish, just started grabbing random books off the shelf that seemed relevant, until I had about twelve piled up, and she just laughed.

"Wow, someone's an information junkie!"

"You have no idea," I grumbled. "Okay, let me ask you something else...she's got morning sickness really bad...we kinda figured out that lemonade works, anything else that will work?"

"Mmhmm," she replied. "We have lollipops that help with that, in the check-out aisle." She gave me this look, like 'speaking of suckers', because I was obviously clueless, and obviously prepared to spend money, but I didn't really care, anything that was going to make this easier on Sam, and by that rationale, easier on me, would be good, I didn't really care how much money it cost. It wasn't like we couldn't afford it, we were making so much money from iCarly even I was shocked. I was the only one who really monitored our funds, which was annoying, but typical Sam and Carly and Brad, and I was pretty sure even they weren't aware how much money we were making. I focused my attention back on the saleswoman in front of me.

"Anything else that's bothering her?" she asked, and I nodded.

"Agitation, head aches, dizziness, irregular sleeping patterns, she says she's a little sore."

"Okay, this way," she said, before doing a double take at the amount of books I had in my arms. "We'd better get you a cart first."

"Probably a good idea," I replied.

About four hundred dollars later, I headed back to the apartment, prepared to have Sam yell at me. I saw she'd texted me quite a few times and I'd accidentally left my phone on silent, so I hadn't read them. I was also two hours late. Yep, she was bound to be mad.

I pushed the apartment door open and looked around nervously.

"Baby?" I called. "I'm home..."

"Freddie!" Sam yelled as she walked out of our room. "What the hell? Where have you been? I've been blowing your phone up and you didn't respond once! You better have a damn good explanation, because I swear to god..." I cut her off by jerking her towards me and kissing her, but she continued to grumble against my lips. I couldn't help but laugh.

"I'm sorry, baby," I said after I'd pulled away. "Had to make a pit stop."

"Where?" she demanded, hands on her hips.

"The baby store," I replied, gesturing to all the bags I'd thrown on the couch.

"Aw, you did?" Sam asked, all her anger evaporating immediately.

"Yep. I got you some stuff."

"What?" she asked, beginning to poke through the bags.

"Hands off!" I stated, pulling her away, and she glared at me.

"Whyyyy?" she whined, and I rolled my eyes.

"Quit trying to pick up heavy stuff!" I scolded her. "Just sit down."

She let out an annoyed sigh, before flopping down in a chair. "Okay, make with the stuff then."

"Alright! Settle down, woman! Jesus," I grumbled. "I got some books..."

"Like we don't have enough stuff to read with school?" she asked, looking over one of them that I'd handed to her. "What To Expect When You're Expecting? Aw...cute. Okay, I'll read this one."

"Oh, there's more," I replied.

"How many more?" she asked.

"Thirteen."

"Freddie!" she exclaimed. "I told you not to go overboard with all this!"

"Sorry," I replied, not sorry at all. "I just want everything to be perfect. Anyway, so this is for your headaches, since you're not supposed to be taking aspirin..." I handed her a bottle. "This is for fatigue..."

"Baby, these are like...essential oils and stuff. Did you get bamboozled by a salesperson?"

"I think so," I sighed. "But I don't care. Just try it and see if it works."

"Alright. For you," she replied.

"Oh, and these are for nausea," I said, tossing her a bag of the lollipops I'd gotten for her.

"Candy?" she exclaimed. "Candy that helps me not vomit? Kick ass!"

"I thought you'd like those," I said with a smirk. "So we should be good for awhile. You feeling okay?"

"No," she replied. "I need something."

"What?" I asked her, concerned. "What do you need? Just say the word and I'll get it for you."

She didn't respond, just sat there in the chair, staring at me, biting her bottom lip. Oh man, I recognize THAT Look, even if I hadn't seen it in two weeks. Just seeing it made my stomach flip-flop and my heart skip a beat.

"I need me some Freddie," she responded with a sweet smile, gesturing to me to come toward her.

I walked over to her, leaning over her and kissing her passionately, before picking her up.

"I can get you PLENTY of that, baby," I said as I carried her into our room, laying her on the bed.

"Good, because I need a LOT of it," she replied, grabbing my shirt collar and yanking me down to her, kissing me. I growled against her mouth as I felt her arms go around my neck and I ground my hips into her. Oh god, it had been way too long. It was going to be hard not to just rip her clothes off and just jump into it, but I definitely wanted to take my time with her. If I got too rough with her the first time we tried having sex after her finding out she was pregnant, it might scare her off it completely, and nine entire months would kill me. I continued to kiss her, groaning a little bit as I felt her hands go up my shirt and run over my back, nails dragging slightly.

"Get this off," she whispered, pulling at my shirt, and I quickly tore it over my head, dropping it on the ground, before kissing her, kicking my shoes off at the same time. I pulled away from her mouth to pull her shirt off too, unhooking her bra, kissing her neck and then over her collarbone.

"Oh god, baby..." she moaned, her head leaning back. "That feels good."

Ugh, I really hoped what the doctor said would stick, that she wouldn't get nervous about hurting the baby, because I was already amped up and ready to go. Just had to keep her mind off of it. My mouth went even lower, covering one breast, and I pulled her sweats down her legs as she arched into me, gasping, gripping handfuls of the sheets underneath her.

"Please don't stop," she whispered. "Please don't stop...baby...oh god..."

I dropped down to my knees in front of the bed, grabbing her hips and yanking me towards her, before giving her a mischievous smile as I yanked down her underwear and lowered my head. She let out a long moan, her hands going into my hair and tugging a bit, and I groaned against her. God, I missed this. I missed being able to make her moan, I missed feeling her lose control, I missed being inside her. I pulled out every trick in the book, moving my tongue just so, flicking and twisting, sliding a finger into her, and in no time at all I had her bucking her hips, arching her back, moaning...oh god, I loved this!

"Baby...oh fuck...Freddie...don't stop...please don't stop...aaah...oh god...fuck...AAAAAHHHHH! Freddie!" she practically screamed, shaking uncontrollably. I finally lifted my head to look at her, and she had this hungry look in her eyes that just drove me crazy.

"Was that good, baby?" I asked, and she nodded, continuing to stare at me.

"Get your ass up here," she said slowly. "I want you inside me. Now."

Well, so much for nervousness! And thank god for that too, because I was really beginning to lose it. I made quick work of my jeans and boxers before joining her on the bed, kissing her intensely, groaning as she wrapped her arms around my neck and began grinding her hips into me. Damn, I couldn't hold out any more. So much for not rushing. I slid into her, and we both moaned, Sam's nails digging into my shoulders. God, I would NEVER get sick of this feeling. She felt incredible. I'd never been with another girl before, and I knew I never would, but I was still convinced that she felt better than any woman on earth. Because I adored her, and she adored me. It made it even more intense, more passionate, more perfect.

"Freddie," she whispered in my ear. "Not too fast. Not too hard...just until...you know, we're sure..."

"It's okay, gorgeous," I replied, kissing her neck. "I won't hurt you, and I won't hurt our baby."

She nodded, taking a deep breath. "Okay. I love you."

"I love you too, Sam." With that, I began kissing her again. I moved in and out slowly, grinding against her. I was going to go excruciatingly slow, until she forced me to pick up my pace. I knew my Sam though, it wouldn't take too long. She wasn't a very patient person in bed. I could stretch things out for hours, and thoroughly enjoyed doing so, but Sam always wanted it now, now, now. I was counting on her impatience to override her apprehension.

It didn't take very long, only a matter of minutes, before Sam wrapped her legs around me and started to squirm against me, trying to get me to pick up my pace.

"Baby..." she whined. "Please..."

"You want more, don't you?" I asked, kissing her neck, and she nodded.

"Yeah...more...oh god...faster..."

"Like this?" I asked, moving against her quickly, and she buried her face in my shoulder, nodding.

"Oh god! Don't stop...please...please don't stop..."

"I'm not gonna stop, sweetheart. I'll get you there," I told her, bending my head to lick over her sweet breasts. God, she felt amazing. I didn't want to stop moving inside her, I didn't want to stop hearing her moan my name...ugh, she felt so good.

I felt her legs go around me tighter, her thighs shaking, and I knew she was getting close. Even though it had been her choice to go this long without having sex, I knew it had been driving her nuts too. That was part of the reason she'd been so agitated with me. If we couldn't have sex, we'd get so annoyed with each other we'd just start fighting; we'd figured that out a long time ago. Even so, no reason I couldn't have a little fun with this.

"Getting close, baby?" I taunted.

"Yes!" she moaned. "Oh god, please don't stop..."

"I'm sorry, did you say stop?" I teased, going to a standstill inside her and not moving at all. She growled at me, grinding against me frantically.

"God, you're an asshole!" she whined. "Baby! Please!"

"What's wrong?" I asked. "Is this what you wanted?" With that, I began moving again, and she let out a moan of relief, holding me tighter, burying her face in my shoulder, and I could feel her nails digging into my back. Damn, she was about to go over the edge, and I could tell it was going to be pretty intense. Still, I wanted to make it even more intense, so I reached between us to rub at her, at the same time going back to licking and sucking on her gorgeous breasts.

"Oh FUCK!" she cried. "Don't stop...Freddie...baby...don't stop...don't stop...don't...oh god...AAAHHHH!" I looked up at her just in time to see her eyes roll back into her head, her back arching, shaking uncontrollably. Oh god, that was hot! I LOVED watching her let go!

"Feel good, baby?" I asked, kissing her neck as I continued to grind against her. She nodded, her face going against my neck, continuing to moan a little. "My turn."

"Okay," she managed to gasp out. "Okay..."

I picked up my pace a little more, groaning a little bit as I tried to hold back. God, I didn't want to yet, she felt so good, I didn't want stop!

"Damn baby..." I grunted. "You feel so good..."

"Freddie..." she moaned. "Oh god..."

"You gonna go again?" I asked her, and she nodded. Hell yeah! I loved when she went over and over like that. It drove me crazy. "Take me with you this time, baby..."

She couldn't respond, just kept grinding against me frantically, moaning over and over, her legs going around me even tighter, and she let out a final moan as she exploded. Right before she sunk her teeth into my neck, and then it was game over for me.

"Shit!" I hissed as I felt my entire world collapse, shuddering against her. "Damn, baby!" I finally felt myself come back down to earth, laying down next to her, and I sighed as she snuggled against me, her head laying on my chest.

"I missed that," she said softly, and I nodded.

"You feel okay?"

"I feel great," she replied, looking up at me, and I smiled, lifting my head to kiss her.

"Good," I responded. "So you're not worried anymore?"

She shook her head. "No. I'm more worried about us killing each other if we don't. I think the baby's gonna be fine."

"I think so too," I replied. "You don't feel nauseous at all?"

"No," she replied. "I think we just found another cure for my morning sickness," she said with a grin.

"Well, you know me," I said, smirking, before kissing her. "I live to help."


	5. Chapter 5: Make Yourself

**A/N: Already I'm on a roll with this story! This chapter is very drama-laden, just so you're aware!**

**Chapter Five:  
><strong>**Make Yourself**

~*Brad*~

"Oh my god, I'm going to fail!" Carly exclaimed frantically as she shoved her history book off the coffee table, crossing her arms over her chest and pouting. I rolled my eyes.

"Really, Carly?" I asked as I stood up, retrieving her book and putting it on the table. "Think you can cool it with the temper tantrum?"

"Sorry," she groaned. "I just...I don't know this stuff! And I cannot repeat this class!"

"Babe, you're gonna be fine," I replied, kissing her. "I promise."

We both looked in the direction of Freddie and Sam's room, rolling our eyes after a particularly loud moan escaped from there.

"Guess the doctor gave them the okay," Carly commented, and I nodded.

"There goes the peace and quiet."

Carly scoffed. "What peace and quiet? You know if they're not doing it, they're arguing, and I much prefer them doing it to them fighting all the time!"

"It does save on the amount of broken dishes," I agreed with a nod. Sam had done a really good job over the years of not taking her anger out on people when she was upset, but it'd just been switched to breaking objects instead. We went through a lot of vases, glasses, and plates in this house. It was annoying, but a lot easier to deal with than getting gut-checked every time you pissed the girl off. Besides, the less dishes we had to deal with, the better. Carly and I hated doing dishes. I'd pretty much checked out of cleaning duties ever since I'd moved out of my parents'. As far as I was concerned, after years of having to do it, I deserved time off!

"Alright," I said with a sigh. "Let me see this damn book. I'm gonna try to help you, even though I know NOTHING about World History."

I picked up the book and began flipping through it, trying to help her go over the topics she was having the most trouble with. I suspected it would have been easier to remember if she could actually spell any of the names or places, but hey, it was Russia, what could we do? As I sat there, going over the material with her, a loud, angry knock came at the front door.

"I'll get that," I said, standing up. "Keep reading." I walked over to the front door, pulling it open, my eyes widening.

"Heather!" I exclaimed. "What are you doing up here? And what the hell are you wearing?" I took stock of the incredibly short skirt, tights, and tall boots she was wearing and crossed my arms over my chest, glaring at her. My formerly sweet baby sister was dressed like a slut!

"Griffin broke up with me!" she shot back. "Because of my age!" She shoved past me, walking into the apartment. "Brad, what the hell? How could you tell him?"

"Heather, I didn't tell Griffin anything!" I responded. "I've never even spoken to the guy once in my life!"

"Liar!" she screamed. "You told him!"

"Don't call me a liar, and check your facts!" I growled at her. "I didn't tell Griffin shit, and it's not like you needed to date him anyway."

"Don't tell me what to do with my own life, Brad! I hate you! How could you do this to me?"

"Heather!" Carly exclaimed, standing up. "Chill out! Brad didn't tell Griffin your age!"

"Then who did?"

"I did!" she shot back. "You got a problem with that, you take it up with me, not your brother. He's just trying to help you, because you've lost it! You're acting like a brat!"

Heather glared at Carly, before looking back at me. "THIS is what you chose over us? Her? Now Bryson doesn't have any protection, I don't have your help, Mom and Dad take everything out on me! You chose her! Why? Like she's so damn great!"

"Heather, STOP IT!" I growled. "I didn't choose Carly over you! It wasn't like that! Dad wanted me to take a path for my life that wasn't right for me, and you KNOW that! Don't talk to her like that!"

"Well I hope this," she gestured around the apartment. "And her...I hope it's all worth it, Brad! Because now you have no mother, no father, no Bryson, no Leah, and now you don't even have me! I HATE YOU, Brad! Do you hear me? I absolutely HATE you! I never want to talk to you again!"

I stared at her with a pained expression on my face, stung by her words. "Heather..." I started, but she just cut me off.

"And it is NOT over between me and Griffin! Just because his STUPID EX got involved!" she yelled, glaring at Carly. "This isn't even about me! You're just jealous! I bet you'd cheat on my brother and go after Griffin in a heartbeat!"

"Oh yeah, because guys who date underage girls and serial collect lame little stuffed animals is so my thing!" Carly said flatly. "Grow up, Heather!"

"God, will both of you stop it?" I cried, my hands going to my head. "I can't deal with this! Heather, this is not my fault, and it's not Carly's either! It is WRONG for you to date Griffin, why can't you get that?"

"Don't tell me what's right and wrong, Mr. Perfect," she hissed. "Like you're so damn good. What was that one commandment, honor thy father and mother? Good job, Brad! They both hate you so much they don't even want you in our family anymore! And you know what? Neither do I!" With that, she turned to walk out of the apartment, but I grabbed her arm, pulling her back.

"Heather, stop!" I cried. "I know you're mad at me, but you CAN'T push me away like this!"

"Why not? Everyone else did! Maybe I was the one that was wrong! Now let go of me!" she gave me a hard shove, sending me backwards, before walking out the door and down the hall. Carly gaped at the door in surprise, before trying to get past me and go after her, but I just grabbed her arm.

"Just let her go," I said softly. "Don't worry about it."

"What? No! She can't say things like that to you, and she can't go out with Griffin! After what happened in the elevator today, I..." she shook her head. "I'm convinced that he might be dangerous, Brad."

I sighed, running my hands through my hair, feeling like I was going to cry, but I held it in. I didn't cry, it wasn't my thing. I refused to. I had to hold this shit together. At least until I could get upstairs and get ahold of my emergency Jack Daniels stash.

"If she doesn't want me in her life, there's nothing I can do," I replied.

"Baby," Carly said, putting her arms around me. "She didn't mean it, she's just angry. She's just thirteen, you know how thirteen year olds are."

I shrugged. "Yeah, but maybe she's right. About everything."

Carly looked at me carefully. "Do you think you made the wrong decision? Staying here?"

I shook my head. "No. I love you, Carly. I don't regret that one bit, I just...I wish things were different. I wish they didn't all hate me."

"They don't, baby," Carly replied. "They're just afraid of your dad. The same way you were afraid to stand up to him. And I bet he's been coming down even harder on them now, you know, to prevent it happening again."

"Maybe," I replied sadly. Still, I was unsure. They were all so damn disappointed in me. I just felt worthless because of this, like I couldn't do anything right. Was it so wrong for me to just be happy? Why did everyone seem hellbent on getting in the way of that?

I heard the door to Freddie and Sam's room open, and they walked out. Sam took one look at me, standing there looking upset with Carly trying to calm me down, and nudged Freddie, who was fiddling with his phone, and he looked up, then they looked at each other.

"What the hell did we miss?" Sam asked.

"Uh, Heather," Carly replied. "Freaking out."

"Over what?" Freddie asked.

"Well, Heather was dating Griffin," I responded, and Freddie's jaw dropped.

"What?" he exclaimed. "Pee-Wee baby guy? Isn't he like...older than us?"

"Yeah..." I trailed off.

"Ew!" Sam yelled. "Are you gonna beat his ass? Because I'll help!"

"Not with my kid inside you!" Freddie scolded her, and Sam shrugged.

"I can wait nine months," she replied, and Freddie rolled his eyes.

"It's alright, Sam, you don't have to. I ran into him on the elevator this morning, offered a little disclosure on Heather's real age," Carly replied.

"Yeah, and then Griffin dumped her, she went postal on me, told me she hated me, and stormed out!" I exclaimed, flopping down on the couch. "God, this is a disaster! She hates me!"

"I'm sure she doesn't hate you, Brad. She's just pissed."

"Yeah well, who gives a shit?" Freddie exclaimed. "She's thirteen, she doesn't need to be dating a twenty year old! Let her be angry, she'll get over it!"

I shook my head, staring at the ground. "I doubt it. She's really angry with me."

"So...was that all the yelling?" Sam asked. "Or was there more going on?"

"Wow, you mean you guys heard it over all the noise you were making in there?" Carly asked with a roll of her eyes, and Sam just scowled at her. "And no. I also threw a temper tantrum over World History."

Sam and Freddie shot sideways glances at each other, before looking at us. It was always so weird when they did that, it was like they had telepathy or something. They were so damn in synch, they rarely had to talk when they were formulating a plan. It always made me nervous when those two hatched plans, sometimes I felt like Carly and I weren't even in the loop about what was going on with our own lives! Half the time we weren't even aware of a problem with the show or the apartment until they'd already handled it and it just came up in conversation later!

"Okay, let's go to the pool hall, get your mind off this," Freddie said, walking around the side of the couch to grab my arm and give me a tug. "Come on dude, up!"

"I don't wanna go!" I replied.

"Aw come on, dude! You can't sit and stew over this all night!"

"What about wifey?" I replied, trying to take his mind off my problems with Heather. Maybe I WANTED to sit and stew all night! And drink. Alone. In peace.

"I'll be fine," Sam said with a wave of her hand. "Besides, Carly and I are gonna power cram on World History."

"Really?" Carly asked hopefully, and Sam nodded.

"I'll give you the full Cliffs Notes. No sweat. What's the hardest thing for you?"

"Russian Revolution," Carly replied nervously, and Sam grinned.

"Oh, kick ass. I love the Ruskies. This'll be cake."

"There you guys go, meddling again," I grumbled at Sam and Freddie, who just shrugged.

"If we didn't meddle, you'd be suicidal, and Carly would be failing, so be thankful we're taking time off from Operation Baby to deal with this!" Sam snapped. "Freddie, just get him out of here! Find someone in there to buy him a beer or something!"

"On it, sweetheart," Freddie replied, walking over to her and kissing her. "I'll be back in a few hours, okay? Text me if anything's wrong." His hand drifted down to her stomach. "And take care of this for me."

"You know I will," she said with a smile.

"Yeah, I know," he responded. "Love you." He kissed her again.

"Love you too, now go talk Brad down and remind him all the reasons he shouldn't jump."

"Very funny," I snapped, glaring at her, and she just shrugged.

"You know you love me."

"That's debatable."

"Baby, you're not mad at me, are you?" Carly asked. "For telling Griffin?"

I shook my head. "No," I sighed. "I just...man I can't believe Heather flipped out like that."

Carly shrugged. "Maybe she's on her period."

"Holy chizz!" Sam exclaimed. "I just realized! No period, nine months! Holla!"

Carly rolled her eyes. "Lucky," she said, before turning back to me. "I love you. I hope you'll feel better after having a little guy time."

"Don't worry, Carls, he's in good hands," Freddie responded, grabbing me and ushering me towards the door. "C'mon dude, OUT!" He looked over his shoulder at the girls. "Bye guys. Don't study too hard. Sam, no heavy lifting!"

With that, he shut the door behind him, and I followed him down the hallway halfheartedly.

"Dude, just keep it together. She's just a teenager, she'll come around, you know that."

'Yeah, but, the shit she said..." I started, and Freddie cut me off.

"Again, she's a teenager. They're trained to do that."

"You know, technically we're still teenagers," I pointed out, and Freddie shrugged.

"Chronologically I'm nineteen, but up here," he pointed to his head. "I'm thirty five. At least it feels that way."

I couldn't help but grin at him as we stepped on the elevator. "Yeah, you are kind of like an old man."

"Whatever, somebody's gotta be the responsible one! You guys don't even know how much money we make in a year!"

I shrugged. "What does that matter? As long as school and rent is paid..."

"Uh, finances matter a lot," Freddie pointed out, before giving me an amused look. "You really have no idea, do you?"

"Nope," I replied.

"And I'll bet neither does Carly."

"Well, we keep meaning to look at the bank statement, but other stuff keeps popping up. So what is it?"

"Do you want to know how much is in the account right now, or do you want to know yearly income?"

I shrugged. "Yearly, I guess."

"After taxes, last year we made two hundred forty thousand, one hundred twelve US dollars," Freddie replied, smirking when my eyebrows went up and my jaw dropped. "Yeah, time to start paying attention, dude."

"Why didn't you say anything?" I exclaimed. "I've been driving the damn Mustang around for almost three years, I could have bought a new car!"

"THAT right there is why I didn't say anything!" Freddie replied. "You guys are irresponsible as hell! I don't want to deal with that, I have to pay for my school, Sam's school, health insurance, all this other stuff, and now I have a kid coming, I can't afford to be irresponsible! You guys have the same access to the account as Sam and I do, it's your responsibility to know what's going on, not my responsibility to know it for you!"

"Well..." I trailed off, unsure of what to say. He was totally right. "Okay fine. You're right. So...when you do the bank transfers...I'm pretty sure that much money did not go into me and Carly's bank accounts."

"You're right, it didn't. Twenty five hundred a month each, that's what I've been putting through," he replied with a shrug. "Because you can't keep track of money, and Carly has a serious shopping addiction. You guys get the same amount that Sam and I do, five thousand a month per couple, the rest of it sits in the business account to handle stuff for the show, and if any major emergencies happen to come up, we'll be sitting on a stockpile of cash to deal with it."

"Dammit, Freddie. You're too damn smart, you know that?" I asked, and he just grinned.

"Yeah, I know," he replied, and I just rolled my eyes.

"I need a pool stick in this hand, and a beer in the other. Right now."

"Working on it, dude." The elevator doors opened, and Freddie shoved me off the elevator. "If you stopped walking like an old lady! Move your ass!"

~*Sam*~

"I'm still not getting this!" Carly whined.

I gave her a Look, slightly annoyed. "What part are you not getting?" I asked.

"Why was the Bolshevik takeover so bad?"

"Carly!" I scolded, but my annoyance faded when I looked at her and I noticed that the girl truly just DIDN'T get it, and she was beginning to panic. "Okay," I sighed. "Repeat after me. Bolshevik Bullshit."

"What?" Carly asked, confused.

"When you think of bad Russia, what do you think of?"

"I dunno, like...Communism?"

"Very good, now...Communism is..."

"Bullshit?"

"Okay!" I exclaimed. "Now you're getting it! If Communism is bullshit, then Bolshevik Bullshit would be..."

"The start of Communism?" Carly asked, still sounding unsure, and I punched her lightly on the arm, bouncing on the couch a little.

"Yay! You got it! See, I told you, it's not hard!"

"Oh my god!" Carly said. "Sam, you're right! Expletives do work for school!"

"Just for studying," I reminded her. "Do NOT put that on the test, got it?"

"Got it," she replied. "Thank you."

"No sweat," I replied, leaning over the coffee table and grabbing one of the lollipops Freddie had gotten me. Carly eyed me suspiciously.

"Should you be eating candy in your...condition?"

"They're anti-nausea lollipops. Cool huh? Freddie bought them for me today," I said. "Along with a bajillion baby books and tons of other pregnancy stuff."

"Aw, that's so sweet, Sam! He's excited, he just wants to make sure you and the baby are taken care of!"

"Yeah, but..." I frowned. "He's overcompensating."

"Freddie always overcompensates, remember?" Carly pointed out, and I nodded.

"Yes, when he's insecure about something!"

"So you think he's insecure about being a father?"

"I think so," I replied. "I mean, I'm scared too, but...Freddie..." I trailed off, biting my lip. "You know he never really got over his dad dying. I think maybe he's overcompensating because he just wants to do everything perfectly, be the perfect father."

"Have you tried talking to him?"

"Not yet," I admitted. "I mean, our mouths were a little busy, if you catch my drift." I grinned at her mischievously, and she just rolled her eyes, laughing a little.

"So...when are you guys gonna move out?"

"Why, you want me out, Shay?" I teased her, and she shook her head.

"I don't ever want you to leave, Sam! You're my best friend!" she grabbed my arm. "I'm dreading it!"

"Well, it's gonna come, but not soon. Freddie and I figured...maybe about three months before I give birth? The due date's September 3rd."

"Aww...Sam, I can't believe you're having a baby...it's so sweet!" Carly exclaimed. "I hope it's a girl."

"Really?"

"Yeah, so we can put her in cute dresses and stuff!"

I rolled my eyes. "It's a human being, not a doll, Carly. But either way, the baby will be half Freddie and half me, so it'll be adorable."

Now it was Carly's turn to roll her eyes. "Modesty is not your strong suit, Sam."

"No, it really isn't," I replied with a grin, before picking up her history book again. "Okay, let's see...we're done with the Russian Revolution...how much do you know about Napoleon Bonaparte?"

"He really likes Tater Tots?" Carly asked weakly.

"That's Napoleon DYNAMITE, Carly! Jeez!" I groaned. "We are in for a LONG night."

~*Carly*~

After hours of cramming, Sam finally decided I'd had enough, and we just sat there on the couch, watching Girly Cow reruns. I was so grateful that Sam was good with history. She'd said once that her own history sucked, so she'd rather fill her brain with other people's history. I guess it made sense, everything in her life up until her and Freddie had gotten together was just downright BAD for her, but ever since then, her life was good.

My mind wasn't on Sam right now though, it was on Brad. I felt SO bad for him, the way his sister had flipped out on him, when it was really my fault Griffin had broken up with her. I didn't feel bad one bit about that though, a thirteen year old and a twenty year old had no business being together. I just wished Heather hadn't taken it so bad.

I hoped Freddie was getting Brad's mind off of it, they'd been gone for awhile, and I was starting to get a little antsy. Sam was too, she didn't like being away from Freddie for too long, and I suspected now that she was pregnant it would get even worse, on both ends. Freddie was ridiculously overprotective of Sam, to the point where she rarely had to stand up for herself anymore. Anyone with the balls to mouth off to Sam now had to deal with her husband, and when Freddie got upset, it wasn't pretty. Of course, that didn't mean that Sam wasn't protective of Freddie too. Last year she went absolutely apeshit on a professor after he'd given Freddie a C on a paper, and we practically had to drag her out of the classroom. It didn't help with Freddie's grade of course, but the professor was definitely a bit nicer with the comments she'd written on Freddie's papers afterwards.

Both of our heads snapped up when we heard the door open, and my eyebrows went up when I noticed Brad had his arm around Freddie and Freddie was practically dragging him through the door.

"What happened?" I asked, leaping to my feet.

"We're back," Freddie said flatly, pulling Brad's arm off him. "He's your responsibility now."

"Helloooo pretty girl," Brad slurred, his arms going around me. "Come here often?"

"Freddie!" I exclaimed. "You got him wasted?"

"No!" Freddie replied. "He had one beer at the pool hall and then...you know that old guy? The one that always loses his dentures?"

"Larry?" Sam asked, and Freddie nodded.

"Yeah, he started buying him shots. And then it just went downhill from there."

"Wait, you mean it went MORE downhill?" I asked. "Brad, sit down!"

"Donwanna!" he responded, before falling down on the couch. He looked up at Sam. "You're pregnant."

"Very astute, drunkie," Sam said flatly.

"You're gonna get huge," Brad said, and my jaw dropped as Sam's face went from annoyed to angry.

"So...he's drunk. Meaning if I punch him in the face, he's not gonna feel it, right?" Sam asked, her jaw set in a firm look.

"Sam!" Freddie scolded. "Down girl! He's had a rough night!"

"And if he keeps running his mouth, it's gonna get rougher!" Sam exclaimed. "I swear to god!"

"Sam, you can't hit him, look at him! He looks pitiful!" I said, pointing at Brad, who was currently reaching for the remote, but failing miserably.

"Stupid cows!" he hollered. "Why are you watching this? Heather loves this. She loves cows, but she doesn't love me. If I were a cow, maybe she'd love me. And if I was a Marine, so would my dad!"

"Oh my god!" I cried. "This is so bad!" I looked over at Freddie. "So what do you mean, it got more downhill?"

Freddie sighed, rolling his eyes. "Well, then he and the old guy..."

"Larry!" Sam pointed out. "I love that guy. He has the coolest stories! Did he ever show you the shrapnel in his leg?"

"Mind if I continue, sweetheart?" Freddie asked, shooting her a Look, and she shrugged, bending over the couch to poke at Brad.

"Stop it!" he hollered, swatting at her hand, but he overshot a little bit and ended up rolling off the couch, clattering to the ground with a thud. Freddie and I sighed, rolling our eyes.

"I'll make the coffee," Sam said, turning around and heading to the kitchen. "Gotta sober him up."

"Okay, so, after he had like nine shots, him and the old guy started doing karaoke. To like...Hank Williams, Jr. or something! I didn't even know he listened to country!"

"He doesn't," I replied. "His grandpa does."

"Yeah...that reminds me, I don't think it's a good idea to let him drink anymore. I was thinking on the drive back about how alcoholism runs in his family..."

"Ugh!" I cried. "This is just great! Look at him! He is absolutely trashed!"

"He needs to puke," Sam commented from the kitchen. "Or he's gonna have a really bad hangover."

"We can't make him puke!" I cried.

"You could make your special lemonade," Freddie suggested, and I glared at him.

"I don't like you right now," I stated, before turning back to Brad. "Baby, get up."

"There are two of you right now," Brad said, staring up at me from the floor. "We should totally have a threesome."

I looked over at my best friend. "Hey, Sam?"

"Yeah?"

"I changed my mind, you can hit him."

"Cool!" Sam exclaimed, but Freddie's arm went up.

"Freeze!" he yelled. "You, stay right there! Carly! Chill!" With that, he went to the kitchen, scooting past Sam to get a cup out of the cabinet, filling it with ice and water, before walking back into the living room, and unceremoniously dumping it on Brad's face.

Brad scrambled to his feet, glaring at Freddie. "What the hell?"

"Welcome back," Freddie said flatly, before grabbing Brad's shoulders and shaking them. "Now snap out of it! Yeah, your sister's mad, and your dad's a dick, that doesn't mean you need to shut your liver down in one night! Chill the fuck out, dude!"

"You don't get it!" Brad shouted. "You don't know what it's like to be an epic disappointment to everyone!"

"You're right, I don't!" Freddie replied. "And neither do you! You're not a fucking disappointment! But you will be, to your friends and your girlfriend, if you keep acting like this! Man up, Brad!"

"Don't to tell me to man up!" Brad yelled. "You have no idea what I'm dealing with!"

"I get it, Brad! Okay? It sucks, I understand that! But I CAN'T deal with it! Do you not understand that? I can't babysit you anymore, dude! I've got a child on the way, right now! You gotta deal with this shit yourself! You gotta buckle down on the business, on your finances, all of it! Because I can't do it anymore!"

"Who asked you to?" Brad hollered.

"You did!" Freddie yelled back. "By not stepping up yourself! I don't want to see you go down in flames, man! You're my best friend! And you're not gonna prove your dad wrong by acting like a total fuck-up! Grow up, Brad!"

"Freddie, calm down," I said gently. "This isn't a good time."

"Then when is?" Freddie asked. "It's never a good time! But you guys HAVE to step up and deal with your own shit before I end up having a mental breakdown! I've got enough on my plate right now!"

"How do we not deal with our own shit, Freddie?" I asked, crossing my arms over my chest.

"The rent check was late two months ago because you said you'd take care of it!" he exclaimed. "Sam used to be the messiest out of all of us by far, and she STILL cleans up after you guys! And I don't want her doing it anymore! She's pregnant, she doesn't need to work her ass off like that! You two don't know how to handle shit! You always had Spencer taking care of everything, and Brad just STOPPED being responsible the day he moved out of his parents! You two just act like kids!"

"Freddie, just stop," Sam said, walking out of the kitchen and putting her hands on his chest. "Okay? You're just stressed out right now, just stop!"

"You're right, I am stressed out," he gruffed. "I deal with just as much shit as the two of them, and more!"

"Freddie, I have school!" I exclaimed. "And the show, and Brad, and..."

"I have the show, the show's finances, the apartment bills to take care of, plus school, plus a wife, and I have a kid on the way! You are OUT of excuses, Carly!"

I sighed, my hands going to my head. "Alright, this isn't getting us anywhere. Brad, let's just go upstairs, okay?"

"Hold that thought," Brad responded, before throwing his hand over his mouth and running to the bathroom. A second later I heard him puking, and I rolled my eyes. He'd had WAY too much alcohol tonight.

"Finally," Sam grumbled. "Someone else is worshipping the porcelain god instead of me."

Freddie and I glared at each other. "Anything else?" I snapped.

"Yeah, the dishes have been sitting in the sink for two days. Deal with it."

"Fine!" I replied. "You know, Sam's supposed to be the bitchy one during the pregnancy, not you!"

Freddie opened his mouth to say something, before shaking his head and turning around, walking to him and Sam's bedroom and slamming the door behind him, leaving me and Sam staring at each other.

"So are you gonna yell at me too?" I asked, and she shook her head.

"Nope."

"Brad?"

"Nah, he sounds like he's being punished enough in there," she said, gesturing towards the bathroom, where Brad was continuing to throw up. "And in here." She pointed to her head. "Carly, he's got a lot of bad stuff building up. You gotta help him deal with it."

"I know!" I sighed. "But I don't know how. He hates talking about his problems!"

"Well, I used to be like that too, but...Freddie forced me out of it. You're gonna have to do the same with him."

"Yeah," I said softly. "And I didn't mean to freak out on Freddie, it's just..."

"Freddie's freaking out right now, that's all, and he's trying to cover it up by taking care of everything, as always, but...Carly he's right. Remember when I used to be the irresponsible one? It seems like you picked up where I left off for some reason."

"Do you really think that?" I asked, and she shrugged.

"I don't know, but you guys don't have anything to do with running the business side of iCarly anymore. Just the production."

"The production is really important!" I said defensively. "Without it, there is no business!"

"Well, I know that, but...putting it all on Freddie's shoulders isn't fair! Do you have any idea what an epic pain in the ass it is for him just to keep up with filing the taxes every three months? He has a heavier class load than all of us, he still handles all the finances, and he still covers the bulk of the tech production! And now with the baby..." she shook her head. "He's got too much on his plate, you guys are gonna HAVE to step your game up. Please! I don't know how much longer he can deal!"

I sighed as I saw Brad walk out of the bathroom, brushing past me and falling facefirst onto the couch. "Fine, I'll see what I can do. But from now on, let's save conversations like this for when Brad's sober."

Sam looked down at Brad, shaking her head, and then back up at me. "He's gonna turn into an alcoholic, Carly. Every time he gets this upset, he goes off and drinks. Every time. He's not even twenty one yet!"

"We can't go back to the pool hall," I responded. "Or anywhere that doesn't ID."

"Probably a good idea," Sam responded, before bending down to look at Brad, brushing his hair off his face.

"Brad, you gotta calm down," she whispered. "If you don't, who's gonna be my partner in crime?"

Brad didn't respond, just looked off somewhere into space, his eyes glazed over slightly. Sam sighed, giving him a quick kiss on top of his head. "Love you, dumb ass. Get some sleep." She straightened back up, looking at me. "I'm gonna go talk Freddie down, before he worries himself into a heart attack. Let us know if you need help getting Brad up the stairs."

"Okay," I replied solemnly, and she gave my arm a squeeze before walking by me towards her and Freddie's room. "Hey, Sam?"

"Yeah?" she turned to look at me.

"You're not mad at me, are you?" She gave me a smile, shaking her head.

"No. Honestly, I have too much going on right now to be mad at you." She shrugged, and with that, she walked into her bedroom, shutting the door behind her.

I sighed, sitting down on the couch next to Brad, and he put his head in my lap, taking my hand but not speaking. I didn't speak either, I had too much on my mind.

I didn't know how it had happened, but Freddie and Sam were absolutely right. Brad and I had become ridiculously irresponsible over the two years. It was like, no adults, party time! But it hadn't even occurred to us that WE were now adults, and we were expected to act like it, regardless of how much bad stuff was going on in our lives.

The only problem was figuring out how we were going to do that.


	6. Chapter 6: Wish You Were Here

**A/N: Thanks for the great responses! Also, my private messages are super full right now, I'm trying to go through them and get back to everyone, so if I haven't replied, I'm not a snob, just dealing with lots of messages haha. Anyway, lemony goodness in this chapter. Whoo-hoo!**

**Chapter Six:  
><strong>**Wish You Were Here **

~*Freddie*~

"Jesus Christ, Sam..." I groaned as my hands tangled through her hair, my hips jerking against my will as she continued to bob her head up and down on me.

How did I know my wife loved me? Well, for starters, she'd just woken me up with the most amazing blow job ever. I mean, all the other stuff she did for me was good too, but my mind wasn't on any of those things right now, just how amazing she was making me feel.

Last night had been really bad. Not just Brad's meltdown at the pool hall, but the aftermath. I rarely argued with Brad, or Carly for that matter, but I was absolutely sick of the way those two were acting. It had been fine before, but for some reason, after realizing I was going to have so much more to deal with now that Sam and I had the baby coming, it was just irking me. I hated having to be the one always on top of things, it'd been that way for years, and it was beginning to break me down. It wasn't like I was shouldering all these burdens by choice; if I didn't do stuff, it just DIDN'T get done. I wanted the whole iCarly business to run like a well-oiled machine so Sam and I didn't have to agonize over money after we'd got done with school, and I didn't want my sweet sweet baby to have to relive any part of her childhood because someone forgot to pay the electric bill or the rent. Carly and Brad just acted like everything took care of itself, and it DIDN'T. Yeah, what Brad had to deal with involving his family SUCKED, and yes, Carly was having difficulty with her studies, but that didn't mean life just STOPPED! Those two were going to have to step it up, or I'd move Sam out a hell of a lot faster than this coming summer, because I couldn't put up with it much longer.

Of course, I couldn't focus on that right now, my body, and what Sam was doing to my body, was making sure of that. God, that girl was good. I loved her mouth, the way she ran her hands up and down over my stomach as she pleased me, the noises she made while she did it...ugh, she just felt incredible. I didn't know how much longer I'd be able to hold back, and when Sam's eyes flicked up and locked with mine, I got an answer, my head going back, back arching, letting out a loud moan. Man, that was hot!

She finally pulled away, letting my catch my breath, before kissing up my body until she reached my neck, kissing the side of it and then snuggling against me. "Morning, baby."

"Morning," I said with a laugh. "Damn..."

"Did you like that?" she asked, and I nodded.

"Duh," I said flatly, and she laughed a little, one of her hands going to the other side of my neck and making little circles over my skin with her fingertips.

"So last night was intense," she commented, and I just grunted, unwilling to talk about Brad and Carly first thing in the morning. "You know, you weren't wrong."

"But?" I pressed her, and she shrugged.

"But there's a time and a place for those kind of conversations. Not while Brad's uberdrunk having a mental breakdown, and not right before finals. You know how Carly gets before finals. Even if she knows the material backwards and forwards, she freaks out, and she's actually having trouble this time."

"Sam, they act like they're the only ones who have problems," I commented, pulling her hand away from my neck to hold it tightly. "And it just gets on my nerves, they don't do shit, and..."

"Baby, just because we act like an old married couple doesn't mean they have to. They're acting like nineteen year olds...the way we're supposed to be acting right now!"

"We are a married couple, though we're not old. And are you saying you want to live in filth, have our finances fall apart, and sit in the dark because the power bill hasn't been paid?" I asked, and she shook her head.

"Not at all," she replied. "I love the fact that you're so responsible, because I'm sure not!"

"You're not that bad, Sam. You've gotten better."

"Yeah, because of you!" she pointed out. "But Carly and Brad..." she shook her head. "Cut them some slack."

"I cannot cut them any slack on the apartment. And I refuse to cut them slack on the business. They don't even know how much we make in a year, can you imagine what would happen if we let THEM run things? It'd all go to shit!"

"Baby, again, what we're doing, it's not normal! Most nineteen year olds don't run a business! And they definitely don't go to college and run a business at the same time!"

"So you're saying we're not normal?"

"Oh come on, Freddie, we established that years ago!" she said with a grin, poking me.

"Fine," I grumbled. "I'll try to chill."

"Good," she replied, before sitting up. "I'll be right back, gonna go brush my teeth."

"You don't feel pukey?" I asked, and she shook her head.

"I already puked, while you were still asleep," she replied, climbing over me to head to the bathroom.

"Sam!" I exclaimed, sitting up. "What..."

"Freddie, calm the hell down!" she replied, walking out of the bathroom, her toothbrush hanging out of her mouth. "I think I can at least handle vomiting on my own!" I just rolled my eyes, laying back down. A moment later, she came back out, laying back down next to me. "You know, if I had known you were gonna be grumpy anyway, I wouldn't have given you a wake-up blowjob."

"You didn't have to," I pointed out, and she shrugged.

"But I like doing it," she replied. "Just saying, you are not behaving the way a man should behave after his wife wakes him up like that."

"You're right," I replied, pulling her to me. "C'mere." I kissed her passionately, my hand tangling through her hair, which was still messy from sleep. I loved her messy morning hair, I thought she looked adorable like that. I pulled away from her, running my hand over her stomach. "How's our mini-me doing today?"

"Seems fine to me," she replied, laying back.

"Good," I replied, bending down to kiss her stomach. "God, I'm glad it's Saturday. What time is it?"

"Ten-ish," Sam replied with a shrug.

"What?" I cried, sitting up. "Why'd you let me sleep so late?"

"Because you needed it, nerd!" Sam scolded me. "You need a break, so we're gonna sit around and not do shit all day, until it's time to go out to dinner with your mom."

"Nervous about that?" I asked, and she nodded.

"You have no idea," she replied. "I keep thinking about that conversation we had right after we got married and she told us no babies until after college."

"Well, like I said, plans change. Besides, it's our life, our child, not hers. You're only gonna take one semester off, I'm not taking any off, we're gonna stay on track. It'll be fine."

"Still, I think she might be upset," Sam said. "Is Robert coming?"

"I don't know," I replied flatly. My mom and Dr. Robert had been dating for two years, and I still couldn't get used to the guy. He was nice, sure, but...my mom hadn't dated a single guy my entire life, until Robert came along, and now he seemed like a permanent fixture. It just didn't sit well with me.

"Well, if he is, just try to be nice," she reminded me, and I shrugged.

"I'm always nice."

"No you're not," she replied. "You're polite. There's a difference."

"Whatever," I grunted. My eyebrows went up when I noticed Sam was making her sick face. "You okay?"

"Nauseous," she replied.

"Alright, hold on." I rolled over to grab one of the lollipops off the bedside table. "Here."

"Ahhhh..." Sam said, opening her mouth, her tongue sticking out. I rolled my eyes, before unwrapping the lollipop and sticking it in her mouth.

"You're so weird," I laughed.

"I'm your weird wife," she said with a smile, and I nodded.

"My weird, wonderful wife."

"So, you wanna get up and venture out, or hide out in here for a little while?" Sam asked.

"I dunno. What do you want?"

"I should probably eat something," she sighed. "Want some eggs?"

"Can you keep eggs down right now?"

"Well, it's worth a try," she replied. "Come on baby, get up! Well, throw some pants on first, and THEN get up!"

"Yes ma'am," I replied.

"I'll be in the kitchen," she responded, getting up out of bed and walking out of our room. I sighed, laying back for a second, thinking over everything that was going on. The baby. The business. Finals. Telling my mom. Carly and Brad. And I had a stupid physical coming up next week!

And oh shit, Christmas! It was right around the corner, and I'd been so busy I'd forgotten about it completely! This would be the last Christmas Sam and I would have together before we became parents, I HAD to make it a good one. Ugh, and Melanie was coming into town. And she'd probably have a girl with her. There was just too much going on.

The door opened back up, and Sam stood there, her arms crossed over her chest, annoyed. "There's no clean pans."

I scrambled to my feet, brushing past Sam, going to the bottom of the stairs. "CARLY! BRAD!"

"Quit it!" Sam said, rushing over to me and smacking me on the arm, before dragging me back to our room. "Just get dressed, we'll go out and get something."

"But..." I started, and she just cut me off, her hand pressing over her mouth.

"Baby, chill out! You're gonna get an ulcer or something!"

"We don't need to be spending money right now," I pointed out.

"God, you're such a miser!" she replied with a roll of her eyes. "I think we can afford twenty bucks. Now go get dressed!"

"Baby..." I started, but she just turned me around, before smacking me on the ass and pushing me into our room.

"Move it!" she hollered. I rolled my eyes, finally conceding. I didn't want to get in a fight first thing in the morning, besides, I couldn't help but admit she was kinda sexy when she took charge like that.

Maybe she was right, maybe I did need to calm down, but with everything that was going on, how could I?

~*Carly*~

"Ugh, what the hell is Freddie yelling about now?" I groaned, throwing the sheets over my head.

"Who cares?" Brad grumbled. "My head feels like it's going to explode."

"Aw, baby..." I said softly, my hand going to the back of his neck and rubbing softly. "It's okay."

"Heather hates me, it's not okay," he replied, before moving closer to me, his face buried in my shoulder. I didn't say anything, just wrapped my arms around him, kissing him on the top of his head.

Brad was really starting to worry me, not just the way he was becoming more and more depressed on a daily basis, but the way he dealt with it. The drinking had to stop. Last night was just too much, and it was really beginning to wear Sam and Freddie down too, not just me.

I just didn't know how to bring this stuff up with him. We didn't fight very often, but that was mostly because we just glossed over issues and acted like they didn't exist. But I couldn't do that anymore. Acting like we didn't have problems was part of the reason our problems were so big, they just kept building up and building up.

I looked down at Brad, who was just laying there, his head on my shoulder, and he lifted his head to kiss me, softly at first, then building up in intensity, his hands going to my hips and pulling me against him, before trailing his lips down to my neck.

Ugh, yeah, I really really needed to talk to him about our problems, but he was making it VERY difficult. Still, must resist! Must resist Brad's mouth! I took a deep breath, my hands going to his shoulders and pushing him off me.

"Brad, we gotta talk," I stated, staring at him, and he just rolled his eyes.

"Later, babe," he responded, leaning forward to kiss me, but I turned my head.

"Brad! I mean it!" I cried. "You were out of control last night!"

Brad rolled his eyes. "I think you're being a little dramatic, Carly."

"You fell off the couch, got into a shouting match with Freddie, you basically told Sam she was going to get fat, and then you threw up! That pretty much constitutes out of control, if you ask me."

"Well, I didn't ask you!" Brad replied. "You gonna come down on me too? Seriously? You're supposed to be on my side, Carly!"

"I AM on your side, Brad! I love you! I just don't like seeing you do this to yourself!" I replied.

"Doing WHAT? So I drink sometimes, big deal! Who cares?"

"I do!" I replied. "I care a lot! And so do Sam and Freddie! They're concerned about you, Brad! They're worried!"

Brad snorted a little. "Freddie just doesn't want his little embryo in a poisonous environment, that's all!"

"Brad!" I exclaimed, shocked by what he just said. "That's not it at all! He wants you to be able to handle shit! Admit it, they deal with everything, and they're gonna be moving out soon! And they're gonna have a kid! They can't keep handling everything by themselves, and they can't keep cleaning up our mess!"

Brad rolled his eyes before standing up. "Sorry I'm such a fucking mess, Carly." With that, he headed for the door.

"Where are you going?" I cried. "Brad!"

"I'm gonna go puke again, take a shower, and then go to the gym and take out my frustration on the nearest punching bag!" he called over his shoulder. "I'll see you in a few hours."

"But, baby -" I responded, but he cut me off.

"I love you, babe."

I rolled my eyes, before flopping back on the bed, staring at the ceiling. Well this sucked. I was hoping to spend time with Brad today, but he was obviously mad at me, so that wouldn't work. I was all studied out, so that was out of the question. Freddie still seemed a little on edge, so the idea of hanging out with Sam and Freddie wasn't an option either. Guess it's just me, the mall, and my bank card. We always did make a pretty good team.

Of course, I should probably check my card balance, but I'm sure it was fine.

~*Sam*~

"Oh my god!" I hollered as I looked at myself in the bathroom room mirror. I'd just gotten out of the shower, getting ready to go to dinner with Freddie's mom, and I did not like what I saw looking back at me.

"Everything okay?" Freddie called from our room, sounding slightly alarmed.

"NO!" I yelled back. "What the hell?"

Freddie stuck his head in the door. "What's wrong, baby?"

I turned around to look at him, my hands on my hips. "Notice anything different?"

Freddie's eyes instantly went to my bare chest, and his eyes widened. "Uh..."

"Yeah, they're huge!" I cried. "Oh my god!"

"Baby, they've been huge for like...four years," Freddie responded, finally snapping out of his trance.

"Yeah, but they've gotten even bigger!" I cried. "Now I have to buy new bras! This is bullshit!"

"Oh, I dunno about that," Freddie replied, shutting the bathroom door behind him and advancing toward me, his hands going to my waist and pulling me to him. "In fact..." I bit my lip as he let one hand trail up my body to my breasts, running over them, before cupping one. "I think they look pretty damn good."

"Of course you do," I said softly, still trying to hold onto my anger. "Baby...we don't have time."

"Like hell we don't," Freddie growled, spinning me around and pushing me up against the bathroom door, his mouth finding my neck. He ground his hips into me, and I moaned a little, my arms going around his neck in spite of myself. That boy was just too damn good with his mouth, he got me every time. His mouth trailed up my neck, his tongue reaching out to flick my earlobe a little bit, before letting his lips crash down on mine.

Alright, who cared if we were late? I ripped his shirt off over his head before running my hands all over his bare chest. My god, he was sexy. He'd had these amazing arms since we'd first gotten together nearly three years ago, but his chest began to catch up about a year ago, along with his well-defined abs, and...oh my god. I couldn't even stop myself from pulling him against me, my mouth going all over his neck and shoulders, and he groaned, his head going back. My hands scrambled to find his belt buckle, hastily unbuckling it, before unbuttoning his pants and shoving them down over his hips, doing the same with his boxers.

"God, you're so fucking hot," I groaned, moaning as he bent his head to take one of my breasts into his mouth. "You still gonna love me when I get huge?"

He pulled away for a second, staring at me. "You're not gonna get huge. You have a child, it's normal. And I will love you no matter what." With that, he picked me up, my legs going around his waist, and he pressed me against the door, before sliding into me. I cried out, my back arching. God, I loved when he picked me up like this and had his way with me, it was so incredibly hot.

And I guess he wasn't lying about being very turned on by my boobs getting bigger. I mean, why wouldn't he, he was a guy, but still, he REALLY seemed to like it, because he just wouldn't stop messing with them. And god, it felt good. He had me pinned against the door in a way that I couldn't do much other than moan, and to be honest, it felt so good that I was unable to do much else anyway. I dug my nails into his shoulders, crying out, and he continued to move in and out of me, making slow circles with his hips, just the way I liked it. Oh my god, this felt so good!

"Freddie!" I cried, my head going back. "Oh god, baby...you feel sooo good. Shit...oh god..."

"Yeah?" he asked, kissing my neck. "You like that?"

"Yes!"

"Tell me how much you like it."

"Oh god, I fucking love it...please don't stop..."

"I'm sorry," he said huskily into my ear, nibbling on it a bit. "What'd you say?"

I rolled my eyes. Cocky asshole, he loved teasing me, loved making me beg. Who was I kidding though, I loved it too!

"I said, I fucking love it, don't stop!"

"Don't stop what?"

"Freddie!" I exclaimed, but he just gave me a mischievous look, before kissing me, plunging in and out of me repeatedly, making me lose control. Oh god, I wasn't going to last much longer... "Baby," I whined. "Please don't stop...oh god... I...baby..."

"You gonna come for me?" he growled into my ear, grinding against me. "Hmm?"

I nodded, burying my face in his shoulder, my hips starting to jerk against my will, my body shaking uncontrollably. God, this felt so, so good! It was the most incredible feeling in the world, and I'd never get enough of it. It wasn't just the way he made me feel, but the way he talked to me in the heat of the moment, THAT got me going. Every time he said those five words to me, it just drove me over the edge, almost instantly. It was amazing how much control he had over my body, and it wasn't forced control, it was something I'd given up willingly, years ago, because I knew I was safe with him, and that was the biggest turn-on of all. Knowing that no matter what, he would NEVER hurt me. Right now, I couldn't even imagine him hurting me, because he was making me feel so damn good. I couldn't stop moaning, couldn't keep my eyes open, couldn't think straight. It felt Too. Good.

"Come for me, baby. Come on. Let me feel it," he encouraged me, kissing my neck, one hand trailing across my breasts. "Come on..."

Oh man...my whole body felt like it was on fire, and in a very good way. I loved everything he did to my body. It was so hot! It felt so good, I was losing the battle here...I was done.

A final thrust into me, and it was game over for me, my head slamming back into the door so hard it hurt, back arching, nails digging into Freddie's skin, trembling against him, eyes rolling into the back of my head.

"Aaah! Fuuccckkkk!" I cried out, continuing to shake uncontrollably. "Oh god! Freddie!"

"Yeah, there you go," he whispered in my ear, still moving in and out of me. "Good girl. Feels good, doesn't it?"

"Yes," I gasped. "So good!"

"My turn?" he asked, before kissing me, and I nodded, still feeling the after-effects of the amazing orgasm he'd just pulled out of me. I loved the feeling of him losing control inside me, but not nearly as much as he enjoyed the same from me. It really turned him on, the fact that he could do that to me and nobody else could, and the fact that he got so turned on by it turned ME on! Talk about a ridiculously amazing cycle!

I moaned as I felt him begin to move against my faster, the arm around my waist pulling me tighter against him, his face pressed against my neck. I could hear him groaning, panting, trying to hold back as long as possible.

"Sam..." he gasped. "Baby...I...oh shit...shit...shit...aaah! Fuck!" he growled against my neck as I felt him tense up, trembling against me, his fingers digging into my skin, moaning. I kissed the side of his neck, trailing my nails lightly up and down his back, enjoying the way he continued to moan and quake. He finally came to a stop, resting his forehead against the door. "Damn, baby."

"Gonna let me down now?" I teased, and he nodded, before finally letting go of me, pulling away slightly and then kissing me softly. "So, I guess you like the fact that my boobs are getting bigger?"

"Stupidest question ever," he replied, still trying to catch his breath. "I mean, they were gorgeous before, but damn!"

I just smirked. "Okay, well, guess you can shower now. Although I think after that I need another shower."

"Oh, really?" Freddie replied with a smirk, one eyebrow going up, and I shook my head.

"Freddie, no. If we start up again, we're gonna be SUPER late for dinner."

"You saying you don't want to be all wet and hot and steamy with me?" he growled, moving closer to me, and I whined helplessly as his mouth attached itself to my neck.

"Baby..." I trailed off, gasping when I felt his hand rub at me. "Oh god...you are so mean..."

"Yeah, I'm the meanest guy ever," he replied with a grin. "Now get your sexy ass in that shower."

~*Freddie*~

I glanced over at Sam, who was sitting in the passenger seat bouncing her legs up and down nervously, and rolled my eyes, my hand going to one of her legs.

"Stop it," I said. "It's my mom. Quit freaking out."

"I can't!" she replied. "We're twenty minutes late, and we're about to tell her that we're having a child six years ahead of schedule! Forgive me if I'm a little bit anxious."

"Baby, it's gonna be fine," I replied. "I promise. She might be a little upset at first, but I promise you she'll get over it."

"Are you sure?" she asked, biting her lip, and I nodded.

"Come on, a grandchild?" I replied pointedly. "You know she'll be excited once she gets over the shock! Besides, I talked to her, Robert IS going to be there, she won't freak out too much in front of him. Okay?"

"Okay," she replied, toying with her hair.

"You know, you look really pretty tonight," I commented, looking at the black dress she was wearing.

"Thanks," she replied with a grin. "You're not so bad yourself, sexy."

"There you go, mixing us up again," I teased her. "You're the sexy one."

"Not for much longer," she sighed. "Women with big bellies are not sexy."

I harrumphed a little, and she just gave me a quizzical look. "The idea of you carrying my child is sexy as hell to me."

"Really?" she asked, and I nodded fervently.

"Have you not noticed, baby? The way I can't keep my hands off you?"

She laughed a little. "You've never been able to keep your hands off me."

"Alright, good point," I replied, pulling into a parking spot, turning off the car and getting out, walking over to Sam's side of the car and opening the door.

"It's freezing tonight," Sam commented as she got out, snuggling against me.

"Then button this," I replied, my hands going to the buttons on her coat and fastening them. "Better?"

"Yeah, but it's squishing my boobs," she replied with a grimace.

"Don't worry, we'll get you a new one, okay?"

She nodded, biting her lip. "I'm gonna need all new clothes."

"That's okay," I replied as we walked through the parking lot. "We'll get them."

"Yeah, but I know how you hate spending money..."

I snorted. "I'm gonna have to get used to spending now, I think. When I was in the baby store...all that stuff I realized we were gonna need...it's gonna be a LOT."

"Yep," she replied, staring at me.

"What?" I asked, and she just shook her head, smiling a little bit.

"I love you. You're the most wonderful person...you just stepped up and started taking care of everything, no questions asked. You didn't freak out or anything."

"Why would I freak out?" I responded, holding the restaurant door open for her. Of course, I failed to mention that I'd been freaking out a lot, but on the inside, holding it all in, trying to keep it together. Sam had no idea how much of a panic I was in. I was ecstatic, but fearful. I wondered how I was going to be able to handle all of this, if I could support her and the baby, not just financially, but emotionally. If I would even be a good father. I didn't even know what I was supposed to do! If only my dad had been around a little longer, maybe I'd have a clue, but as it were, I was scared shitless, I just couldn't let her know that. Sam was worried enough, if she found out I was worried too, it would freak her out even more! I had to be the strong one in all of this. That was my job, to be strong and take care of her. I loved her, it was completely worth it, I just hoped I didn't have an early heart attack in the process.

I tried to put my worries out of my head as I looked around the restaurant for my mom and her boyfriend, smiling a little when I spotted her and saw her wave at me. "There they are."

"I really hope I can keep food down tonight," Sam said under her breath. "Because I'm absolutely starving."

"You'll be fine, baby," I replied, taking her hand and walking with her towards my mom and Robert. It was weird, they lived right across the hall from us, but I rarely saw my mom anymore. We didn't keep the same schedules, and I was always ridiculously busy anyway, jumping from class to class, dealing with the business stuff, shooting for iCarly. I barely had time to breathe anymore.

My mom stood up, throwing her arms around me. "Freddiebear!"

I rolled my eyes at my mom's nickname for me. "Hey, mom. Robert," I acknowledged him with a nod, and he just nodded back. I tried really hard to like him, I swear I did, but anybody who was sleeping with my mom was generally on my bad side, nothing I could do about that!

"Hi, Sam!" my mom said, giving her a hug.

"Hey, Marissa!" Sam replied. "How goes it?"

"It goes. Sit down, both of you!"

I pulled Sam's chair out for her and then sat down next to her, shooting her a Look as she fidgeted nervously in her seat. I reached under the table, grabbing her hand, trying to calm her down.

"So, how's work?" I asked my mom, and she just gave me a smile.

"Work is fine. How is school? Are you ready for finals yet?"

"Yeah, I think so. We're pretty prepared. Baby?" I asked, looking over at Sam.

"I'm pretty good on it. I'm just a little worried about my Statistics final," she responded. Oh, crap. I kept meaning to go over that with her, I'd forgotten. "Carly's freaking out about World History."

"Well, Carly's a smart girl, she'll do fine," my mom responded. "So...I wanted to talk to you two about something."

Sam and I shoot looks at each other. Had Carly or Brad run into my mom and let the cat out of the bag? "Really? What?" I asked, trying to sound nonchalant.

"Well, you know that Robert and I have been dating for awhile, and..."

My eyes widened as I realized what my mom was getting at. Oh, no. No, no, NO! I tried desperately to focus on the conversation and not freak out, but it wasn't easy. Sam poked me in the ribs, and I straightened up, catching the tail end of what my mom was saying.

"...so we've decided to get married!"

"Marissa!" Sam exclaimed. "Oh my gosh, that's great! Congratulations!" Sam leaned over the table to hug my mom, before sitting back down, glaring at me. "Isn't that great, honey?" When I didn't respond, she rolled her eyes and slugged me in the arm.

"Ow!" I hollered.

"Isn't. It. Great?" Sam replied through gritted teeth, and I nodded, taking a deep breath.

"Yeah...it's great." I grumbled, trying not to glare at Robert. "Congratulations."

"So when's the big day?" Sam asked after giving me a dirty look.

"Well, we haven't decided on a date yet, but sometime in the spring, most likely," Robert responded. "Freddie, is everything okay?"

"What?" I asked, bristling up. "It's fine. I'm fine. Why wouldn't it be? It's great! I'm great! I'm...fine."

Sam just looked at me, shaking her head, before resting her elbows on the table, her hands covering her face.

"Freddie, honey, are you okay with this?" My mom asked, a sympathetic look on her face. "You know I love Robert."

"As much as you loved my father?" I shot back.

"Freddie!" Sam hollered. "Stop!"

My mom just shook her head sadly. "That was eleven years ago, honey. I have to move on."

"That's fine, mom. Move on. But I haven't, and I'm not gonna."

Sam looked back and forth between me and my mom frantically, a worried look plastered across her face.

"So, I'm pregnant!" she blurted out suddenly, and my jaw dropped.

"Sam!" I yelled.

"WHAT?" My mom exclaimed, completely forgetting about the upcoming nuptials she'd just thrown on the table.

Sam looked over at me nervously, and I sighed, before looking at my mom. "She's pregnant. We're having a baby."

"Fredward! Samantha!" my mom said. "You two were doing so good! How could you be so irresponsible? I thought you two were going to wait until you got done with school!"

Sam shrugged. "Sorry, it just kind of happened..."

"I thought you were on birth control!"

"Well...I may have missed a few days? But it doesn't matter, we've got everything figured out."

"Well, I hope you two are planning on moving out of the loft! That's no place to have a baby in! Carly and Brad are good kids, but..." she shook her head. "You two are going to have to move out of there."

"Mom, we're on it already, okay?" I replied. "We're keeping our eyes out for a new place, we'll move out sometime over the summer. Sam's due September 3rd, she's gonna take off fall semester, have the baby, I'm gonna stay in school, and then she'll go back in the spring. It's fine!"

"A baby is a big responsibility," my mom commented, looking at us.

"Are you really that upset?" Sam asked softly, biting her lip.

"No," my mom finally said. "I just don't think you two realize how much work this is going to be. Freddie, you already have a lot going on."

"I know that, mom, but...it's not gonna change. It's just something else thrown into the mix. We've dealt with a lot of stuff over the past few years, we can handle it."

"This is a life-long commitment, are you sure you two are going to be able to handle it?"

"Yes!" I cried. "We'll be able to handle it! C'mon, you know me! You know Sam! We got this! And I love her, just like I'm gonna love this baby." Sam gave me a small smile, and I leaned forward to kiss her on the top of her head. "It's going to be fine, mom."

My mom just sat there for a moment, not saying anything, just looking back and forth at us, before looking over at Robert, who just nodded, his eyebrows going up. I didn't know what that meant, I hadn't spent enough time around Robert to be able to read him. Most of that was intentional. I didn't want my mom to date anyone, and now she was getting MARRIED! Like my father never even existed! My mom looked back over at me.

"So, September 3rd, you say?"

"Uh-huh," Sam replied.

"Okay," my mom said simply. "Well, there's a lot that has to be done between now and then, I should be able to move my schedule around a bit, so when it's time for Sam to go back to school, you guys won't have to put the baby in daycare."

"Seriously?" Sam asked, a slow smile spreading across her face.

"No grandchild of mine will be in daycare!" my mom responded. "They're not safe, they're always dirty, the child will get sick...do you want a stranger taking care of your child? No, it simply won't do!"

I couldn't help but roll my eyes. Just when I thought my mom's overprotective side had disappeared forever, it'd come back. Still, at least she wasn't angry with us, so that was a good thing!

"And anything else you need in the meantime, I'll be more than happy to help," my mom added. "Oh, my lord! I'm going to be a grandmother, how strange!"

I shrugged. "Hey, I'm going to be a father. Now that's strange."

My mom just gave me a smile, shaking her head. "No it's not."

"It's not?"

"No. I know you'll be a very good father, Freddie. The way you take care of Sam, my mind is totally at ease when it comes to that."

I nodded, not sure of what to say, before looking over at Sam. She just gave me a smile, her hand going to my arm and squeezing a little.

"She's right, you know. I know you're gonna be a great dad."

I didn't know what to say, so I just smiled, pretending to be completely relaxed. So my mom and my wife both thought I was going to be a good father. That was reassuring.

I just wished I thought so too.


	7. Chapter 7: Redefine

**A/N: Another new chapter for you guys! I had fun with this one! Hope you like it!**

**Chapter Seven:  
>Redefine<strong>

~*Brad*~

"Oh god, I'm so nervous," Carly moaned. "I think I'm gonna throw up!"

"Really? YOU'RE gonna throw up?" Sam asked pointedly, and Carly rolled her eyes.

"Yeah, from nerves, not from baby!"

"Carly, you're gonna be FINE! Don't worry!" I stated, my arms going around her. "Please calm down!"

Today was the day everyone was dreading, the beginning of finals week. This was ALWAYS the worst time of the year for us, we all usually got so stressed out we'd start yelling at one another. It always staved off afterwards, and everyone apologized once finals were over, and then we'd go back to normal, but I wasn't sure what normal was right now, I'd already had a pretty bad argument the other night with Freddie, Carly and I were back to pretending nothing was wrong, and Sam had been glaring at me since the minute I'd came downstairs. I had no clue what that was about, but I didn't want to deal with it, just like everything else in my life, so as soon as Sam had turned her back, I'd pulled out the small bottle of whiskey I kept under the sink and took a shot, just to take the edge off. It seemed to be working a little, but Sam seemed bound and determined to piss me off today. That was working too.

"I'm really trying, Brad," Carly said weakly.

"Well, stop worrying so much, baby. You've got this!"

"What if I don't? What if I flunk?"

"Carly, you say that EVERYTIME midterms or finals come up, and you ALWAYS manage to pass with flying colors!" Sam stated as she clattered around the kitchen. "Okay, what the hell?"

"What?" I asked, looking in Sam's direction.

"Are we OUT of coffee?"

"WHAT?" Carly cried. "How can we be out of coffee? I NEED coffee!"

"And so does Freddie!" Sam responded frantically. "Shit! Wait a minute..." she trailed off, her eyes narrowing, before glaring at Carly and I. "As I recall, it was you guys' turn to go to the store this week!"

"Oops," Carly said flatly, and Sam just shook her head.

"Unbelievable! Now we're gonna have to burn precious energy in the damn Starbucks line, they're gonna end up putting sugar in Freddie's coffee and we're gonna have to send it back a million times...aargh!"

"Sam, calm down," I said with a roll of my eyes. "It's not that big of a deal."

"Do NOT tell the pregnant lady to calm down!" Sam hissed. "Especially not on finals day!"

"Fine, whatever, sorry. Carly and I will go to the store after we're done, okay?"

"You'd better! You know how Freddie gets without caffeine!" Sam responded.

"Well, maybe you need to just calm his ass down!"

Sam glared at me, before shaking her head slowly. "He is about to lose his shit. Do you NOT get that? I don't need all these little things popping up all over the place wearing him down even more! I swear to god, Brad, I don't care if I'm pregnant, if you two don't shape up, I'm gonna kick your ass! Don't test me!"

"What the hell is all the shouting about?" Freddie asked, coming out of their bedroom, his hair still wet. "Sam! Quit yelling! It's bad for the baby!"

"They forgot to buy coffee!" Sam hollered.

"Then we'll go to Starbucks! Chill, baby!" Freddie replied.

Sam gave him a strange look. "It's finals day, why are you so calm?"

Freddie shrugged. "I dunno. I mean, out of the grand scope of everything, coffee doesn't seem to be that big of a deal to me right now."

"Well it is to me!" she shouted.

"You don't even drink coffee, Sam!" Freddie replied, a quizzical expression on his face. "Why are you so upset?"

"Is this hormones or something? You need to chill the fuck out!" I yelled, still annoyed with Sam's ranting first thing in the morning. She gave me an evil glare, like what I'd said was the worst thing in the world, before zooming over to the counter.

"Shut the fuck up!" she screamed, grabbing a coffee cup off the counter, her arm poised to throw it at me.

"Whoa!" Freddie yelled, rushing over and grabbing it out of her hand. "Baby! Calm down!"

"Seriously, man, if you can't get that girl to calm down...put her on a leash or something!" I hollered.

"Brad, shut up!" he yelled. "I mean it! What is going on with you two?"

"Your best friend's a dumb ass!" Sam yelled, glaring at me, and my eyebrows went up.

"Oh really? Well you're wife's a..."

"BRAD!" Carly yelled, grabbing my arm and shaking me. "Chill out! Sam is pregnant! You know she's on edge! We're ALL on edge!"

"Some of us are on edge, and some of us are buzzed already!" Sam yelled. "You think I didn't see that shit? It's eight in the morning, Brad! What the fuck?"

Freddie and Carly both gave me a shocked look.

"Baby, honestly?" Carly asked. "You're gonna get drunk right before a test? Do you want to flunk?"

"I'm fine, Carly!" I replied, backing away. "God, I just needed to take the edge off."

Freddie just glared at me, his arms crossed over his chest. "Where's the booze, Brad?"

"You're not my damn dad, Freddie!"

"Fuck you, where'd you hide it?"

"It's under the sink!" Sam replied.

"Mind your own business, Sam!" I yelled. "God, you are so fucking nosy!"

"Fine, die of liver failure! I don't give a fuck!" Sam yelled. "I'll be in the car!"

"Sam, wait!" Freddie yelled, but he was rewarded with the sound of the front door slamming. He didn't even speak to me and Carly, he just went into the kitchen, going under the sink and pulling out the bottle of whiskey, before unscrewing the top and pouring it down the sink, before glaring at me. "There. Now go fucking take your test, Brad."

"I'll just get more," I said with a shrug, and Freddie just shook his head, glaring at me.

"I give up, man. You wanna wreck your life, that's fine. But you ever talk to Sam like that again, I'll break your jaw." He turned to Carly. "You wanna ride with us?"

"No," she said softly. "I'll take Brad."

"Alright," he replied. "Good luck with finals. Both of you."

I didn't respond, didn't look him in the eyes, and he just brushed past me, grabbing his jacket along with Sam's, and walking out, the door slamming behind him.

I looked over at Carly, who had her arms crossed over her chest, and appeared to be absolutely fuming.

"If we hurry, we can make it to Starbucks in time," I said, trying to sound upbeat.

"Sit down, Brad," she replied.

Oh god, not a damn intervention! I just stood there, staring at her, and she rolled her eyes, her hands going to my shoulders and shoving me backwards onto the couch.

"Carly, we don't have time for this!" I snapped, completely surprised when she crawled onto my lap and kissed me passionately. Okay, now I was confused. I knew for a fact I was out of line, and I deserved to be punched in the face, not have my sexy girlfriend grind all over me!

She finally pulled away, her forehead touching mine. "I love you, Brad," she said. "I'm not gonna give up on you. But you are inches away from Sam and Freddie giving up on you. And I know you don't want that."

I shook my head slowly. "No."

"You know you have a problem, don't you?"

"Yes," I replied solemnly.

She gave me a small smile, kissing me again. "No more drinking. Promise me."

"Carly..." I started, but her hand went to my mouth.

"Please. Promise me. If you love me enough, you'll stop."

"It's hard, Carly," I whispered, and she nodded.

"I know it is, baby. You feel like a disappointment, don't you?"

Ugh, dammit, why did she have to go there? I was already feeling choked up, was the girl bound and determined to make me cry?

"Carly, stop..." I said. "l don't want to talk about this."

"You feel like a disappointment, don't you?" she asked again, and I just nodded.

"Yeah."

"You're not, baby!" she said. "You're not. I love you! You've never disappointed me, not once. Until now. With the drinking. Because I know you're better than that. You're smart, you're sweet, you just...you gave up, baby! You can't give up!"

"My family..." I started, but Carly cut me off.

"They will come around, okay? They will! Do you know my dad didn't talk to Spencer for almost a year after he dropped out of law school? They don't hate each other now! My dad got over it! Just like your dad's gonna get over it! And Heather will be fine, she'll meet some other guy next week and it'll be like nothing happened! And I know for a fact Bryson and Leah do NOT hate you, if they could see you, they would!"

I didn't say anything, just looked down at the floor. Carly's hand went to my chin, forcing me to look at her.

"Baby, come back to me. We were doing so good in the beginning, what happened to us?"

"Parties," I replied. "And...not having any real responsibility. And just...I don't know. We just lost it."

"Yeah. We did," Carly replied. "But we can't keep doing this! Remember when we used to bitch at Sam and Freddie for shutting the rest of the world out? We're doing that, right now. We gotta stop!"

I sighed, leaning back. "You're right. But...man...it's just hard to deal with."

"I know, baby. But talk to me, okay? Don't just act like the problems don't exist. It's gonna make them worse!"

"I know."

"We gotta go, honey," Carly stated, kissing me again, before standing up. "But we're not done talking about this, okay? Just promise me you won't drink anymore."

"Alright, fine, I promise," I replied. "I love you."

"I love you too, baby. Now come on, let's go, so I can fail!"

"You're not gonna fail, babe."

"Easy for you to say," she replied with a roll of her eyes, grabbing her bag. "Come on."

~*Sam*~

I sat in the hallway outside Freddie's classroom, legs crossed, leaning against the wall, leafing through one of the baby books Freddie had bought, reaching into the little plastic baggie next to me and pulling out a lemon slice. The lemonade trick worked, the lollipops too, but this seemed to be working best. The sour taste didn't really bother me, just the strange looks I was getting from fellow students as they stepped over me, looking down to see me munching on lemons. I didn't really care how it looked, it worked, and that was good enough for me. Of course, Freddie had started bitching at me about how the acid would start eroding my teeth, but whatever. Anything to keep me from getting nauseous. Now that I was starting to learn the tricks, it was getting easier to deal with.

At first, the idea of having all my finals crammed into one day seemed a bit daunting, but at least they were over with now. Carly still had two more days of this, and Brad and Freddie still had tomorrow to get through. I was waiting for Freddie to get done with his last final of the day, and then, thankfully, we could go home.

I was still a little bit nervous about that though. I'd almost flipped out on Brad this morning. If Freddie hadn't gotten to me in time, I probably would have given the kid a concussion, because I had every intention of nailing him in the head with a heavy porcelain cup. But ugh, he was pissing me off! Brad was ridiculously smart, a great guy, and he was just letting all of that go down the drain! I didn't get how he could be so attached to his family when they didn't hesitate one bit to throw him under the bus, and the fact that he was letting that control his life, while taking his anger out on the people who DID care about him, Carly and Freddie and me, THAT bothered me. Brad was like a brother to me, and that meant I had full license to come down on him, as hard as necessary, and should I ever start to fuck up, I expected him to do the same thing.

I just didn't expect him to come down on me so hard this morning, especially when I had every reason to be upset. Yeah, I'm a brat. I get that. But damn, who drinks whiskey first thing in the morning, right before finals, especially when they're an entire semester behind? Boy needed to shape up! Freddie had pretty much stated in the car this morning that he was DONE trying to help Brad, but I wasn't going to give up, and I was going to push Freddie as hard as I could to make sure he didn't give up either. They were best friends, even if they were at odds right now, I refused to let Freddie lose his best friend, and vice-versa. They were just really, really different. They'd both changed a lot, but that didn't mean they couldn't still be friends!

I looked up as the double doors opened, and students started pouring out, most of them jumping up and down with joy and running off to wherever they were headed, dorms or whatever. Freddie and I certainly weren't like most college students. Not that I minded though, I'd probably end up getting expelled and kicked off campus if I actually lived here, for one prank or another. And I didn't care what ANYONE said, my pranking days were NOT over, if anything, the kid growing inside me was going to end up being the most well-versed prankster in his or her preschool!

I gave Freddie a smile as he walked toward me, holding his hand out. I grabbed it, and he pulled me to my feet.

"Hey," he said, kissing me. "Your brain still intact after all that?"

"Yep," I replied. "For the most part anyway."

He shook his head. "I still can't believe all your finals were on the same day. You must have a death wish or something."

"Whatever, I ain't skurred," I replied with a grin. "So how'd it go?"

"Fine. As always."

I rolled my eyes. "Cocky?"

"You know it, sweetheart," he replied. "Oh man, one more day, and then I'm free for three weeks!"

"Let's get out of here, I need a nap."

"Yeah, no kidding," Freddie said with a roll of his eyes, bending down to pick up my stuff. We walked out to his car, and he opened the door for me. He seemed to be forgetting that I could easily kick a grown man's ass, ever since he'd found out I was pregnant he'd gotten even more protective. I was going to have to figure out something to get him to chill out.

"So...when are we gonna go buy Herman the Third?" I asked, and he smirked at me.

"Herman the Third? You can't give any of the trees new names?"

"Nope. Herman lives!"

"Alright, baby, whatever," he said with a laugh. "Next week, maybe? When does Mel come in?"

"Tuesday," I replied. "With the new girlfriend. Emma, Emily, something like that. I don't know."

"She gets a new girl like every three months," Freddie grumbled.

"Whatsa matter, Fredward? Jealous my sister gets more action than you?"

Freddie snorted. "I SERIOUSLY doubt that. Even if I only get action from one girl, who by the way, is all I can handle."

"Are you saying I'm a handful?" I asked, pretending to be mad, my hands on my hips.

"That's exactly what I'm saying," he replied with a nod, and I gasped.

"Nub!" I exclaimed.

"Brat!" he replied with a grin.

I just laughed, rolling my eyes, before staring at him, a serious expression on my face. He continued to stare ahead, his eyes on the road.

"What, Sam?" he said in a monotone. "I know that look."

"What are you gonna do about Brad?" I asked, and he made a disgusted noise.

"Ugh, really? We have to talk about that right now?"

"Yes!" I replied. "What are you gonna do about Brad?"

"I'm gonna knock his teeth out if he mouths off to you like that again!" he replied. "God, he's really pissing me off!"

"I can handle Brad myself, thank you very much, and do you know why he's pissing you off?" I asked.

"Yeah, because he's being an irresponsible dick!"

"No, Fredward," I said flatly. "He's pissing you off because he's your best friend and you love him."

"Sam, really? I just got done with a test! I don't want to talk about this right now!"

"You love Brad! Just admit it! Next to me, you love him more than anyone else, and the fact that he's going downhill fast is really bothering you!"

"Sam!" he gruffed. "Seriously!" I rolled my eyes. Ugh, boys were so weird when it came to friendships. But I was determined NOT to let this one go down in flames, even if I had to piss Freddie off in the process. Besides, he couldn't be too mad at me, as long as I was carrying his baby around inside me.

"Just don't give up on him, not yet, baby."

"You tried to wing a coffee cup at his head this morning, and you're telling me not to give up on him?"

"I'm not giving up on Brad! I just think he needs to get some sense knocked into him, that's all," I replied breezily.

Freddie laughed, shaking his head. "Okay. Fine. I'll try to talk to him, okay? But don't rush me into it."

"As long as you don't wait until our kid's in college to talk to him! Or until he ends up on the liver transplant list."

"Ugh," Freddie moaned. "You know, last year he was fine! But for some reason...he's just been drinking more and more..."

"I know," I replied softly. "I think he just really misses his family, and..." I trailed off, thinking about what I could possibly do to move things along in that direction.

"Sam," he warned. "Don't even think about it."

"I talked his dad into not sending him to military school, maybe I can convince him to talk to him."

"No! No no no! You keep your pregnant ass out of Brad's family problems, got it? I mean it, Sam!"

"Ugh, yeah, fine, I got it!" I replied, crossing my arms and scowling.

"Baby, c'mon. Don't be mad at me. This isn't our fight, and you know it. Let things come around on their own, okay?"

"I guess you're right," I replied with a sigh. "Will you at least go to the gym with him tonight?"

Freddie shrugged. "I think I can do that."

"Good!" I replied, giving him a sweet smile, before looking out the window.

Okay, fine, I'd told Freddie I wouldn't try to talk to Brad's dad.

But that didn't mean I didn't have any other ideas.

As always, Sam Benson had a plan.

I played it cool for the rest of the afternoon, curling up next to my sweet, perfect husband in bed and taking a nap, trying to relax my brain for what was to come. I woke up about an hour later, and Freddie was still out of it. My poor baby, he had so much on his mind right now, and he kept it all in. I'd coax it out of him later tonight, as always, but for right now, I was dealing with my Brad plan. He'd be able to deal with shit easier if he had something to lift his spirits, so that was exactly what I was going to try to do. Still, I had to focus on my husband too, and after he got back from the gym with Brad, I'd spend quite a few hours taking care of him. He took care of me so well, every now and then I had to force him to step down from being the dominant one in the relationship and let me handle things.

I grew bored of laying in bed after a few minutes, and decided to let Freddie sleep a little bit longer, creeping out of our room into the living room, where Carly and Brad were sitting on the couch, watching TV. They both looked exhausted from finals, and I didn't know whether they'd be mad at me after this morning's outburst.

"Hey guys," I said hesitantly.

Carly looked over her shoulder, grinning at me. "Hey!"

Phew, okay, Carly wasn't mad. "So...how was the final?"

"The Bolshevik Bullshit has now ended!" Carly responded excitedly. "I know I nailed it!"

"I told you!" I replied with a smile. "You freak out every semester and you always come out on the other side smelling like a rose!"

Carly shrugged a little. "Yeah, but there's still two more tests."

"Too bad your finals weren't all scheduled for the same day like mine," I replied with a shrug, hopping onto the barstool, reaching for the bag of lemons I'd left on the counter. Carly made a face.

"First of all, I'm convinced your professors all hate you and are conspiring against you. Secondly, lemons, Sam? Really? Have the cravings started already?"

"Nope," I replied. "Sour curbs nausea. Proven fact. So I figure if a little's good, then a lot..." I shrugged. "And I don't care if my professors are conspiring against me, I got it all done, you guys have to suffer through a few more days." I looked over at Brad, noticing he still hadn't spoken to me. "Hey, Brad..."

"Hey, blondie," he said, sounding a little bit more relaxed. I saw him shoot a Look over at Carly, and she stood up.

"I have to go take a shower now," she said lamely.

"Oh really?" I asked, giving her a Look.

"I swear I'm not bullshitting, Wendy and I are gonna go out, kind of a end of the semester celebration. Wanna come?"

I shook my head. "Nah. I'm feeling a little bit tired."

"Okay," she replied with a shrug, before bounding up the stairs, leaving me alone with Brad.

"So..." I said, looking at the ground, swinging my legs back and forth. "How was your finals?"

"Good," he replied, and then grew quiet, looking at the ground, same as me. "Sam?"

"Yeah?"

"I'm sorry I lost my head this morning. I'm under a lot of stress."

"I know," I replied solemnly. "But...you know a lot of it's self-inflicted, right?"

Brad shrugged. "I promised Carly I'd stop drinking."

"And are you gonna keep that promise?" I asked, and he nodded.

"Don't I always keep my promises?"

"Other than promising to go to the store, and do the dishes, and change the filters, and..."

"Sam, I get it!" he said with a laugh. "I'm sorry. I'll try to make more of an effort, make things easier on you."

"Okay."

"You sure have changed a lot, you know that?" he asked me, and I gave him a Look.

"How so?" I responded, standing up and walking over to the couch, flopping down next to him.

"You're all like...responsible now."

I shrugged. "If I didn't step my game up, I'm pretty sure Freddie's head would have exploded. He always puts so much pressure on himself..." I shook my head. "I gotta take some of it off him, you know?"

"Yeah, I know. You really love the guy."

"You're right, I do. And Carly really loves you! But I think what happened with me and Freddie, the opposite kinda happened with you two."

"What do you mean?" he asked, and I sighed, running a hand through my hair.

"Okay, please don't take this the wrong way, but...Freddie, being all high-strung, and having to have everything just so...it kind of rubbed off on me. But with you and Carly...you being all laid-back and stuff, that definitely rubbed off on her."

"And that's bad?"

"Well, not completely. She knows how to hold a water balloon without breaking it now, and you taught her how to throw a football, so that's awesome, but...everything else? I'm not so sure."

Brad sighed, leaning back. "I know. I'm gonna try to pull it together, I swear."

"Just don't drink anymore, okay?" I replied, before punching him in the chest.

"Ow!" he yelled. "What was that for?"

"For thinking you could sneak a shot by me this morning, and me not notice! Come on, dude! You know I'm always on top of that shit!"

Brad rolled his eyes. "You used to sneak shots with me."

"Yeah, I did," I agreed. "And we also used to use the leftovers to fill up balloons to torture Lewbert, and we used to build explosive devices, and grease elevator buttons and door handles, but...I can't really do that anymore, you know? And it's getting to the point where you can't either. You're almost twenty."

"Ugh, don't remind me," Brad said with a groan.

"I just don't want us to fight, Brad. I know that's why you've been pissy with me. Not just because of all that family shit that's going on, but because I can't get in trouble with you any more."

"So...Sam Benson is going straight edge now?" Brad replied with an incredulous look. I shook my head.

"Not entirely. I mean, I'll probably have the kid hitting golf balls off the roof at people by the time they're like...three, but still. I gotta shape up a little bit, you know?"

"I'll be sure to stick around for that," Brad said with a grin. "If Freddie doesn't hate me, I mean."

I shook my head. "Freddie doesn't hate you, he's worried about you. And you know Freddie, when he worries..."

"He yells and complains," Brad finished. "Yeah, I know."

"So chill out, I'm concerned about him. He's really freaking out, and he thinks I don't see it, but I do. Just go to the gym with him tonight for a few hours, okay? I already told him to go with you. And you guys can strap on gloves and beat each other silly, work off all your frustration, it'll be great!"

Brad shrugged. "Okay, fine. Sounds good."

"So...we're cool?" I asked.

"As long as you don't throw any dishes at me," Brad said pointedly, and I grimaced.

"As long as you don't...what did you say, that I needed to be on a leash?"

"Yeah, sorry about that," Brad replied sheepishly. "I keep forgetting you're...with child. You can't really tell yet, you know."

I scoffed. "Yeah right. Just because my stomach's not big yet...my boobs are getting huge!"

"Really?" Brad asked, sounding interested, and I laughed, shoving his shoulder.

"Down, boy! These babies are for Freddie's eyes only!"

"Yeah, I know, I'm just kidding," he replied, giving me a hug. "Sorry, blondie."

"It's okay, dumb ass. Just try to keep it together, or you're gonna throw the dynamic off!"

Brad rolled his eyes. "Yes ma'am."

Just then, Freddie walked out, the look on his face clearly stating he was agitated to wake up and not find me next to him, and then his eyes fixed on me and Brad.

"Everything okay? You guys aren't fighting, right?"

"Nah, we're good baby," I replied with a wave of my hand. "Just talking some sense into Bwaddy-waddy here."

"I hate when you call me that," he grumbled.

"I know, that's why I do it," I replied with a smile, flicking his ear, and he just growled at me.

"Hey man, it could be worse. She could call you vagina," Freddie cracked, and he and I both started to laugh as Brad's face twisted into a disgusted expression.

"I hate you both!" Brad shouted, leaping off the couch and heading for the stairs. "Gym, twenty minutes, douche bag!"

"Sure thing, fucker!" Freddie yelled at him as he headed up the stairs, before walking over to the couch and laying down, his head going into my lap.

"Hey, sexy man," I said, bending down to kiss him on the forehead. "Love you."

"Love you too, baby," he replied, closing his eyes as I began to toy with his hair with one hand, the other lightly rubbing over his face. "I love when you do that."

"I know," I said in a soft voice. "When you get back from the gym we're gonna talk, okay?"

Freddie's eyes popped open. "About what? Is everything okay?"

"No, everything's not okay. And that's why we're gonna talk."

"What's wrong?" he asked, trying to sit up, and my hand went to his shoulder, pulling him back down.

"I don't know. You tell me. Tonight. We'll lay in bed, I'll rub your back, and you can tell me everything that's bothering you."

Freddie sighed. "Baby, I'm fine, okay?"

I shook my head. "Liar. You're not fine. You're stressed. I can see it. You need to get it out. You take care of me, and I take care of you, remember?"

"Fine," he grumbled. "But nothing's wrong."

"Whatever you say, baby," I replied with a roll of my eyes. "Then you'd better invent some problems between now and when you get home, because no talk, no massage, got it?"

Freddie groaned. "That's just mean. Dangling something like that in front of me, and then throwing in conditions."

"You know you love me," I teased, and he nodded.

"I do. Very much."

Ugh, it was so hard sitting around waiting for everyone to clear out, but I knew if I acted like I wanted them to leave, they'd know something was up, and I couldn't have that at all! What I was about to do was going to get me yelled at on so many levels, but I didn't care. This was necessary! I waited exactly ten minutes for everyone to be out the door, and then I walked out of the apartment, heading to the parking deck, to do a little bit of re-con. Nope, I did not see Brad's father's car. That meant they were out. Yay! Plan going ahead, full steam!

Now, Heather was still mad at Brad, which meant I had to do a little bit of creative maneuvering on this part, and I did just that heading to the fire escape. Freddie would absolutely KILL me if he caught me going up the fire escape ladder, especially considering I was pregnant with his child, but oh well. He wasn't here, now was he?

This plan just wouldn't have worked if Brad's old bedroom hadn't been THE entrance to the fire escape in their apartment, but it had come in handy when we were in high school, and it was going to come in handy now! I got off the fire escape ladder, walking onto the platform right in front of Brad's old bedroom window, now just Bryson's room, peering through it. There was Bryson, sitting on his bed, drawing. That kid sure loved art, but what the hell was he wearing? He looked like Hot Topic threw up on him! Putting that out of my mind, I tapped on the glass, and I swear the kid jumped a foot in the air, before looking at the window. I gave him a wave, and I was rewarded with a perplexed expression, before he got up and walked over to the window, opening it.

"Sam!" he exclaimed. "What are you doing here?"

"Where's your parents?" I asked.

"At one of their stupid parties," he said with a roll of his eyes. "They won't be back til super late!"

"And Heather?"

"In her room, video chatting. What's going on?" he asked, and I just grinned at him.

"Come with me if you want to live."

~*Freddie*~

"So are you gonna be able to keep doing this after the baby's born?" Brad asked as he threw another hit and I ducked it.

"I don't see why not!" I responded. "I'd hate to have to take time off from kicking your ass!"

Just like Sam and I started getting annoyed with each other if we didn't have sex, Brad and I would started to piss each other off if we couldn't drag things out in the ring every now and then. A little bit of sparring and shit-talking kept us from getting into actual arguments, and besides, it was fun. I was just glad that Brad and Sam weren't arguing anymore, they were really beginning to make me nervous. Of course I had to take my wife's side; it wasn't even a choice, really, it was just instinctual, but I hated being at odds with Brad, even if the kid was starting to go overboard on...well, acting like a kid!

Brad grinned at me, before hitting me in the chest. "Kick MY ass? I beg to differ, Benson!"

"Oh really?" I replied, my eyebrows going up. "Let's see then."

We went back and forth for a good fifteen minutes, sparring, each of us managing to get a few hits in and duck some, before Brad pulled a trick move, catching my leg with his and causing me to fall flat on my back.

"Dude, no dirty fighting!" I yelled, staring up at him.

"Sorry, man," he said with a shrug, bending down to help me up, offering his arm, but I just grabbed it and flipped him over me onto his back, grinning when I heard the wind get knocked out of him.

"Because I fight dirtier," I reminded him, pulling him to his feet.

"That was terribly clever, and terribly dick-ish," Brad responded, regaining his bearings. "Again?"

"Yep," I said, loosening up my shoulders, ready to go another round. Before we could start though, my phone beeped at me, and I went under the ropes to retrieve it off the bench. It was from Sam.

"The little woman wants you back already?" Brad called, and I just waved him off, opening the message, and my heart dropped.

Sam: Need u to come home right now! Emergency!

"Dude, we gotta go!" I hollered. "She just texted, said it was an emergency!"

Brad's face went from relaxed to worried, hopping out of the ring immediately, and we grabbed our stuff before running out to my car. Oh shit, oh shit. I was really concerned, beyond concerned, I was freaking out! What if something was wrong with the baby?

I don't remember anything that Brad said the entire drive back, just that he was trying to calm me down, but it wasn't working. We ran through the lobby and up the stairs, and I flung the apartment door open to see Sam sitting on the couch, watching TV.

"Hi!" she said, sounding upbeat. I glared at her.

"SAM! What the hell?"

"What?" she asked.

"You said there was an emergency?" I asked, and she shrugged.

"We're out of toilet paper."

"WHAT?" I exploded. "You got me all worked up over toilet paper? I thought something was seriously wrong! Don't ever do that shit again!"

"Sorry, baby," she replied, sounding a little bit remorseful once she'd realized I was really upset, but then she turned to Brad. "There's a present for you upstairs, in you and Carly's room."

"What? A present?" Brad asked, his eyebrows furrowed in confusion. "What?"

"Go find out," she replied with a shrug, and Brad gave her one last confused look before heading up the stairs. She looked up at me with a nervous expression on her face. "Are you really mad at me?"

"You scared the shit out of me, Sam!" I yelled. "That wasn't funny!"

"I'm sorry, okay? I just needed you back, now!"

"Why?"

"So Brad could get his present," she replied, and I just stared at her.

"What present? What are you..." I was cut off by the sound of Brad hollering, and I glared at her. "Did you another live snake in their bed?"

"What? No! Freddie, come on, that was ages ago! I can't believe you guys are still upset about that!"

"Carly almost had a panic attack, Sam!" I yelled. "People tend to get upset about snakes in their beds!"

"Well, I thought it was a funny joke. Besides, Brad totally got me back with the temporary hair dye in my shampoo," she replied breezily, and I rolled my eyes. Yeah, he got her back alright, but it nearly gave me a heart attack to see Sam's beautiful hair bright purple! I almost hit him! I thought the prank war had been over for a few months, but apparently I was wrong.

"So, what is it then, Sam?" I asked. "What did you do?"

She stood up, taking my hand. "Come on, I'll show you!" With that, she led me up the stairs, and the whole way up I was suspicious. I knew Sam. I loved her to death, but she was devious to the core, and didn't mess around when it came to pranks, she took them very seriously. That was the one habit of hers I'd never been able to break. She pushed the door open to Carly and Brad's room, pointing, and my jaw dropped.

Brad was sitting on Carly's loveseat with none other than Bryson, who he hadn't spoken to since the day he'd decided not to go to the marine academy, and missed terribly. He was pretty damn emotional, and so was Bryson, but they were talking animatedly like they hadn't been apart one day. I shut the door back, trying to give them some privacy, before turning back to Sam.

"You kidnapped his little brother?" I asked her incredulously, and she nodded.

"Pretty cool, right?"

I tried to be angry, but I couldn't help but just shake my head and laugh a little. "You said you weren't gonna meddle, remember?"

"No, I didn't. You told me not to talk to his dad, and I didn't. I just kidnapped Bryson. We'll take him back before his parents get home. Kinda like Cinderella, get her back before midnight or she turns into a pumpkin."

I groaned. "Sam, the carriage turns into a pumpkin, not Cinderella."

"Oh," she said, sounding confused. She was silent for a moment. "That makes so much more sense."

I rolled my eyes, laughing, before hugging her. "I don't understand how someone as sneaky as you can be so damn sweet."

She shrugged. "It's a gift," she said, before kissing me.


	8. Chapter 8: Friends and Lovers

**A/N: Last chapter of the night, I've stayed up all night again writing, but I really had fun with this one, I wanted to write a fun, light-hearted chapter for you guys! Enjoy!**

**Chapter Eight:  
><strong>**Friends and Lovers**

~*Sam*~

I couldn't help but be pleased with myself that my latest plan had gone off like a shot. I knew Brad missed his little brother terribly, and this could be just the push he needed, to remind him why he needed to be on the right path in first place. I hoped it would work, but now that I had one thing going, I had to focus back on Freddie. He could read me like a book, but sometimes he forgot that I could do the same thing with him. I knew he was stressed out, I knew he was worried, but I wanted to see if he'd talk about it before I started bugging him.

He didn't. So now I was taking things into my own hands, forcing him to talk about what was on his mind. I grabbed his hand, leading him down the stairs and into our bedroom, shutting the door behind me. He just leaned against the wall, watching me as I lit the candles in our bedroom before turning down the lights.

"Clothes off, boy," I said, looking at him. "Leave the boxers on though. You know, so neither one of us gets any ideas."

"Baby, I swear I'm fine," he said with a shake of his head. "I don't need to talk."

I crossed my arms, leering at him. "I don't believe you," I replied. "Now get those clothes off, and get your ass on that bed, right now!"

"But, Sam..."

"NOW!" I yelled, walking over to him and yanking his shirt over his head. "Baby, come on," I said, in a much softer tone of voice, my arms going around his neck and kissing the side of his neck. "Let me take care of you."

"Fine," he sighed, before unbuttoning his pants and sliding them off, walking over to the bed and laying down on his stomach. I sat down next to him, leaning over to grab the massage oil out of the bedside table drawer.

"Okay," I said softly. "We'll start with finals. How'd you do so far?"

He shrugged. "I'm not too worried about my maths. You know I kind of struggle with Expository Writing, it's not my thing, but I think I did okay."

"So what about tomorrow? Are you worried?"

"A little," he said. "I don't know, baby. I'm not too focused on school right now."

"So what are you focused on?"

"You. And the baby."

I sighed, my hands running over his skin, bearing down on the muscles of his lower back, and he groaned, relaxing a little bit.

"There you go," I said softly. "Baby, what's your real thoughts about me being pregnant?"

"You know we've been wanting kids for awhile, Sam," he replied, and I rolled my eyes.

"That's not what I asked you. You can't be just all happy. There's gotta be a little bit of anxiety in there somewhere."

Freddie was silent for a moment, and my hand went up to his neck, trying to calm him. "Baby?"

"I'm freaked the fuck out," he replied. "I'm sorry. I'm really trying, Sam. But...I don't know if I can handle all of this. Am I gonna be able to make enough money to give the baby everything they'll need? And then what if I have to work too much? What if I'm never around? And oh my god, what if I am around, then what? I have no clue what I'm doing, Sam! I had nobody to teach me how to do these things! Holy fuck, Sam!"

"Baby, you're rambling," I said gently.

"Sorry," he muttered. "I'm sorry."

I shook my head, leaning down to kiss his shoulder. "It's okay, Freddie. You know, I'm scared too."

"I know," he replied. "That's why..."

"Why you were acting like nothing was bothering you?" I finished. "Baby, we've been over this a hundred times. You don't have to be so damn strong all the time, you know that."

"Yeah, I do," he said softly. "Otherwise, who's gonna protect you?" He sat up, and before I could protest, yanked me down, pulling me against him. I laid my head on his chest, listening to his heart beat. It was going a mile a minute, and I put my hand on his chest, trying to calm him.

"You protect me just fine, baby. But you gotta let me protect you too. And I can't do that if you keep bottling everything up like this," I said.

"I'm sorry," he said, taking a deep breath, his hand playing with my hair, trying to calm himself.

"It's okay, baby. I promise it's okay. Did you think you couldn't talk about this with me because I'd get mad?"

"I dunno, maybe?" he responded, and I shook my head.

"Nope. You can't help how you feel. Anything else?"

"Yeah. I'm super pissed at my mom for getting married. I feel like it's like an epic betrayal to my father or something."

"Baby?" I said, and he looked down at me.

"What?"

"Did it ever occur to you that...you're freaking out about being a father because you don't know what to do, and you're angry with your mom because she's getting remarried, I...I don't think you're over your dad dying."

"It was eleven years ago," he said simply, and I shook my head.

"That doesn't mean you've dealt with it. You've gotta figure out how to do that."

"How, Sam? How am I supposed to do that?" he replied, sounding upset, and I lifted my head off his chest to brush my lips across his.

"First of all, stop blaming yourself. Beyond that...I don't really know, but we'll figure it out."

"I don't know if it's possible," Freddie sighed.

"It is," I replied. "I promise. And as for the rest...a lot of the anxiety's gonna go away after I have the baby. You'll figure it out. We both will. I don't know what I'm doing either, remember?"

"What if he or she doesn't like me?"

"What?" I cried, laughing even though I tried not to. "Baby! That's ridiculous! You're the daddy, number one, and number two, anyone who really knows you is absolutely CRAZY about you! I love you to death, Carly loves you...sometimes I worry that you and Brad might switch teams on us, and everyone else in our lives loves you! How could the baby not? You're amazing!"

"Say it again," Freddie said softly.

"What, that you're amazing?"

"No."

"Then what...oh. You're gonna be a daddy?"

"Uh-huh," he replied, biting his lip.

"You're going to be such a good daddy, baby. I know you are. Because you're sweet, and considerate, and dedicated, and ridiculously protective. If anything, I'm sure of that."

"You really think so?" he asked.

"I know so," I said. "I love you so much. I'm not mad at you for being a little bit scared. It's so incredibly normal! But there's nobody on earth I'd want to be doing this with, nobody except you."

"I'd never want to have a baby with anyone else either," he replied. "My sweet, sweet baby."

"Okay, so..." I sighed. "What else is going on in your nerd brain?"

"I'm really worried about Brad, you know that...but what you did tonight, even though I'm pretty pissed at how you went about it, that was really cool, you know? It might help him out."

"Yeah," I agreed. "We'll have to start sneaking Bryson out on the regular. There's not much we can do about Leah, but...at least we can get him and Bryson talking again."

"So what about Heather?"

I shrugged. "I'm not too concerned about her. She'll get over her little bitch-fit soon enough." I sat up suddenly, looking at Freddie. "Roll over. I'm not done with you yet."

He sighed. "Baby, you don't have to..."

"Yes I do! Number one, you need it, and number two, maybe I want to spend a little time touching my sexy ass husband, ever thought of that?"

"Yeah, but, I don't want you to strain yourself, and...OWWW!" he hollered suddenly after I hauled off and punched him in the chest. "What the hell, Sam?"

"Just giving you a reminder, nub!"

"Of what?" he shouted. "That fucking hurt!"

"That I can still kick your ass, Freddie!" I replied, annoyed. "I'm not a weakling! Having a baby growing inside me didn't suddenly zap all my strength! Remember? I'm just as tough as you are!" I kissed him fiercely. "You're handling me with kid gloves, and I don't like it! That's not how we operate! You take care of me, I take care of you, but we don't coddle each other! You forgot that!"

Freddie stared at me for a second, before shaking his head. "Fine. I'm sorry. It's really bothering you?"

"Yes! I love the way you take care of me, but not when you treat me like an invalid! Or am I going to have to start doing this again?" I asked, reaching for his nipple, fully prepared to give him the worst purple-nurple of his life, but he slapped my hand away.

"Alright!" he laughed. "I get it! I'm sorry!"

"Good," I replied, kissing him again. "Now roll over, so I can grope your muscles. And then I'm gonna treat you like my personal sex-toy for the rest of the night. You cool with that?"

"Oh yeah, I'm more than cool with that," he replied, giving me The Look, the one that drove me crazy, before rolling over onto his stomach. "Grope on, baby!"

~*Carly*~

I looked over at Sam and Brad, slightly in shock, as they ran around the kitchen. They were supposed to be making food, but most of it had ended up on them. I ducked as Brad flung a random vegetable, I'm pretty sure it was asparagus, before glancing over at Freddie.

"Is something in the water?" I asked, and Freddie shrugged.

"I have no idea, but are you complaining? It's like it's back to normal around here."

"Normal being a relative term," I grumbled. Still, I couldn't help but be pleased.

I had no idea what kind of voodoo Sam had pulled, other than sneaking Bryson out of his apartment and into ours, but it seemed to be working. Finals were over, everyone was in good spirits, and Brad hadn't drank in almost a week, at least that I was aware of. Freddie had dumped the whiskey out the first day of finals, and I'd been monitoring the "emergency stash" of Jack Daniels Brad kept upstairs, and it appeared to be untouched. This was amazing!

"Alright, enough!" I shouted as I got hit with another piece of asparagus. "Those are a side dish, not projectiles!"

"Aw come on!" Sam said, dancing a little bit. "It's fun!"

"Dinner is ending up on the floor, Sam," I reminded her.

"It's fine, Carly, five second rule, remember?" Brad asked as he bent down to pick up some of the asparagus they'd flung around the kitchen.

Sam pointed. "There's another one."

"Ten second rule!" Brad responded.

"I guess Sam is back to acting like a kid," Freddie muttered, his eyes glued to the computer screen. It got quiet for a second, and I turned back to flipping through the magazine I was reading, and then I jumped as I heard Freddie yell.

"Hey!" he hollered, picking vegetables off of him and throwing them back. "Knock it off!"

"Oh come on, grandpa," Sam stated, walking around the counter, going behind him and kissing him on the cheek, before resting her chin on his shoulder. "What are you looking at?"

"Nothing," Freddie responded, quickly shutting the browser down. "Quit being nosy."

"Aw, baby, are you buying me Christmas presents?" Sam teased, poking him.

"Maybe," he said with a smirk. "If you're good."

"And if I'm bad?"

"Then I'll buy you twice as much stuff."

"Oh. Well, in that case..." she said with a smile, leaning forward and catching Freddie's ear between her teeth. He groaned, leaning back against her, and her arms went around him, continuing to nibble on his ear.

"Uh, guys?" I asked, slightly annoyed. They ignored me, Freddie turning around in his chair and pulling her to him, kissing her. I rolled my eyes. Yep, things were definitely back to normal around here.

"Sam?" Brad asked. "Sam? Ugh, fine, never mind, Carly, get over here and help me with this!"

Sam pulled away from Freddie. "Don't let her near the food, she's just gonna burn it!"

"No I'm not!" I cried. "I am not that bad! Brad?"

"Well...I mean..." he wrinkled his nose. "Barefoot Contessa you are not." Freddie snorted, laughing a bit, and Brad glared at him. "What?"

"Oh nothing. Martha Stewart."

"Shut up!" Brad hollered, flinging lettuce at him.

"Dude, I swear to god, you throw one more vegetable at me, I'm gonna kick your ass!" Freddie shouted, standing up.

"Bring it, Bill Gates!" Brad responded, and I looked up nervously. For a second I thought they were actually angry, and about to start fighting, until I saw the looks on both of their faces, then I just rolled my eyes.

They stared at each other for a second, before scrambling into the living room, Freddie pushing the coffee table out of the way. Sam hopped up on the counter, amused. She loved watching Brad and Freddie wrestle, but sometimes it just got on my nerves.

"Guys, come on!" I yelled, annoyed, but they ignored me. Why did everyone always do that? This was part of why I'd given up being the voice of reason awhile ago!

"You're dead, dude," Freddie said with a grin, and Brad just shrugged.

"We'll see," he replied.

"Take your shirts off first!" Sam called, and I gave her a Look. "What?" she asked, shrugging. "You know you wanna see it."

I was silent for a moment, staring at Freddie and Brad. Brad had bulked up a lot this year, and Freddie, well...yeah, Freddie was Freddie. "Okay, she's right, shirts off boys! If you're gonna do it, do it right!"

Freddie and Brad shot each other amused looks. "Should we?" Brad asked, and Freddie shook his head.

"Nah, they're being brats today."

"What?" Sam exclaimed, glaring at him. "Oh come on! I'll do that thing you like, baby."

"I'm sold," Freddie responded.

"Yeah, well, Brad is not," Brad replied. "Carly, whaddya got?"

"Fine," I responded, crossing my arms. "I'll do that thing YOU like."

"Which thing?" Brad asked me, his eyebrows going up, and I sighed.

"You know...the thing..." I trailed off, and he just gave me a smile.

"Cool, I'm down!" he replied, pulling his shirt off before slapping Freddie in the chest. "C'mon dude."

"This is vaguely homosexual, you realize that, right?" Freddie asked as he unbuttoned his shirt.

"Yeah, I think that's what they're going for right now," Brad commented. "Quit your bitching, and prepare to be eliminated!"

"You can't even spell eliminated, pretty boy!" Freddie replied, before catching Brad off-guard and tackling him. As I watched Brad and Freddie roll around the floor, Sam leaned over and poked me in the ribs.

"Ow!" I yelled.

"So what's the thing?" Sam asked, poking me again. "Tell me. Telllll meeee!"

"No!" I responded, blushing a little.

"You better, or I'll just get Brad to tell me, and he'll just blurt it out loud and go into detail. So dish, Carls."

"Ugh, fine!" I replied with a roll of my eyes, grabbing her and whispering into her ear. Her eyes got big and she grinned at me.

"Oh my god, you little pervert!" she exclaimed. "I don't even do that!"

"What?" I exclaimed. "But..."

Sam laughed. "I'm kidding, idiot. I do that all the time."

"Oh," I replied. "Well, I guess that's...good?"

"It's fucking great!" Brad yelled as he pulled Freddie back down to the ground. "And so is kicking Freddie's ass!"

"You are not kicking my ass!" Freddie yelled, flipping him off him.

I looked back over at Sam, who had her eyes glued on the boys, clearly enjoying the show. "So when is Melanie supposed to be getting here?"

"In like half an hour, now shush," she said with a wave of her hand.

"What about dinner?" I asked.

"Dinner can wait! I'm watching my hubby manhandle your boyfriend, now quiet! You're distracting me!"

I had to laugh. The four of us had always had a dynamic that bordered on creepy, especially to outsiders, but it was kind of comforting to know it hadn't disappeared completely, that when you really got down to it, much hadn't changed between the four of us. We were still really good friends, even if Brad and I didn't know how to act like adults, and even if Sam and Freddie sometimes forgot they didn't have to be adults all the time. As long as we weren't fighting, we balanced each other out pretty well. I just hoped it would stay like this, at least for awhile.

I knew things were going to change once Freddie and Sam became parents, but I hoped they wouldn't just drift away from us completely. Freddie and Sam had been integral parts of my life for so long...it would be weird to be without them.

Freddie and Brad continued to wrestle around on the floor for awhile, and it was becoming apparent that neither one of them was going to win, they knew one another's moves way too well. I quickly got bored, and I was starting to get hungry too.

"Maybe I'll just go finish making the food myself," I said, standing up, smirking when Brad and Freddie stopped what they were doing, and Sam stopped watching them, and they all looked at me in horror.

"NO!" they shouted, and Freddie and Brad scrambled to their feet.

"Step...away...from...the...chicken, Carly!" Sam yelled, and I just stuck my tongue out at her.

"Just trying to get you guys' asses in gear," I replied, squealing when Sam and Brad started pelting me with asparagus.

~*Freddie*~

"You guys, I am not comfortable with Sam messing with fire right now, nor am I comfortable with Brad being near alcohol, can we just forget about your little kitchen experiment?" I hollered, only to be met with evil glares from Sam and Brad.

"Zip it, nub! I'm monitoring the alcohol, it's fine!" Sam replied.

"And I hate brandy, remember?" Brad added.

I just rolled my eyes, grumbling to myself. Everyone was back to acting like themselves, which meant Brad and Sam were back to making me nervous. Sometimes their little schemes got out of hand, even if it was solely confined to the kitchen.

"Okay, ready?" Sam asked, and Brad shrugged.

"Let's do it, blondie."

"Okay, gimme the lighter."

"Sam, please be careful!" I called.

"I'm fine, baby!" she replied. "Alright, do it," she said looking at Brad, and he unceremoniously dumped a couple shots worth of brandy onto whatever they were cooking. "And...flambe!"

I watched Brad and Sam jump back suddenly after Sam had lit the alcohol on fire, before looking at each other and grinning.

"Dude, that was awesome!" Brad yelled, shoving Sam a little bit. "Do it again!"

"Okay!" she replied, doing her signature happy dance. "Gimme the brandy!"

"What are you guys cooking anyway?" I asked.

"Potatoes," they replied.

"You flambe'd potatoes?" I asked quizzically, and they shrugged.

"We could put them in a PVC pipe if you'd prefer," Brad stated. "I'm pretty sure we have some Clorox around here somewhere..."

"No, that's fine!" I stated, my hands going up. "Flambe away!" I heard a knock at the door and I turned in that direction. "I'll get that."

"That's probably Melanie!" Sam called. "Put the coffee table back!"

"Yes, dear," I said flatly, rolling my eyes, moving to coffee table back to its original spot before walking to the front door and opening it, revealing Melanie.

"Heard you knocked my sister up," Melanie growled, her arms crossed over her chest.

"Yup, I did," I replied, glaring at her, crossing my arms myself. "Heard you're making all the girls in North Carolina switch teams."

Mel just grinned at me. "Damn straight!" she shouted, before hugging me. "And it's about time you and my sister reproduced!"

I just laughed, hugging her back. "How are you?"

"Peachy-keen, jelly bean!" she replied, before turning around and looking into the hallway. "It's okay, come on!" she stated to someone, and I saw her reach out, pulling a girl from against the wall. "This is Emily! Cute, huh?"

"Uh, yeah..." I trailed off. "Nice to meet you, Emily." I turned around, looking toward the kitchen. "Uh, guys, Mel's here."

"MELLOW-ME!" Sam shouted, running toward her and throwing her arms around her. "Oh my god!"

"Spam!" Melanie replied, hugging her. "God I missed you!"

"Me too!" Sam replied. "Was the flight terrible? I still don't know why you wouldn't let me pick you up!"

Melanie shrugged. "Well, you know, Emily wanted to do a little bit of sight seeing first, so I showed her the Space Needle and stuff...we've actually been in town for like...three hours. Anyway, THIS is Emily!"

"Hi...oh." Sam trailed off, and then quickly regained her bearings, shaking Emily's hand. "It's nice to meet you."

"Thanks for letting me come!" Emily replied. Sam just nodded, smiling a little bit, before turning around.

"Brad...come meet Melanie's new girlfriend," she said slowly.

"Ugh, fine," Brad responded, not sounding pleased at all to have Melanie back in the apartment. Those two had never gotten along, and it hadn't changed much since we'd hit college. He walked out of the kitchen and looked up, his eyes widening. "Oh...hi..." he said. "I'm Brad. Nice to meet you."

"Nice to meet you too, I'm Emily!"

"Uh-huh," Brad replied, before looking over at me with a bewildered expression on his face.

"So where's Carly?" Melanie asked.

"She's upstairs...we put the inflatable mattress in the studio, you guys can stay there...uhh...I'll...come on, let's go. Need some help with your bags?"

"No heavy lifting, preggo!" Melanie replied, going into the hallway and grabbing her suitcase, Emily following suit. They headed up the stairs, and Sam went behind them, before turning around to look at me and Brad and mouth 'What the fuck?' and then rushing up the stairs, leaving me and Brad standing there, shocked.

"So..." I finally said. "Is it just me, or is Mel's new girlfriend..."

"A dead ringer for Carly?" Brad finished, still in shock. "Yeah! She is!"

"This is the weirdest thing I've seen all year. Way weirder than when you and Sam dragged me to that wrestling show last spring."

"Whatever, dude, the fifteen midget free-for-all was awesome! But this..." Brad said with a grin. "I think you know exactly where I'm going with this, don't you?"

"Yeah," I replied with a nod. "Because I am way ahead of you, dude."

Brad laughed, shaking his head. "No, you're not."

I rolled my eyes. "Okay, maybe not. But...holy cow. There are no words..."

"I'm thinking of a few, right now..." Brad replied. "I gotta get a closer look at this. You?"

"Let's go!" I replied, racing him up the stairs, laughing as he tried to elbow me out of the way. We screeched to a halt when we ran into the studio, trying not to laugh as Carly looked a little uncomfortable. She was aware of the similarity too, but I'm sure she didn't have the same thoughts going through her head as me and Brad. We just couldn't help it, we were nineteen year old guys, and let's face it, nineteen year old guys are total pervs.

"Okay, so, you know the rules," Sam told Melanie. "Don't touch the equipment, don't move the props, don't get any...fluids...on our furniture, the usual."

Carly rolled her eyes. "Sam and Freddie do not have the same respect for that last rule."

"Carly, come on, that was one time, and I bought new beanbags, out of my own pocket!" I stated defensively.

"That doesn't change the fact that it's disgusting!"

"Whatever, it was a good night!" I replied.

"Brad and I walked in on it, it was not a good night!" Carly replied, crossing her arms.

"And you still have not showed me how you managed to get Sam's leg to twist like that," Brad muttered, hollering when I thumped him in the chest. "Dude! I've already got enough bruises from you."

"I'd hate to break this up," Emily said, looking uncomfortable. "But can I take a shower?"

"Uh, sure," Carly replied. "Let me show you where we keep the towels." Carly walked out, giving me and Brad a strange look, and Emily followed her, leaving me and Brad to watch the interesting conversation between the twins that was sure to follow.

"So," Melanie asked Sam. "What do you think?"

"I'm thinking we just took a sharp turn into Strangeville, honestly," Sam responded.

"I think it's pretty cool, actually..." Brad stated, and Melanie glared at him.

"Nobody asked you!" she snapped, and Brad rolled his eyes.

"Seriously, you guys are gonna start fighting already?" Sam sighed. "I don't understand why you two hate each other so much! Brad, Mel's my sister, you have to be nice to her! And Mel, Brad's actually pretty cool, and...oh my god."

"What?" Melanie asked, shifting her weight from one foot to the other nervously, staring at the floor.

"You hate Brad because he's banging Carly!" Sam blurted out, and Melanie shot forward, her hand covering Sam's mouth.

"Shut up!" she shouted.

"Oh my god! I knew it!" I cried. "I knew you had a thing for Carly!"

"I'll hit you," Melanie threatened, and I just smirked at her.

"You're jealous. Of me!" Brad crowed triumphantly. "Because that?" he pointed out to the hallway. "I'm tappin' that, and you can't, so you had to settle for a look alike!"

"I said shut up!" Melanie replied. "I like Emily, she's really sweet! We've been dating for three months, for crying out loud! And her personality's nothing like Carly's! Alright, so they look similar..."

"Melanie!" Sam cried. "You're dating her doppelganger!"

"I know, it's awesome, right?" Melanie said with a grin.

"No! It's weird! You're weird! This is weird!"

"Whatever!" Melanie responded, flipping her hair over her shoulders. "You really think it's bad?"

"I think it's awesome!"

"Shut up, Brad!" Sam yelled, before looking back at Melanie. "Yes, I think it's weird!"

"Well," Melanie replied, crossing her arms. "When it comes to Carly and Emily, you wanna know what I think?"

"I'm not so sure, I do, honestly..."

"I'm thinking of a number between one and ten..." Melanie said with a grin.

"Let me guess, is it three?" I called, and Melanie just nodded.

"Three IS a magic number," she replied mischievously.

"Oh my god!" Sam cried. "I am so glad this baby hasn't developed ears yet!"

"Now, Sam!" I scolded her. "If you love your sister, you should support her in her relationship."

"Yeah, cuz we sure do!" Brad added.

Sam just gave us a death glare, taking a few steps toward us, and both of her arms suddenly shot forward, hitting both of us in the chest.

"Ow!" I yelled. "What the hell was that for?"

"Yeah, I think you just broke my sternum!" Brad said with a grimace.

"Come on, perv!" Sam said, grabbing me by my shirt collar and yanking me out of the studio. "Time to give you a little reminder why you picked this twin and not the other one."

"Because this twin doesn't swing that way!" Melanie called.

"Oh, there's other reasons," I replied with a smirk. "Come on baby, remind me!"

"I'm gonna," she responded. "Brad, get your ass downstairs, and finish dinner. You can download lesbian porn later!"

"Works for me," Brad replied. As we walked downstairs, Brad and I gave each other a quick high-five, only to be rewarded with more hits from Sam, but it didn't matter, this was going to be a really fun holiday!


	9. Chapter 9: Just a Phase

**Chapter Nine:  
>Just a Phase<strong>

~*Brad*~

"So...you think they'll come out of there eventually?" Carly asked me, staring at Freddie and Sam's bedroom door.

Carly and I were downstairs, hanging out, glad the semester was finally over. Assuming I'd passed all my classes, I was finally done with freshman year, as of next semester, I'd be a college sophomore, and thank god for that, only two years left! For now though, we had a break from school, and I really wanted to spend all the time I could with Carly. We'd been having some problems lately, maybe once we took some time off from all the stress, we could go back to normal. I just wanted to take it easy, hang out with my beautiful girlfriend, and reconnect.

Freddie and Sam had seemed to get jumpstart on the "reconnecting" already. We hadn't seen much of them since eleven or so last night. Melanie and Emily were still on East Coast time, so they'd gone to sleep around then, Sam had dragged Freddie into their bedroom, and that had been it. Like I said, we hadn't seen much of them, but we'd HEARD a lot, even upstairs, in our room, with the door shut! It was like they were going for some sort of record or something!

I shrugged. "Anybody's guess. I thought they were going to get Herman the Third today."

Carly rolled her eyes. "Now Sam has YOU saying it?"

"Whatever, I think it's funny." I replied. "So...you wanna go ahead and get the grocery shopping out of the way now?"

"Yeah, we could do that. Give your EYES a rest," she said pointedly.

"Oh, come on! Maybe if those two would stop making out in front of me! I bet they're only doing it to mess with me! But a Sam look-alike and a Carly look-alike...I mean...come on. There is no hope for me...or Freddie."

Carly rolled her eyes. "Yeah, I guess not." She stood up. "If we're going out, then I'd better change. I'll be right back."

"Carly!" I yelled. "We're just going to the grocery store! Come on!"

"I am not going out in public in sweats!" she replied as she headed up the stairs. Ugh, I swear, that girl and clothes. She always looked great, but sometimes her fashionista tendencies got out of hand. She'd been that way since the day I met her, but it had seemed to get worse once we had a surplus of money coming in. She went shopping, bare minimum, twice a week, sometimes more. And Freddie and Sam said I was irresponsible with money!

Speaking of them, the door opened to their room, and Freddie walked out, looking exhausted, dragging himself to the refrigerator and pulling out a bottle of water, chugging it. He hadn't bothered to put a shirt on, and the poor guy looked like he was about to fall over.

"Sup dude?" I asked. He didn't respond, just continued to drink, only stopping when he'd emptied it, and then pulled out another. I looked at him, concerned. Sometimes when he went overboard on water it meant his glucose levels were out of whack. "Dude, you okay?"

He finally stopped, trying to catch his breath, before looking at me. "That girl's gonna kill me."

"What?" I asked, confused. "Why? I thought you guys were getting along."

He shook his head. "We are...but...oh my god. She's gonna kill me." He leaned against the counter. "She kept me up until four last night, wakes me up at nine...on top of me...and since then...non stop."

I rolled my eyes. "Are you complaining about having too much sex?"

"Dude, I tried to tell her I needed to take my shot and she just grabbed it off the table and did it herself...while she was still on top of me! And then went right back to work!" Freddie replied. "I don't know what to do! This has never happened before, but she's like...out of control! I know it's because of the hormones and stuff, but...damn dude. I am absolutely exhausted!"

I couldn't help but laugh, because it was pretty funny, the idea of Freddie actually complaining about getting too much of Sam. I honestly thought I'd never see that day come!

"Yeah, but...didn't you buy her one of those..."

"The batteries are worn out!" he responded, his hanging down, and my eyes widened.

"Holy shit, dude! That's uh...that's impressive."

"She is literally draining the life out of me right now, man!" He glared at me as I cracked up. "Stop laughing, it's not funny!"

"Aw, poor Freddie is being molested. I think they have support groups for that," I said, ducking when he threw a water bottle at my head.

"Shut up!" he replied, and then froze as their bedroom door opened.

"Baby, can you come here?" Sam asked, leaning against the door frame, and Freddie shot me a look, a mixture of annoyance, exhaustion, and terror. I bit my lip to keep from laughing, unable to look either one of them in the eye. Man, I would give any amount of money on earth to have Carly that keyed up! I didn't know what he was bitching about!

"Baby, I kinda need to balance the business account," he replied, biting his lip.

Sam shook her head, walking towards him. "Can't it wait?"

"Uh, not really...because...I have to make some payments on some stuff, and..." he was cut off by Sam grabbing him and kissing him fiercely. I just sat there watching, trying to not laugh. "Baby, c'mon...I'm exhausted," he muttered against her lips.

"Aw, poor baby. Want me to make you feel better?"

"I'm fine!" he replied, pulling away a bit. "I swear."

"Well, maybe I'm not," she replied, moving closer and kissing his neck. "C'mon."

"Sam..."

"Are you telling me no?" she asked in an irritated tone of voice, her hands on her hips.

"I think he is, Sam!" I called. "You gonna let him talk to you like that?"

"Brad, shut up!" Freddie hollered, giving me a death glare, and I just grinned at him.

"Just trying to help you out, bro. Help you get some and all."

"I don't need your help! I've gotten enough!" Freddie replied, before turning back to Sam. "Baby, you know I love you and you're the sexiest, sweetest, most beautiful woman on earth, but...I'm tired. I need a break. I've had enough."

Sam just shook her head, grabbing him by his shirt collar and yanking him back towards their room. "I'll tell you when you've had enough."

"Help me," Freddie said to me, shooting me a pathetic look, but I just waved at him.

"Bye man! Have fun!"

"I hate you, Brad!" he replied, before walking into their room, and Sam turned to shut the door.

"Yo, blondie, you know you're killing the boy, right?" I asked, and she just grinned at me.

"Jealous," she replied, before shutting the door.

~*Sam*~

"Sam, I'm done! I can't take any more, you gotta give me a few hours off, please baby," Freddie begged as he laid in our bed, staring up, eyes blank. "I'm seriously about to collapse."

"Aw, baby...did I wear you out?" I asked with a giggle.

"And then some," he said flatly. "Jesus Christ."

I don't know what had come over me, other than the fact that Freddie was hot as hell, but I was ALL. OVER. HIM. I couldn't stop myself. Once I'd thought I'd gotten enough, I'd cool down for just a second, and then I'd be on top of him again. I'd kept him up most of the night, early this morning, and here it was almost one o'clock, and he'd finally decided he had enough. I guess I could give the boy a little time off, I almost felt bad for him. He was so patient with me, trying his hardest to make sure I got what I needed. I'd better cool it, I didn't want my sweet husband to think he couldn't satisfy me, because he could, and he definitely did. My hormones were just off the chart for some reason today.

Still though, I wanted to mess with him, just a little bit longer, so I crawled across the bed, laying down next to him and putting my head on his shoulder, kissing his neck.

"You sure?" I purred, my hand moving down his chest and over his abs, running lightly over his package, and he groaned.

"Baby, as sexy as I think you are, you couldn't get him up if you tried right now."

I laughed, kissing his neck. "Okay, baby. I'll give you a break."

"Sorry," he grumbled. "Must not be doing my job today."

"Are you fucking kidding me?" I said, lifting my head to look at him. "You do your job very, very, VERY well. I don't know what's come over me today...I just...every time I look at you, I just want to eat you alive. God, you're so fucking sexy..."

"You're just horny," he laughed, and I shook my head.

"Because you make me that way," I replied. "Because I love you, and I love the way you make me feel. And I love the way you look, and the way you feel, and the way you taste..." I trailed off, kissing his neck again, my fingers running up and down the cut muscles of his abdominals, and he sighed.

"Baby..."

"Sorry," I whispered. "I just can't keep my hands off you."

"Give me a few hours, and then I'll fuck you silly."

"Promise?" I asked, and he nodded, staring at me.

"I'll bust the blindfold out again," he said, and a little moan escaped my lips. Every time we did that, it was so ridiculously hot...oh god, this was going to be fun.

"You may wanna tell Brad and Carly to vacate the apartment tonight," I commented, and he laughed.

"And the rest of the complex, for that matter. You get so damn loud..."

"Are you complaining?" I asked, and he shook his head.

"No, I love the way you scream your head off. Makes me feel all studly."

"Baby, you're super studly," I replied with a grin, before sitting up. "Well, I guess I may as well put some clothes on..."

"Well, you don't have to do all that..." he replied.

"Yeah, but then I can't promise things won't...you know..." I started, laying back down next to him. "...slide into place?"

"Good point," he muttered. "But I'm too tired to get dressed." With that, he turned over, burying his face in the pillow. I sat there for a moment, my eyes traveling over his body, and a mischievous expression plastered itself on my face. I lifted my hand up, and then...

"Sam, I swear to god, if you slap me on my ass, I will not fuck you for a week," Freddie muttered, not even looking at me.

"What?" I cried. "That's not fair!"

"You heard me," he replied, reaching behind him to throw the sheet over himself. "Hands off."

"You wouldn't dare. You don't have the self-control! And I'd...I'd throw out all the lotion, so...no relief for you!"

"Try me."

"Fine," I grumbled. "I'm gonna go downstairs and get the mail."

"Okay. I'm gonna go to sleepy-town."

I laughed a little. "That's fine, baby." I leaned forward to kiss his shoulder. "I love you."

"I love you too, sweetheart," he replied before yawning.

"Okay, I'll be right back." I said. I stood up, pulling my clothes on, and then looked over at him, laying there, not moving. He seemed to be asleep, or getting there. Still, I couldn't stop myself. Without warning, I yanked the blanket back, smacking him on the ass hard, before throwing the blanket back over him and running out of the room, laughing to myself as I heard him holler.

"Damn, it! Sam! You are DEAD when you get back!"

"I'm sorry, can't hear you baby! Getting the mail!"

"No sex for a week!"

"La la la la!" With that, I pulled my sneakers on and headed downstairs to get the mail, rolling my eyes as Lewbert began yelling at me for walking on his freshly mopped floors. I walked in a slow circle around him, my sneakers squeaking back and forth.

"Stop it! Aaaargggh!"

"Stop what? This?" I asked, skipping around the lobby. "Man, I really need to clean my sneakers, they're so dirty..."

Lewbert let out another girly shriek before stomping off, and I just grinned to myself, before bouncing on over to the mail room, nearly knocking a man over as I did so.

"Oh, crap, sorry," I said, looking at him. "Are you okay...oh. Hi, Mr. Harrison."

"Sam," he gruffed. I stared at him awkwardly for a second.

"Getting the mail?" I asked, trying to sound upbeat, and he just made a disgusted noise.

"Obviously," he replied. "Still getting in trouble?"

"Gonna be awful hard to do that, I'm gonna be really busy, with this baby and all."

He stopped what he was doing, looking at me. "You're pregnant?"

"Yep. Due in September. It's funny, you know. Me having a kid, you refusing to talk to one of yours."

Mr. Harrison rolled his eyes. "Sam..."

"Yeah, yeah, I know. Brad is anti-government, anti-military, a deserter, a Nancy boy, a commie. Whatever. Doesn't change the fact that he's a good kid, and he's sorry, and he misses his family."

"He should have thought of that before he decided to blow off his future to stay with Carly and chase a pipe dream."

"You know, technically it doesn't count as a pipe dream if you're good, and you are aware that Brad makes more money per year than you do, right?" I asked. "I mean, just from iCarly...and if he actually manages to sell one of his screenplays, well...maybe you'll be the one begging him to talk to you."

"I doubt that," Mr. Harrison responded, laughing bitterly. "Anything else?"

"No," I replied. "I really don't want to say much more. I mean...despite the whole Brad situation, you did really help us out with the whole Bill issue. So...I guess I can't hate you too much."

"Well that's a relief, because the kids I have left sure do."

I shrugged. "Maybe if you let them talk to Brad, they wouldn't hate you."

"Well, aren't you insightful?"

"I have my moments," I shot back. "But I did take your advice, on pursuing Law."

"So I may be dealing with YOU in a few years?"

"Yep. Hope you're up to the challenge of dealing with ME on the stands, if it ever comes to it."

I was really surprised when Mr. Harrison just smiled, laughing a bit.

"I think I'd be able to handle it just fine, Sam." He paused. "You know, I'm glad I ran into you today. I certainly wasn't going to come your apartment, but there's something you should know."

"Really?" My brows knit together in confusion. "What's that?"

"I'm sure you're aware that any Seattle cases that get appealed, we get a notification at the precinct."

"Yes, I've heard that in class," I stated, starting to feel my nerves perk up.

"Your mother's case is getting appealed," he replied. "I got the notice a few days ago."

"What?" I asked, feeling my stomach drop. "But...there were massive amounts of drugs in that apartment...she got a twenty five year sentence...what do you mean it's being appealed?"

"She has the right to an appeal, you know that. I imagine they'll try to blame the whole thing on Bill, get her dropped down to an accessory, if it goes through she'd end up on probation, most likely, maybe some extra time, but most of it would be time served."

"Oh my god," I said, my hand covering my mouth. "I...I gotta go," I said, shoving past him and walking out of the mail room, running past Lewbert, who continued to yell, and pressing the elevator button frantically, rushing inside when the doors opened. Then I felt so lightheaded, so dizzy and sick, I had to sit down.

Holy shit.

My mother was going to get out of prison?

What if she knew the whole thing had been a set-up? What if she was still so pissed at me that she decided to come after me?

Oh my god, what about my baby?

I was so shocked, that when the elevator doors opened on our floor, I couldn't even get up.

~*Carly*~

"This might be too much food," I stated, looking at all the bags Brad and I had managed to drag onto the elevator.

Brad scoffed a little. "Yeah right. I mean, we have to have extra food because of Melanie and Emily being here, and even though Sam is still having morning sickness...I mean..come on, it's Sam!"

"Good point," I commented, before giving him a pointed look. "But it's not like you don't eat like a horse either!"

"I'm a growing boy, babe," he replied, leaning forward to kiss me, and I kissed him back eagerly, my arms going around his neck. Things had been going so good since he'd promised to stop drinking. I was so happy. I was hoping it'd be like the way it was before, when we were just Carly and Brad, without all this extra baggage. I just wanted the next three weeks to be free of drama and discord. Brad wouldn't be able to see either Bryson or Heather, they'd be in Tacoma, but I was still determined to make it a good Christmas for him. Sam and I were going shopping tomorrow, to get all the presents for everyone, something we did every year since she and Freddie had gotten married, and I was excited about that too.

But as I stood there in the elevator, pressed against the wall, Brad's body up against mine, kissing me passionately, his hands running all over me, all I could think about was getting this damn food into the apartment and then running upstairs and tearing his clothes off, getting him naked. He looked so good without clothes on, I felt like reminding him of that. I tore my mouth away from his as the elevator came to a stop on our floor.

"Let's get the food inside," I said breathlessly. "And then take me upstairs and do dirty things to me."

Brad gave me a smile, kissing me again. "How dirty?"

"Really dirty. And then we can take a really long shower afterwards...and get dirty again."

"Mmm," he replied, grinding into me. "I think I can handle that."

"Good," I responded. "Because I definitely want to handle this." My hand drifted down to his crotch, giving him a quick squeeze, and he groaned, before pulling away and grabbing the food.

"Come on, hurry up. Brad needs some lovin'. Right now."

I rolled my eyes. "I hate when you talk in third person."

"Brad doesn't care right now," he replied with a grin, and I just laughed. We hurried down the hallway, eager to be in our room and all over each other, flinging the door open, and my jaw dropped at what I saw in front of me.

"Sam?" I asked, rushing over to her. She was sitting against the counter, her knees against her chest, absolutely hysterical. "Oh my god! What's wrong? Where's Freddie?"

"He's asleep," she said, still crying. "I didn't want to wake him up, I...oh my god. Oh my god." She continued to hug her knees, rocking back and forth, and that absolutely scared the hell out of me. It was reminiscent of Sam's roughest times, years ago, when she'd come over to my house in the middle of the night sobbing because one of her stupid mother's boyfriends had hit her, and then she'd just sit on my bed for hours, knees hugged to her chest, rocking back and forth, crying. What the hell happened?

Brad immediately forgot about our plans and rushed over, dropping to his knees in front of Sam and next to me. "Sam, what's going on?"

She didn't respond, just shook her head.

"Sam!" I said, my hands going to her face and turning it to look at me. "Sam, you've gotta talk, what's wrong?"

"I...I saw Brad's father. Downstairs. In the mail room," she said, still crying, and I looked up at Brad in shock.

"What?" he cried. "What did that bastard do? I swear to god, I'm gonna..."

"Nothing!" Sam cut him off. "He didn't do anything, Brad!"

"Then what is this? Why are you having a breakdown in the middle of the floor? You can't get worked up like this, Sam! You're pregnant!" Brad exclaimed.

"Sam, please, calm down. Talk," I said. "Tell us what's wrong!"

"My mother's case is getting appealed!" she cried. "I...what if she gets out?"

"Oh, shit," Brad responded, running his hand through his hair and sighing. "Okay, look, Sam...even if she DOES get out...she's not gonna hurt you. I promise."

"What about my baby?" she cried. "Oh my god! What if she knows it was a set up? And...I mean...if her case can get appealed, so can Bill's...and...oh god...oh fuck, I think I'm gonna throw up..."

"Sam!" I cried, shaking her shoulders. "Relax! NOTHING and no one is gonna hurt your baby, and I mean, there is no way in HELL that Bill will get out of prison! He's a draft dodger!"

Sam nodded a little, taking a deep breath. "Yeah...I guess you're right, but...what about my mom...oh my god...I...fuck. This is bad. This is so bad."

I looked over at Brad. "Go wake Freddie up."

"On it," Brad responded, rising to his feet.

"No! He needs to sleep!" she cried. "I kept him up all night!"

"Sam, chill, what's gonna make him madder, getting woken up, or you having a mental breakdown and nobody telling him about it?" Brad replied, before walking into their bedroom. "Yo, dude! Freddie! Wake up!" I heard Freddie mutter something, and Brad walked in further. "Sam is freaking out, now get up! Oh god! And put some clothes on, Jesus!" He walked back out, shutting the door behind him. "Two seconds."

"This is so bad," Sam whispered. "She can't get out...why are they...who would even appeal her? Oh my god..."

A moment later, the door flung open, and Freddie walked out in nothing but a pair of jeans, looking concerned. "Where is she...Sam!" he said as his eyes fixated on his wife sitting on the ground, and that Look went across his face. That worried, concerned, slightly scared look, the one he wore on a constant basis when he and Sam first started seeing each other, before she ran away to Vegas and he had to go chase after her. He rushed over to her, dropping to his knees, his hands going to her face.

"Baby, talk to me. What's wrong? Something wrong with the baby?"

"No," she said, shaking her head.

"Then what, honey? What is it? You tell me, and I'll fix it."

"My mom's case is getting appealed," she whispered. "She's gonna get out."

"How do you know that?" he asked.

"She ran into Brad's dad in the mail room," I replied, and Freddie rolled his eyes.

"Would have been real nice if he would have kept that little tid-bit to himself. Hey, Brad?"

"Yeah dude?" Brad asked, looking down at him.

"Your dad's a dick."

"Yeah, I know," Brad responded with a roll of his eyes.

Freddie sighed, one hand going through Sam's hair, trying to calm her down, before shaking his head, standing up and then bending down to pick her up, bridal style. "Alright, I got this. Thanks guys."

"Yep," Brad and I both said. I sighed as I heard Freddie and Sam's bedroom door slam, and I turned to Brad. "I guess we should put the food away?"

"Uh, Brad still wants sexy time."

"But...what about..."

Brad sighed. "Babe, Sam's mom is not getting out of prison today, and Freddie's taking care of it. Now I want some lovin', I want some Carly, right now."

"But, Brad..."

"The only butt I wanna see right now is yours!" he replied, before picking me up and throwing me over his shoulder, carrying me up the stairs and ignoring my protests.

~*Freddie*~

"Baby, please calm down," I whispered. "Please. It's not good for the baby. You've gotta calm down."

"I'm trying," she said, gasping for breath. "I'm trying. Oh god. I'm gonna have a panic attack. I can't breathe."

"Come here," I replied, pulling her onto my lap, her legs on either side of me, her arms going around my neck, and I put my arms around her, rocking her back and forth, one hand going to the back of her head, stroking her hair. "My sweet sweet baby. Nobody's going to hurt you. I promise. You're safe. Nobody's going to hurt you. You're safe."

She nodded, laying her head on my shoulder, still shaking.

I wanted to kill Brad's father right now. He HAD to know this would upset my sweet, sensitive little baby, why did he have to go and tell her that shit? Anyway, it didn't matter if Pam Puckett WAS getting out of prison, she wasn't coming anywhere near my wife! Or my child. Never, in a million years, would I EVER let that happen. I didn't know much about the legal system, other than a few things I'd picked up from Sam, after she'd come back from her classes babbling excitedly about them, but I knew these things took time, so I wasn't too worried about it. What I WAS worried about was getting Sam to calm down. I laid back, laying Sam on her side and putting my arms around her again, pulling her against me tightly, one hand rubbing her lower back, the other continuing to stroke her hair. I wasn't sure what to say, other than to tell her to calm down, it was fine, but I'd already said that, so we just laid there in silence, and I let her cry it out, until she finally stopped.

"Baby?" I said, and she lifted her head to look at me.

"You know I'm gonna protect you, right?"

"I know," she said softly. "You always do."

"Yeah. So please stop worrying."

She nodded. "Okay." She paused. "I just can't stop thinking about all the bad stuff that happened because of her."

"Thing of the past, baby. You're mine. And I will die before I let anyone hurt you."

"I'm never going to hurt my kid the way she hurt me. Or Mel," Sam said firmly, and I nodded, kissing her.

"I know you won't, sweetheart. Because you're a good person."

"You really think so?" she asked, and I nodded.

"Of course you are, baby. You finally figured out how to use your evil powers for good," I cracked, and she smiled a little bit.

"Yeah, but...you know...everything she did to me...what she's in prison for...she didn't do. It was a set up."

"Yeah, but YOU had nothing to do with the set up. You weren't even aware of anything until it was over with. It was me. And Brad. And Carly and Gibby and Spencer. You had nothing to do with any of it. It was us. You're not worried about...like...karma, are you?"

She shrugged. "I don't know. Maybe?"

"Well, there are no karmic repercussions for you. You honestly and truly had nothing to do with this. And your mom? Well, she had her karma. We gave it to her. She deserved what she got."

"But if she gets out, what good will it have done?"

I shrugged. "I dunno, baby. Other than it got her out of the picture, and it brought you to me. And then you were safe."

She nodded. "I'm still gonna worry about this. Until I find out one way or another."

"Sam..." I warned. "I don't want you to have any contact with her, okay? I don't want you looking into anything, I don't want you going to the appeal trial, I don't want you involved in any of it. Got it?"

"But..."

"Promise me, Sam. Promise me that you won't be involved in any way, shape, or form."

She nodded. "Okay."

"Promise me."

"I promise," she said softly, and I kissed her on the forehead.

"Good."

"I need to talk to Mel."

"I don't think she's here right now, baby," I replied. "I think her and Emily went out."

Sam sat up, reaching for her phone. "Then I'll text her. I have to talk to her, now."

"Please don't blow this out of proportion, Sam. You're stressing out, it's not good for the baby."

She gave me a Look. "Fredward Benson is telling me not to blow things out of proportion, and Fredward Benson is telling ME that I'm stressing out?"

I shrugged. "I'm not the one who's pregnant. It's my job to stress out and worry and keep you safe, but it's your responsibility to stay level-headed and make sure our son or daughter comes out okay. Alright?"

"Right. You chase away the monsters, I hide from them like a little bitch. Is that how this works?"

I rolled my eyes. "Baby, that's not what I meant."

"Then what did you mean?"

"I just...I don't want you to worry, baby! And I don't want you to get in an argument with your sister! And I want us to take every possible precaution imaginable to make sure our baby is healthy! And that includes you not worrying yourself into a panic attack!"

"Then you may wanna check into buying a private island or putting me in a tower or something. Because life has problems. Life has stress. You can't change that."

"No, but I can fight like hell to prevent it from affecting you."

She put her phone down, staring at me. "Do you think I can't handle it?"

"No," I replied. "I think you can handle things just fine. I just wish you didn't have to, and I want to take as much off your shoulders as possible. What's so wrong about that?"

She just shook her head. "You've taken care of things so long, you forgot that I'm just as strong as you are."

"No, I didn't forget. I know you're strong. But I love you, Sam. I don't like to see you hurt."

She shrugged. "What happens when you don't exercise, Freddie?"

"What?" I asked, confused. "What does that have to do with anything?"

"If you go a long time without working out, can you still lift the same?"

"No...the muscles weaken...where is this going?"

She gave me a pointed look. "If you don't let me handle some things on my own, I'm gonna get weaker. And I refuse to let that happen."

"But, Sam..."

"Baby, please. I can handle talking to my sister. Stop being like this."

"Stop being like what?" I snapped. "You're pregnant with MY child, I think I have a right to be like this!"

"It's OUR child, Freddie!" Sam responded, starting to get irritated. "I swear to god..."

"Okay!" I said, my hand going up. "Okay! Baby, you win. Talk to Melanie about it. Do what you like. I just don't want you seeing or talking to your mom. Because it puts you in a bad place, mentally. And you don't need that. You've come so far in the last few years. I don't want you to lose that."

She nodded, her irritation beginning to fade. "Okay. But I want you to stop coddling me."

"Alright, baby. I got it." I decided not to mention that Sam had just had a breakdown in the middle of our living room floor, so I had a right to coddle her at the moment, but Sam was stubborn, even more so now that she was pregnant, and there was no reasoning with her when she got like this. But still, maybe she had a point, maybe I was coddling her a little bit, but I couldn't help it. I loved Sam, I didn't like seeing her hurt, and I'd fight to the death to prevent it from happening.


	10. Chapter 10: Perception

**A/N: Sorry for not updating yesterday, the internet went down...I almost had a HEART attack, and now I'm at my mother's house uploading the chapters. Please be patient with me about updating for a little while, because until the internet gets fixed, I'm gonna be forced to go elsewhere to do my updates. Ugh, so frustrating! Anyway, here you go!**

**Chapter Ten:  
>Perception<strong>

~*Freddie*~

"This isn't working," I growled to myself as I went over playback of the test shots.

Brad's hand went to his chin thoughtfully, his head turning to the side. "Maybe it's the angle."

"Maybe. Or maybe it's the camera."

"I dunno, man. It's only an eight month old camera. You really think we need to upgrade already?"

"I don't know," I replied. "We could...but..." I sighed. "Do you really think it would make a difference?"

"I think you're forgetting it's just a webshow, and not network TV. Hold on a second." Brad walked over to the camera bag, pawing through it, before pulling out a lens and quickly changing it out with the one currently on the camera. "Carly?"

"Yeah?" she asked absentmindedly, looking over the index cards she'd written out for tomorrow night's show.

"Can you mark, babe?"

"Mmhmm." She stood up and walked over to her usual spot, and Brad hit the record button, filming for about fifteen seconds, before shutting it off.

"That's good, thanks babydoll."

"Yep," she replied, picking her index cards back up and looking over them.

"Okay, take a look and tell me if this works better," Brad said to me, hitting the playback button, and I eyed the footage critically, my eyebrows lifting in surprise. Brad sure was getting a lot better at this production business...he was picking up tricks of the trade that sometimes even passed right by me!

"Okay, that's a lot better."

"Yeah, no need to drop ten grand when all we need is a simple lens-change, dude," Brad replied, nudging me, and I rolled my eyes, irritated at myself for missing that, and even more irritated that Brad had caught it.

We were all in a bit of tense mood at the moment, the way we always got when we were doing run-throughs for the show. Particularly the last two shows before Christmas, those were usually the shows that got the highest views, because we went all out for it. I turned my head to look over at Sam, and rolled my eyes.

"Baby, can you let me or Brad do that?" I asked as she continued to fiddle with the lights, and she gave me an agitated look.

"Freddie, I've got it."

"Just be careful, okay? I don't want you to get zapped."

"Freddie!" she yelled. "I said I've got it!" With that, she grabbed a screwdriver off the floor, turning her back to me, and I just grumbled, before going back to setting up all the tech stuff.

"Sam, don't forget to turn off the..." I heard Brad begin to yell, before hearing a loud pop.

"OW! FUCK!" Sam hollered, dropping the screwdriver and grabbing her hand. "Son of a bitch!"

"Shit," I sighed, standing up and rushing over to her. "Are you okay?"

"Yeah," she said softly, looking down at her hand, which was beginning to turn red and had a dark red mark from the electrical burn she'd just gotten. Part of me was concerned, the other part of me was agitated. I'd told her to be careful, and it seemed like she was just purposely ignoring me now. She'd been bitching for days about me coddling her, and she was pushing back in a big way. She could push back all she wanted, but not when it involved endangering our developing child.

"Seriously, Sam? Common sense, metal screwdriver, plugged in light...ZAP!" Brad exclaimed, and Sam shot him a death glare.

"Yes, I'm aware of that, thank you Brad. I'm just a little bit scatterbrained right now."

"Like I said, let someone else do this," I replied, grabbing her hand and looking over it. "That looks really bad. From now on, let me worry about the lights, okay?"

"Freddie," she started, but I cut her off.

"No! You could have seriously electrocuted yourself...and the baby! Quit being so careless, Sam!"

"I am not careless!" she shouted. "I forgot!" She glared at me, and I glared right back at her, in no mood to have a power struggle in the middle of a run-through, and especially not over something like this. She was being completely nonchalant about the fact that she'd just been hit with a massive amount of electricity, and I was NOT cool with that!

"You guys, please?" Carly asked, looking up from her notes. "Sam, go stick your hand under a cold tap. Freddie, calm down."

"Fine," Sam replied with a roll of her eyes, shooting another irritated look at me, before pulling away to head to the bathroom.

"Actually, warm water works better, it's homeothermic, and...what?" Brad asked as we all stared at him. "Sometimes I pay attention in class!"

"Whatever, man. Shut the power supply off to that light, then toss me that box of bolts, this one's fucked now."

"Did she really zap it that bad?" Carly asked, concerned, and I nodded.

"She's lucky she didn't get killed."

"Dude, cut her some slack, she's got a lot on her mind right now," Brad commented, and I just waved him off.

"Well, so do I, and I'm not walking around sticking metal objects in live electrical wires!"

Carly made a disgusted noise, and I glared at her. "Comments, Carly?"

"Yeah. I got a comment," she replied, staring me down.

"Oh yeah? Let's hear it."

"Quit acting like you're smarter than everybody. It's annoying."

I rolled my eyes. "Thank for the constructive criticism, pal."

"Yeah? Here's another. Stop treating your wife with kid gloves, or as soon as she pops that baby out, she'll kick your ass, or divorce you, or both."

I glared at her again. "Seriously, Carly? Why don't you..."

"Alright!" Brad shouted, stepping between us. "Both of you shut up! Everybody just get back to work, so we can finish this damn thing! I have a very important date, with a pizza, that I'd like to get to pretty damn soon!"

"Fine," I grumbled. "Sorry, Carly."

"Yeah. Me too. Kinda."

"Ugh," I said with a roll of my eyes. "I wish Melanie would hurry up and get here so Sam can stop being all..."

"Sam?" Brad filled in. "Come on, she's being how she normally is when she's stressed. You're the one who's on edge."

"How so?" I asked, and Brad shrugged.

"Your girl's not made of glass, bro. She can handle shit."

"Did you miss her breakdown in the middle of the floor three hours ago?" I asked, and he shrugged again.

"No, but...come on, you know Sam. Once she gets that out of her system, she gets bitchy, then once that wears off, she's back to normal."

"So, first you're a director, then you're a doctor, now you're a therapist, all in five minutes? Wow you wear a lot of hats," I stated, and he shot me an annoyed look.

"Speaking of hats, you're being an asshat, dude!" Brad replied, and I looked at him quizzically.

"What the hell does that even mean?" I responded.

"I...I don't know! I'm hungry! Quit bitching like a girl and let's finish this shit!"

"Ugh, fine," I replied, throwing my hands in the air.

The door creaked open, and Melanie walked in with Emily. "Alright, I'm here! Where's Sam?"

"Right behind you," Sam said, walking in, a cloth wrapped around her hand. She acted like she wasn't bothered by it, but I could read all over her face that it hurt, she was slightly embarrassed, and her pride was trying to override it.

"Oh my god, what happened to your hand?" Melanie asked, and Sam shrugged.

"Live wire."

"Sam!" Melanie scolded her, but she shut up when Sam shot her a look.

"Don't worry about it, I'm fine," she replied. "Okay, so, thanks for getting back in a timely fashion!"

Melanie shrugged. "The movie ran long. And so did the shopping."

"Whatever. We gotta talk."

"About what?" Melanie replied. "Is this about the shower?"

Brad's eyes widened, and he shot me a Look, but I ignored it. I was too irritated to perv out right now.

"Wait, what?" Carly cried, leaping to her feet. "What's going on with the shower?"

"Oh...nothing," Melanie said quickly, shooting a look over at Emily.

"Oh, god. Why do I even ask? I tell myself all the time, Carly quit asking questions, because you don't want to know the answer. But do I listen? No. Never. Not once..." Carly began muttering to herself, but Sam and Melanie ignored her.

"This isn't about the shower, Mel," Sam replied. "It's about mom."

Melanie stared at her for a second. "What about her?" she asked quietly.

"Her case is getting appealed," Sam replied. "She might get out."

"What?" Melanie cried. "How...how is that even possible? She sold drugs! She had them in the trailer! Massive amounts! She broke the law, Sam! How could they let her out?"

"Well...not exactly," Sam said weakly.

"What?" Melanie responded, confused. "What do you mean, not exactly?"

"It...she never sold drugs, okay? It was a set up."

Brad and Carly shot worried looks over at each other, but I just stood there, arms crossed over my chest, waiting for the drama to begin. It was obvious Sam hadn't really clued Melanie in on much, and it was about to come out, right now, in the middle of a run-through. Well, wasn't this just perfect!

Melanie's eyes narrowed. "How do you know it was a set up?"

"Inside information," Sam replied quietly, and Melanie's eyebrows went up.

"Inside information? You don't do inside information, Sam. You do inside jobs! What did you do?"

"I didn't do anything!" Sam said defensively. "But somebody else did."

"Why?" Melanie cried, and Sam just shrugged.

"To...to protect me," Sam said. "To make sure I was safe. Come on, Mel. You know how it was. She just left us wide open to be attacked by whoever she happened to be seeing, whatever bad situation came our way..."

Melanie cut her off, giving her sister a surprised and angry look. "So, let me get this straight...because something bad happened to you, that someone else did...you...or someone else, so you say...planted drugs in our mother's trailer? Drugs that carried a twenty five year sentence? You ruined her life because of a bad judgment call?"

"Bad judgment call?" Sam asked. "Are you kidding me? After what happened to you, how can you say that?"

"She's got mental problems, Sam! Like real ones! She needed to be hospitalized, not put in prison! I can't believe this shit! Regardless of what happened to me, and whatever happened to you, she's still our MOTHER! How could you do this?"

"I didn't!" Sam cried, backing away. She had a wounded expression on her face, and I was pretty sure it wasn't from the electrical burn. I was literally biting my tongue. I'd told Sam I'd let her handle it, but if Melanie kept talking the way she was, I was going to have to butt in!

Melanie shook her head. "I don't believe you! What could she have possibly done to deserve that? What happened to you that was so bad that you had to set her up to do hard time?"

Sam didn't respond, just looked down at the ground, her arms going around herself, the way she did when she was upset and trying not to show it. I hated when she did that, she looked so small and helpless, and it brought out my inner caveman, ready to protect my wife from any and everything that would dare try to hurt her. Okay, that would be my cue to step in! I tried really hard to let Sam handle this one, but there was no way in hell I wanted her to have to start talking about all that shit and have to relive it. Every time the Bill situation got brought up, she'd have a breakdown, and then the nightmares would start again, and...I didn't want to go through that. I didn't want her to go through that.

"Melanie, shut your mouth," I growled. "You wanna bitch at somebody over this? Bitch at me. Because I'm the one that did it."

"What?" Melanie exclaimed. "Why?"

I looked over at Sam. "She really doesn't know?"

"No," Sam said softly, and I walked over to her, kissing her on the forehead.

"Baby, go downstairs. I gotta have a talk with my sister-in-law here."

"Freddie, no! I don't want her to know! I don't want it to keep coming up, okay? Let's just forget about it! Forget I said anything!"

"Nope. Go downstairs."

"No!" she cried. "I'm not leaving!"

"Baby, you don't need to hear what I'm about to say, you already lived through it. Just go downstairs."

"No!"

I glanced over at Brad and Carly, who were trying to look busy, but failing miserably. "Guys?"

"On it," Brad responded, walking over to Sam and giving her a Look, and she just growled at him.

"If you try to pick me up, I will bite you."

"It's cool, I've had my shots," he responded.

"Not over the shoulder, growing baby," I reminded him, and he nodded, before looking at Sam and picking her up.

"Put me down, dammit! Brad!" Sam hollered, kicking her legs furiously, but he just ignored her.

"Settle down, blondie. I'll make you some fudge."

"Fuck you and your fudge!" I heard her scream as he carried her out of the room. I knew Brad was going to have his hands full for the next few minutes, but he could handle it. He and Sam butted heads all the time, and he had a way with her that would end up getting me kicked out of the room and forced to sleep on the couch. It bugged me, but it was a different kind of relationship than what I had with Sam, so he had a different way of dealing with her. Thank god, because if he were to resort to some of my more "creative" ways of handling her, I'd have to kill him, and I would really hate to do that.

"Carly! Carly look-alike! Out!" Brad called, and Carly and Emily both rolled their eyes before walking out of the room, leaving me alone with Melanie. She didn't waste any time jumping down my throat.

"You set her up so you could marry Sam, am I right?" Melanie asked, glaring at me, and I shook my head.

"You are so far-off it's not even funny," I replied. "I married Sam so she could get emancipated, and get away from your mother. The set up came later."

Melanie was silent for a moment, before sighing. "Freddie, why? I thought you were a good guy."

"I can't believe Sam didn't tell you what happened," I replied.

"So you tell me," she said, and I leaned against the desk, taking a deep breath. I hated talking about this, but Mel needed to know the truth.

"The first week of summer, before senior year, Carly and Spencer were out of town, and I was in my mom's apartment, and I found Sam banging on the apartment door, beaten up like hell, absolutely hysterical. She was bleeding, bruised...I had to stitch your sister's head up, Mel. And this is back when we...pretended to hate each other. And it was your mom's boyfriend, Bill. He tried to rape her, but she fought back. And instead of getting raped, she got the shit kicked out of her. And your 'mentally ill' mother? She got in a few hits on Sam too."

Melanie didn't say anything, just stared at me, and I continued.

"So, from that point on, she stayed with me, ran away to Vegas, I went after her, we ended up getting married to get her emancipated, you know that part. So everything's fine, and then one night while I'm at the gym, Bill broke in to the apartment."

Melanie's eyes widened. "What happened?"

I sighed. "Broken cheekbone, broken arm, he dislocated her shoulders...and he shattered, and when I say that I am not exaggerating, he SHATTERED my wife's, your sister's, ribcage. She almost bled to death. Technically she did die. She had to be resuscitated twice. Blood transfusion, lengthy hospitalization, the whole deal. It was bad. I came very close to losing her."

"Oh my god!" Melanie cried. "I can't believe she didn't tell me about this!"

I shook my head. "She doesn't like to talk about it."

"So...I still don't see how this whole thing ends up with you planting drugs in my mother's trailer."

"I'm getting to that part. You know Brad's dad is a detective?"

"Yeah..."

"You know who his partner was? It was Bill."

"Oh god," she said. "What did you do?"

I bit my lip. "Brad, Spencer, Gibby and I...we took care of him. Beat him up pretty badly. With a bat."

"Holy shit! But...wow," she breathed. "I cannot picture that at all. Especially not from Spencer...or...Gibby! Say, where is Gibs anyway?"

"You'll see him tomorrow when we shoot. Anyway, it's not something I ever pictured myself doing, you know? But...it's Sam. I'd do anything to protect her. And what happened to her...it hit everyone really hard, not just me. So...we beat the shit out of him, put him in the hospital, and Carly's dad does re-con and finds out the guy's a draft dodger."

"So..."

"So he's rotting in a military prison as we speak. For that, and for the drugs. We planted them. He lived with your mom, she got caught in the crossfires, what can I say? But I mean...she did nothing that entire time Sam was going through this. And she did nothing when...what happened to you happened. She sent you away, Mel! Can you honestly sit there and say she doesn't deserve to be in prison right now? Even if she's innocent on the drug thing, she's guilty of being a shitty mother, and of being abusive, and just...being a horrible person! The world doesn't need people like that in it!"

Melanie sighed. "I get what you're saying, Freddie, but still. It's a lot to take in. I mean, part of me hates her, but another part of me...she's still my mother."

"I get that, Mel. But...Sam's my wife. Nobody comes before her. I would kill anyone who tried to hurt her, without a moment's hesitation."

Melanie stared at me for a moment. "You really do love her, don't you?"

"You have no idea," I responded. "She's my life. And I almost lost her because of your mother, and because of your mother's boyfriend. She got what she deserved."

"Maybe so," Melanie replied. "But who are you to decide that?"

I shrugged. "I dunno. But I don't want you bringing this up with Sam again, got it? It puts her in a really, really bad place."

"Did you ever think she might feel guilty about all of it?"

"I know she does, deep down," I replied with a nod. "But what's done is done, we can't agonize over it, we just have to move on with life."

"Freddie, she's about to become a mother, do you honestly think you can wrap up all her issues with her own mother in a neat little package, and that's going to be it?" Melanie asked. Ugh, she had a point. I hadn't even thought about that, no wonder she'd been overly agitated with me lately, especially over the whole "not being weak" issue. I had to think long and hard about how to deal with that.

"I don't know, Mel. I just have to help her deal with it. That's the only thing I can do."

"Well...I know you can handle that part, there's not a doubt in my mind. But for the record, I don't agree with how you handled things."

"What should I have done instead, Mel?" I gruffed. "Let that asshole go free? So he could do that to some other girl? He tried to rape and nearly killed a sixteen year old girl, Mel! Do you not get that?"

"No, I agree, that bastard deserved what he got! But...even when I hated my mom, and yeah, a big part of me still does...I've always known she needed help, not punishment." She shrugged. "I'm sorry, I just...I don't know what else to say. I just...I don't support this."

"Fine," I replied. "We'll agree to disagree?"

"I guess so. Let's hope the appeal goes through."

My brow furrowed. "You want her to get appealed?"

"Yes! She didn't do what she's being punished for, Freddie! Maybe she can get some actual help now!"

"And maybe she can try to retaliate while she's at it," I shot back, becoming irritated, and Melanie just shook her head.

"I'm not too worried about anything happening to my sister as long as you're in the picture, Freddie," she replied. "You're kind of a know-it-all, a little too uppity at times, and you tend to overreact on everything, but despite all that, you're pretty cool sometimes, and...you're good for my sister. And I know she loves you."

I didn't respond, just nodded.

"But Sam didn't have anything to do with it?"

"Nope," I replied. "She didn't even know anything about it, until it was over and done with."

Melanie nodded. "Okay. Well, I can't be mad at her, I guess."

"Please don't. I don't think she can handle that right now."

"Yeah, I know," she replied.

"And don't bring it up to her, got it?"

"Yeah, I got it," she replied, before turning to leave, but my hand went to her shoulder.

"Mel, we're cool, right?"

She turned around to look at me, and I couldn't quite read her face. It was very odd, looking at someone who looked almost exactly like my wife and not being able to read her.

"I'm not sure, honestly."

"Okay," I replied. "Well, when you figure it out, let me know."

"Yeah. You want me to send your...co-workers back up here?"

"Please. We've gotta finish this. And...for what it's worth, I'm sorry all this like...upset you."

She shrugged. "Apologize to my mom. When she gets out."

With that, she left the room, leaving me alone, and I sat down, my mind running over what just happened. It had all happened awhile ago, over three years, and we were just kids back then. After we'd done what we did, I hadn't given it a second thought, they deserved it, and that was the end of it. But had we been right after all? Not with Bill, but with Sam's mom? Was she really the monster we all thought she was, or was Melanie right, did she really just have mental problems and need help? I couldn't be sure.

But one thing WAS for sure. I didn't care if she was completely evil or just mentally ill, the woman was NEVER coming near my wife or child. No matter what.

~*Carly*~

"Should we be doing this?" Sam asked me nervously as I flipped through my index cards one final time. "I don't think we should do it."

It was twenty minutes before we had to start shooting iCarly, and we were all a little bit keyed up. It was a pretty major episode. For one thing, all the Christmas season episodes were, and for another, tonight was the night we were going to announce Sam's pregnancy to the entire internet. We wanted to get it done and over with, before she started to show. One thing we'd learned about PR over the years, it was better to tackle the problem firsthand instead of letting rumors run rampant. I wasn't too concerned over it, the response from fans when Freddie and Sam had gotten married had been amazing, I knew a baby would be just as well received.

"Sam, we have to do it eventually," I reminded her, and she just took a deep breath.

"Can't it wait?" she asked, and I shook my head.

"Baby, what are you so worried about?" Freddie called as he fiddled with the camera. "It's gonna be fine!"

"Are you sure?" Sam asked. "What about like...backlash?"

"Sam! There's not gonna be any backlash! I mean, confetti practically covered the entire internet when it got out that you and Freddie were married...the Seddie shippers went nuts! Can you imagine what a big deal it's going to be when you announce you're pregnant?" I replied, trying to talk some sense into her. "Besides, the way we're gonna do it, it'll be perfect!"

"I'm still a little unsure," she responded.

I rolled my eyes. "Oh, Freddie?"

"Yes?" he asked, looking up at me, and I smirked at him.

"Operation Calm Sam the Hell Down! Do your thing!"

He just gave me a grin, setting the camera down on the desk. "On it," he replied, and before Sam could protest, he pulled her into his arms, dipping her backwards and planting a fierce, intense kiss on her lips. I couldn't help but laugh a little as Sam's arms went around his neck, and she began kissing him back in earnest, quickly forgetting about her nerves.

"And that operation is a success," I commented, doing a little victory dance.

"I dunno, I'm a little nervous," Brad said.

"Dude, I am not kissing you," Freddie muttered against Sam's lips, and Brad rolled his eyes.

"Yes, thank you, Freddie. Was talking to Carly."

I rolled my eyes. "Sweetheart, nervous and horny are not the same thing."

"Oh yeah, I keep forgetting that part," he responded. "But can't you just humor me, babe?"

"Oh, alright," I teased him, before walking over to him and kissing him.

"Jesus Christ, it's like being back under the bleachers at Ridgeway," Melanie commented as she walked in. "You guys break it up!"

Nobody responded, but Brad did manage to flip her off without pulling away from me, and Melanie just snarled at him.

"Hello, horny teenagers! Gibby's here!" Melanie said.

"Finally!" I cried, pulling myself away from Brad, who just groaned in disappointment, before bounding over to Gibby. "Gibs!" I gave him a big hug. "Oh my god, we missed you! iCarly just isn't the same without you!"

"Yeah, well, higher education comes first," he replied.

"How's life in LA?" I asked, and he shrugged.

"Pretty good. But LA's a weird city...the girls don't appreciate my uniqueness very much."

I rolled my eyes. "I told you you should've moved to Portland instead."

"Or just stayed here," Brad added, slapping Gibby on the back. "How you doing man? Ready for this?"

"I guess," Gibby said with a shrug. "But I dunno if this is gonna top Sidney Claus, or San Tu Claus."

Gibby was, of course, referring to our running gag of iCarly Christmas season shows being co-hosted by one of Santa's "cousins". The first year had been Sidney Claus, Santa's Jewish cousin, and San Tu Claus was his Mexican cousin. We dressed Gibby up in a different costume each time, but keeping the red and white fur theme of the Santa Claus outfit. This year, I was sure we were going to outdo ourselves, and I snorted at Gibby's comment.

"Come on, an angry German Santa von Klaus? This one could be our best one yet!" I cried. "The costume's all ready, so go ahead and go get dressed."

"Okay," he replied, before glancing over at Sam and Freddie. "I'd say hi, but..."

"Yeah, they wouldn't respond anyway. Oh, Gibs? One more thing..."

"Yeah?"

"Um...you know how you can't even pry those two off each other with a crowbar?"

"Uh-huh..." he replied, a quizzical expression on his face.

"Well...it finally caught up with them," Brad replied.

"No way..." Gibby said, his eyes wide. "You mean...Sam is...with child?"

"Yep!" I replied, bouncing a little. "Isn't it cool?"

"Oh my god, it's a Christmas miracle!" Gibby exclaimed, and Brad snorted.

"Yeah, but Virgin Mary, Sam is not...OW!" Brad hollered suddenly, rubbing the back of his head. He looked down, frowning, before bending down to pick up what had just hit him. "Sam! Why did you throw a shoe at me?"

"Because you're an ass," she said flatly. "You know, just because I'd rather make out with Freddie than be a part of your conversation doesn't mean I can't hear you! Now give me my shoe back!"

"Nope," Brad responded, walking over to the window, and Sam pulled away from Freddie, her hands on her hips.

"Brad, I swear to god, if you don't give me back my damn shoe..."

"What? This sneaker here?" Brad asked, opening the window. "Let's see if it can fly..."

"Brad, no!" Sam shouted, advancing toward him, and before anyone could yell at Brad, he dropped Sam's shoe out the window.

"Whoops, it can't," Brad responded with a grin.

"You owe me eighty bucks!" Sam yelled.

"I'll give you forty," Brad replied. "I only got rid of one of them."

"It's a set, you idiot!" Sam screamed, and the two began arguing.

"Oh my god, you guys!" I started, but we were all cut off by the sound of a loud, painful-sounding shriek. Sam and Brad's eyes widened, and they rushed over to the window, looking out of it.

"Holy hell!" Sam exclaimed, turning to look at Brad. He did the same to her, and they just stared for a second, before suddenly high fiving.

"That was incredible!" Brad shouted. "Do you realize that could not have happened if I tried? That was fate, Sam! I swear to god!"

"I am so not mad at you anymore! Was that my Christmas present?"

"Merry fucking Christmas, blondie!" Brad stated with a grin, and they fist-bumped, leaving the rest of us utterly perplexed.

"What the hell just happened?" Freddie asked. "Don't tell me. The sneaker just hit..."

"Lewbert?" Sam replied. "Oh yeah. Christmas Lumps for Lewbert!"

"Sam! There is no such thing as Christmas Lumps!" I scolded her, and she just grinned at me.

"There is now! And now I'm ready to film! Nerves have left the building!"

I just sighed, rolling my eyes. "Poor Lewbert..."

~*Sam*~

"Two minutes!" Freddie called, before sitting down on the desk next to me, where I was swinging my legs back and forth frantically, the way I always did when I was nervous, and Freddie put his hand on my leg. I looked up at him, biting my lip, and he just gave me that sweet look with those beautiful brown eyes. I can read all his looks effortlessly, and this one meant "I love you." I took a deep breath, trying to calm my nerves, and he leaned toward me, kissing me on the cheek.

"Relax, sweetheart. You know this'll go over well."

"I hope so," I replied softly. "But I keep wondering if the opposite will happen...I mean...maybe we should have notified the advertisers...and the affiliates...what if they drop us or something?"

"For what?" Freddie asked, shaking his head. "We're married. This is what married people do. They have babies."

"I hope you're right," I replied, and he just smirked at me.

"When am I not right?"

"Well, the other day...you said there was no way I could flip Brad, that he was way stronger than me now..."

"Okay, that one thing..."

"I'm still super pissed about that, Sam!" Brad hollered. "I think you bruised my kidney!"

"Oh, walk it off!" I grunted, waving him off, before looking at Freddie. "You honestly and truly think it'll be okay?"

"Yeah, it'll be fine, gorgeous. Better to do it now then wait until you've started to show..."

"Not much longer," I commented. "Probably two months or so..."

"I can't wait," he replied, kissing me. "You'll look so cute."

"You really think so?"

"I know so." He looked down at his watch. "One minute. Get ready, sweetheart."

"Okay," I replied, standing up. "Yo, Gibby! You ready?"

"I'm ready!" he called, before walking out from the back. "Well?"

"Oh my god!" Freddie said, laughing. "Yeah, this one's gonna be awesome."

We'd manage to re-create a German military uniform in red velvet with white fur trim, right down to the hat, and Gibby had a pair of shiny black combat boots to top it all off, holding a riding crop.

"Wow..." Carly trailed off, shaking her head. "We really outdid ourselves this time..."

"Silence!" Gibby shouted, slapping the riding crop against his boot. "Santa Von Klaus vill not tolerate back-talk from ze naughty chilwren!"

His German accent was so incredibly on, it was taking everything we had in us not to keep from falling over laughing. Freddie could barely hold the camera, and Brad was leaning against the desk, his hand covering his mouth.

"Alright, everyone shut up!" Freddie said, still laughing. "Places! In five, four, three, two..."

"I'm Carly, and I've been a good girl this Christmas!"

"I'm Sam, and I've never been good a day in my life!"

"And this is..."

"ICARLY!" We shouted together, doing a little dance.

"Welcome to the Christmas countdown Spectacular!" Carly said. "We've got some pretty awesome stuff in store for you guys tonight! We've got another one of Brad's Shorts about Shorts, a special Christmas edition of What Am I Sitting On..."

"She wouldn't let me use pinecones," I interrupted with a grimace, and Carly just grinned, before continuing.

"And then, of course, we're gonna get a visit from Santa's Family Tree!" Carly exclaimed. "As you know, Santa's got a lot of relatives..."

"His mother and her sisters really get around."

"So what corner of the globe will we have a relative from tonight?" Carly asked. "Stay tuned, and find out!"

The show went off like a hitch, as per usual, but I was absolutely dreading the moment when I'd have to blurt out to everyone that I was pregnant. Still, I kept it in...acting like I wasn't nervous. That was my job, and as long as I had a camera pointed at me, I did it pretty well. Finally though, the moment had come.

"Well, as usual, Santa was too busy to stop by the iCarly studio, so we had to make due with one of his relatives. Sidney Claus was unable to make it. He had tickets to see Barbara Streisand in concert tonight, and San Tu Claus...well...he tried, but...yeah. Too much tequila," I stated.

"So, we're proud...and a little bit afraid, to present, all the way from Germany, Santa von Klaus!" Carly said, jumping up and down.

"Silence!" Gibby yelled as he walked onto frame. "Naughty, evil chilwren! Zees ees outrageous!"

"Guten-tag, von Klaus!" Carly said brightly, extending her hand, and Gibby pretended to hit her hand with the riding crop, Brad handling the special effects sounds to make it sound like it had actually hit, and hit hard.

"I vill not tolerate such insolence!" Gibby shouted. "No coal for you!"

"Uh, von Klaus, coal is for naughty children," I replied.

"No! Zee naughty chilwren, they get beatings!"

"Care to sit in your chair, von Klaus?" Carly asked.

"Wunderbar," Gibby replied, sitting down, and Carly plopped down in his lap. "Vat ees this insolence?"

"I wanted to tell you what I want for Christmas. Can I have a pony?"

"I shot zee pony!" he shouted, before looking at me. "You! Leetle girl, vat do you vant for Christmas?"

Oh god, here it comes! I looked over at Freddie, and he just gave me an encouraging smile.

"I...I already have what I want for Christmas."

"And vat ees that?" Gibby asked.

"A baby," I replied. Oh man! I couldn't believe I'd just said it out loud, to the entire internet! I wouldn't be surprised if the entire web caved in right now!

Freddie took over, turning the camera towards him. "You hear that? Sam, my wife, just said it. She's pregnant. We're having a baby!"

"WHOOO!" Carly shouted, jerking the remote out of my hand and hitting the audience cheer button.

"Outrageous!" Gibby shouted. "You are zee naughtiest girl ever!"

"Yeah, I am, but it sure is fun!"

"What, making babies?" Carly asked with a grin, elbowing me, and I nodded.

"Definitely," I replied. "You should try it sometime, Carls."

Carly grabbed the riding crop out of Gibby's hand and whacked me on the butt with it. "Such insolence!" With that, she turned back to the camera. "Well, that's it, people! There you have it! Santa von Klaus will be back next week to answer your Christmas letters, and we'll be constantly monitoring the size of Sam's baby belly! Until then, don't eat the mistletoe..."

"...always floss before biting people..."

"...and never stop watching iCarly! We're out!"

"Aaaaand we're clear!" Freddie said as he shut down the webcast. "Good show, you guys!"

"You didn't have to hit me so hard with that thing though, Carly!" I yelled, grabbing the riding crop out of her hand and smacking her with it.

"Ow!" she hollered, reaching for it, but I just ran away from her, hiding behind Freddie, surprised when he jerked it out of my hand, giving me a mischievous grin.

"Don't even think about it," I warned.

"What, this?" he asked, smacking me lightly on the butt with it, and I growled at him, reaching for the crop, but he just held it out of my reach. "What will you give me for it?"

"This," I responded, grabbing his shirt collar and jerking him down to me, pressing my mouth against his. While he was occupied, I grabbed the riding crop out of his hand and hit him as hard as I possibly could on the ass, before giving him a grin and running out of the room.

"Sam! Get your ass back here! It's payback time!"

"You gotta catch me first!" I yelled, running down the stairs.


	11. Chapter 11: Make a Move

**A/N: Got the internet back! Yay! Anyway, transitional chapter, things will start picking up speed in the next few chapters!**

**Chapter Eleven:  
><strong>**Make A Move**

~*Freddie*~

"I want this one!" Sam cried, running a circle around the tree she was pointing at and examining it carefully. "It's perfect!"

"Sam, it's too big!" I responded, glaring at the large, intimidating looking tree she was currently freaking out over. "That's a damn seven foot tall tree!"

"So?" she replied. "It'll fit!"

"Yeah but...baby...we don't need a tree THAT big, come on!"

Sam glared at me, her hands on her hips. "I want this one."

"Do you know what an epic pain in the ass it's going to be to get that thing upstairs? Why do you hate me and Brad so much? Making us move a tree that big all the way up to our apartment is nothing short of sadism!"

"Where is Brad anyway?" she asked. "I need back-up."

I shook my head. "Brad's not gonna back you up on this one, he's still in the car, pouting."

Sam rolled her eyes. "Ugh, seriously?"

"Yes, baby. You know Christmas is not a good time for him. His family just left to go to Tacoma, and Heather's still not talking to him."

Once again, we'd put off tree buying for too long, and now the only ones left on the lot were the itty-bitty and the tragically oversized, and ever since our first Christmas together, Sam had started taking the holidays Very Seriously. There was no way she'd be happy with a small tree, and I didn't want anything about Christmas to be off for her. It was already going to be pretty off for Brad, like always, and his dislike for Christmas tended to rub off on Carly like a contagious disease. No way in hell would I put up with three pissed off people over the holidays! I was still figuring out how to cheer Brad up, short of getting drunk, I didn't know where to start, and of course, we weren't about to let that happen. I knew if he didn't cheer up, and cheer up soon, Sam was going to let him have it, because she was already getting annoyed with him.

"Well, that doesn't mean he needs to be a Scrooge right now!" she replied. "It's our last Christmas before we become parents, I'm not gonna put up with him sulking like he did last year!"

"Baby, what do you expect? We're just lucky he's not drinking his feelings away right now! Cut him some slack, he's actually doing really good, he's just having a rough time right now."

Sam sighed, running her gloved hand over the tree. "Why is everybody in such a bad mood right now? Brad's acting like a little kid, Carly's being...weird...and something's up with Melanie. You never did tell me what you two talked about."

I tried to ignore what she'd just said, walking over to the tree she was eyeing. "So this one's the one you want, huh?" I asked brightly, trying to take her mind off the subject, and she nodded, before her eyes narrowed suspiciously.

"Did you and Melanie get in a fight?"

"It might not be too big after all, I think it'd be perfect right in front of the window..."

"Freddie!" she shouted, glaring at me. "Stop brushing over my questions. Did you and my sister have a fight?"

"Not exactly," I responded. "But...I don't know what to say, Sam. Your sister and I have very different views on what happened with Pam."

"Well, she wasn't there," Sam said softly. "Does she think what we...how things got handled, was wrong?"

"She thinks your mom needs mental help, not incarceration."

"Well, I disagree," she replied stoically. "And like I said, she wasn't there."

"Look, I don't really want to get into a lengthy discussion in the freezing cold in the middle of a tree lot, but...we've never really talked about all of that."

"All of what?" Sam asked quizzically. "It happened, we dealt with it, game over. What's there to talk about?"

"I dunno, baby. I just...I wonder if you've got some stuff buried deep down that you've never really talked about."

"I talk about everything with you," she said softly. "I always have."

"I know, sweetheart," I replied, kissing her. "Look, let's not do this right now. You sure you want that tree?"

"Yes!" Sam exclaimed, bouncing up and down. "It's really pretty!"

I sighed. "I still think it's too big, but if that's what you want..."

Sam gave me a mischievous grin. "You know, I thought something else may have been too big at first, but I still wanted it...and look how that turned out."

I laughed. "Yeah, yeah. Alright, fine, let me go get Brad, you go track down a salesperson."

"No! What if someone else tries to buy the tree?"

"Sam, everyone else is afraid of this damn behemoth!" I replied. "It's fine! Nobody's gonna come along and buy it in the next minute!"

"Fine," she grumbled, kicking snow at me, and I gave her a Look.

"Seriously, sweetheart?" I asked, and she shrugged. I sighed, shaking my head. "What's got you so cranky? Are you sick, or do you just need food?"

"I'm tired," she replied, and my eyebrows went up.

"You were just bouncing around the tree, and now you're tired?"

"Ugh! I don't know!" Sam replied, her arms flopping down to her side pitifully. "My body's acting so friggin' weird these days...I get sad, then happy, then hungry, then sick, then energetic, then tired...all within like...ten minutes. I feel like I'm going crazy!"

"It's okay, baby. Just hormones, nothing's wrong with you. Let's hurry up and get this done, we'll get you home, then you can sleep for a little while. Does your back hurt at all? You said it was bothering you earlier."

She shook her head. "My legs hurt right now."

"Then I'll rub those instead," I replied, kissing her on the end of her nose. "I'll go get Brad, be right back." I turned to walk towards the car, and got a few steps away, before Sam yelled at me.

"Wait!" she cried, and I turned around. "What about wreaths?"

"Wha- but..." I started, but stopped short when I saw the hopeful look on her face. She was so adorable when it came to Christmas, she'd get so excited, acting like an energetic little girl, there was practically nothing I wouldn't give her, even if they were overpriced tree branches bent into a circle. "Okay, fine, we'll get some of those too, okay?"

"And new ornaments. We'll need more, because it's a bigger tree," Sam said, starting to get that giddy look on her face again.

"Alright, those too. Anything else?"

"New lights?" she asked hopefully.

"Okay, baby!" I laughed. "But that's enough, alright? You know we won't even be spending most of Christmas day at the apartment anyway, we'll be at Spencer and April's."

"Those damn ritzy artsy-fartsies better not try to out-decorate me, or I swear to god..." she grumbled, but I just left her to rant to herself, turning around and walking to the car to get Brad out.

"Oh, Braddiekins!" I yelled, tapping on the glass, and he just peered up at me from the backseat, looking thoroughly disgruntled. I hit the unlock button on my keyring and opened the door. "Get out, dude. You gotta help me haul this gigantic tree around."

"Gigantic?" he gruffed. "How gigantic?"

"Wait what are we talking about?" I asked with a grin. "Christmas trees, or my..."

"Dude, shut up!" Brad said with a laugh, shoving me. "The tree!"

"Oh, right. Well, this one is a seven-footer."

"Is that one the little woman wants?" Brad responded, and I nodded.

"That is what the little woman demands. And if a mammoth sized Douglas Fir is the only thing standing between me and sofa-sleeping, she's gonna get it."

"Yeah, but I have to suffer too! We gotta maneuver that thing up the stairs!"

"Aw, come on, dude, we got this," I replied. "We may not even have to go to the gym afterwards!"

"Yeah, but...I kinda need to go..."

"Still trying to bulk up?" I teased, and he gave me a death glare.

"No," he said flatly. "Never mind."

"Come on dude, sorry! What's up?"

"I gotta talk to you about something, that's all."

I sighed, playing with the zipper on my jacket. "This sounds serious. Did Sam sneak into the closet and tie all your shoes together again?"

"No, nothing like that...I just...I don't want to talk about this in front of the girls, that's all."

"Ohhh...kayyyy," I said slowly. "Fine. Let's just get this tree business handled. Where the hell is Sam?"

"Miss, let go of my arm, I'll be there in a second!" I heard someone yell, and Brad and I rolled our eyes.

"Probably over there," Brad said.

~*Sam*~

"Oh my god, be careful!" I yelled as the boys tried to maneuver the tree into the apartment. "You'll hurt Herman the Third!"

"Sam, we are not going to hurt your tree, relax," Freddie told me as he tried to push the tree through the door, before turning to Brad. "Dude, squeeze through there, you pull, I'll push."

"I can't fit through there!" Brad responded, and Freddie gave him a Look. "Oh fine," he grumbled, trying to smush past the tree and into the apartment, but he only made it about halfway through, flailing around pathetically. "Oh my god, are you serious? Sam! Fuck this tree! Herman the Third is hurting ME!"

"Oh my god, you're such a pansy!" I yelled. "Move!"

"I can't move, are you kidding me? I'm an ornament now!"

I just sighed, my hands going to Brad's side and giving him a quick, hard shove, rolling my eyes as I heard him land on the hallway floor with a thud.

"Sam!" Freddie scolded me from behind the tree. "Chill!"

"You guys are making this way more difficult than it has to be," I responded. "Look, I'll pull, you push, and so help me god, if one branch gets bent, I'll..."

"Kick our asses, yeah, we got it," Brad said flatly. "Let's just get this over with, okay? The gym's calling."

After a few seconds, we managed to get the tree through the door, and I flopped onto the couch to let the boys handle the rest of the work, laying my head back. I was absolutely exhausted; this baby was zapping all of my energy. I needed a good, long nap snuggled up to Freddie, and then I wanted to eat my weight in sandwiches, screw Freddie, and then repeat. Nap, eat, sex, repeat. Nap, eat, sex, repeat. Sounded like a damn good plan to me!

I watched as Brad and Freddie struggled to get the tree up in front of the window next to the stairs, Brad bitching the entire time, and then they finally finished. Brad let out an annoyed growl, kicking the tree's base.

"Stupid fucking tree!" He yelled. "I HATE Christmas, I swear to god!"

I sat up like a shot, glaring at him. "You kick Herman the Third again and I'm gonna kick your ass, Brad!"

Brad just rolled his eyes. "Bring it, baby mama!" he stated, and my eyebrows went up.

"Oh really?" I asked, bending down to grab a can of fake snow, before hopping over the couch and spraying him with it. "Bring this!"

"Sam!" Freddie yelled, grabbing me around my waist. "Drop the snow cannon."

"But..."

"Drop it!" he replied. "I can't take both of you acting like kids!"

"I am not acting like a kid," I replied, before glaring at Brad and firing off with the fake snow one last time. I thought for sure Freddie would lose his cool and start yelling at me again, but he just looked over at Brad, covered in fake snow, and then back at me, biting his lips to keep from laughing.

"I...never mind. I dunno what I'm saying," he replied, shaking his head.

"What does that mean?" I asked, my hands on my hips, feeling slightly insulted.

"Nothing. Just that you get a free pass to act like a kid around the holidays," he replied, kissing me on my forehead, and I melted a little bit. Even when I was behaving like a brat, I still had the sweetest husband ever. I was lucky as hell, and sometimes I forgot about that.

"Can we go lay down now?" I asked softly, and he shook his head.

"Can we rain check that, baby? I gotta do some business stuff, and then Brad and I are gonna go to the gym."

"But..." I started, poking my bottom lip out, pouting. "You said you were gonna rub my legs for me. They're hurting. I've been getting cramps in them all day."

"You're right, I did, didn't I?" he asked, and I nodded. "Okay, I'll go bring my laptop downstairs, go lay down on the bed."

"Alright," I said, before looking over at Brad. "Guess that gives you time to shower. You look like you got caught in a blizzard."

"No, just Hurricane Sam," he grumbled, before heading up the stairs. I just smirked a little to myself, taking a good look at my tree before walking into me and Freddie's room, kicking off my boots and taking off my pants, before laying down on the bed, sighing with exhaustion. I hoped the leg cramps were normal, but whether they were normal or not, they were beginning to irritate me. Freddie came in a moment later with his computer, setting it down onto the bed and pulling my legs onto his lap. I groaned as he began massaging my calve muscles with one hand, the other opening up the iCarly email account.

"Whoa," he said, his eyes growing big.

"What's up?" I asked softly, and he smirked.

"Baby feedback."

"Oh geez," I said. "Is it bad?"

"Hold on, I'm looking," he replied. "Let's see, congrats, congrats, congrats, too young, congrats...oh wow."

"What?"

"Uh...sponsorship offer?" he asked, his eyes fixed on the screen.

"From who?"

He shrugged. "Some formula company, and...whoa. That's a lot of money."

"How much money?" I asked, sitting up. He didn't respond, just turned the computer so I could see it, and my eyes widened. "Holy shit..."

"We should talk to Brad and Carly about this..." he said, running a hand over his hair. "I mean, it is a lot of money...but...I dunno about an actual sponsorship...for this kind of thing...on iCarly."

"Plus...would we have to use it?" I asked. "I mean, shouldn't we research the company first?"

"Probably," he replied, closing the email and moving on to the next one. "Here's another offer...just for affiliation...and another...and another...and...geez. There's like twenty new offers here."

My eyebrows went up. "I think we should up our advertising prices again."

"Possibly," Freddie said with a shrug. "But we already charge a lot..."

"Yeah but...we could charge more," I said pointedly, and he nodded.

"Well, let's just keep it in mind, but we're not supposed to be discussing any more business stuff until Tuesday, at the production meeting."

"Yeah, but..."

"Sam," he warned. "You know I don't like iCarly stuff bleeding over into the rest of our life. It has to stay separate, or it'll take over everything. You know that."

"Yeah, I know," I replied, before grinning at him. "Well, since it's off the table until Tuesday, get back to massaging, nub."

"Yes ma'am," he said, closing the computer and turning back to me, focusing his attention on rubbing my legs and feet, and I groaned softly.

"Baby, that feels so good," I sighed.

"Good," he replied, leaning forward to kiss me. "I just wish you weren't having to deal with all this stuff."

"Too bad you can't have the next one," I teased, and he just laughed.

"Now that would be weird."

I shrugged. "Hey, iCarly would be legendary if that happened, but yeah. Would be weird."

"So..." he said. "I've been thinking about all that."

"What? More kids?" I asked, my eyebrows going up. "I haven't even had this one yet!"

"Well...you know it's gonna be hard just having one baby and trying to finish up school...and the birth control failed once already, so..."

"Fredward, if the next word out of your mouth is celibacy, I swear to god..."

"Yeah, right!" he said with a laugh. "Like that'll happen. No. I just meant, maybe we try something a little bit more effective than the pill, after you have this baby."

"Like what?"

"I dunno, we'll do some research. I just don't want to get in over our heads, you know?"

My brow furrowed. "Speaking of all that, juggling the show, school, the baby...do you think..." I trailed off, biting my lip.

"What, baby? Do I think what?"

"Do you think it's gonna affect our sex life?"

"Probably a little bit," he replied truthfully. "I mean, you're gonna HAVE to learn to be quiet!"

"Then stop being so good at it!" I replied with a grin, kicking him playfully.

"You really want that?" he asked pointedly, and I shook my head.

"I don't think you even know how to be bad at it, honestly," I said with a laugh. "I mean, you knocked it out of the park, first try!"

"Why thank you," he replied. "So did you. You were amazing."

"I was terrified!" I replied. "I thought it was gonna hurt so bad...and that I was going to disappoint you..."

"Well, you definitely did not disappoint, baby," he replied, kissing me. "And did it? Hurt, I mean?"

"Yeah, a little," I replied. "But...that went away soon enough. I just..."

"What?"

"I'm really worried about having the baby. I know it's gonna hurt like hell."

"They'll give you an epidural. You'll be okay. I'll do everything I can to make it easier on you, sweetheart."

"You will?"

"Of course I will!" he replied. "I love you, I don't want you to hurt one bit. But you know it's gonna."

I bit my lip. "I know. But I think it'll be worth it."

"Of course it will," he responded, kissing me again. With that, he went back to rubbing my legs, loosening up all my muscles, and I laid there, silent, my exhaustion and the way Freddie's hands felt on my legs beginning to take over, and I yawned.

"Sleepy?" he asked, and I nodded, yawning again. "Okay," he said, standing up and pulling the blankets back before covering me back up with them. He bent down over me, brushing his lips across mine, and I sighed softly, my arms going around his neck.

"I love you," I whispered. "Hurry back, okay?"

"I love you too, my sweet sweet baby. Get some sleep, okay?"

"Mmmkay," I said. With that, he kissed me on my forehead before standing up, giving me one more smile before flicking the light off and walking out the door. I rolled onto my side, snuggling against the pillow, and closed my eyes, drifting off to sleep, thinking of how much I loved him the entire time.

I was SUCH a lucky girl.

~*Brad*~

"Alright, so...you dragged me out here, when I could have been in bed with my wife, so what's going on in your long-haired head, dude?" Freddie asked me as we walked into the gym.

I frowned at him. "My hair is not that long."

"You look like a hippie, dude! What's next, granola and Birkenstocks?" he teased, and I rolled my eyes. "Seriously, what's up? You look like you're all lost in thought...and I know that's unknown territory for you."

"You're such an ass, dude," I responded with a roll of my eyes. "Anyway, so...yeah. There is a lot on my mind."

"Is that why you've been so pissed off and short with everyone today?"

"I've not been short."

"You barked at Sam like a pit bull."

"She spray-snowed me, dude!" I replied. "I looked like the damn Abdominal Snowman!"

Freddie's brow furrowed. "You mean...Abominable Snowman?" he asked, an amused expression on his face.

"Whatever! Anyway, yeah! I've had a lot of my mind lately, forgive me," I replied with a sigh. "So...you know how I've been agonizing over what to get Carly for Christmas?"

"Yeah..." he said slowly. "You hauled me out here to talk about Christmas presents? Just buy her something sparkly, she'll love it!"

"Well..." I started, pulling a box out of my pocket. "I did." I opened the box, and Freddie's eyes widened.

"I kinda meant a bracelet or something," he said finally. "Dude, that's an engagement ring!"

"Yeah," I said. "I think...I think it's time, you know? We've been together awhile, and..."

"So? That doesn't mean you should get married, just because you guys have been together awhile. I mean...don't take this the wrong way, but you guys have been having problems lately."

"Well, maybe we wouldn't if we were married," I replied.

"Brad! You don't get married to fix problems," Freddie responded, and I gave him a pointed look. "Okay, I'm a bad example, but that was different. That was really, really different! And I love Sam!"

"Well, I love Carly!" I replied. "I mean, you guys are happy, so..."

"Yeah, but it didn't magically happen because I put a ring on the girl's finger!" Freddie replied. "Sam and I had to work really hard to make it work! She and I both had major trust issues, and she had intimacy problems, and..."

"Yeah right! Intimacy problems, Sam?"

"Not that kind of intimacy, dumb ass! Back in the day, she'd rather die than talk about her feelings, do you know how long it took me to break her of that? Almost a year! And if you want me to be honest, we're still working on it! Just like we're working on a bunch of other things! Yeah, we're happy, we're happy as hell, but she and I have to both work our asses off to keep it that way! Sometimes she drives me NUTS, but I have to suffer through it! And if you marry Carly, she's gonna drive you nuts somedays, and you're gonna have to deal with it! Can you do that?"

"I mean, she already drives me nuts," I replied with a smile. "But...she's really the only good thing in my life right now."

Freddie shook his head. "Don't marry her because she's the only good thing in your life."

"So you think I shouldn't do it?" I asked, slightly surprised.

"I didn't say that. I just mean, if you're gonna do it, do it for the right reasons. Do it because she makes you happy. Do it because you can't imagine your life without her."

"Can you imagine your life without Sam?" I asked, and Freddie laughed.

"Sam has been a constant fixture in my life for seven years, Brad. She's always been there. Even when she was beating the shit out of me, I still couldn't imagine my life without her. She's like...my soul mate."

"Wow, that was so incredibly cheesy," I said with a grin, and Freddie shoved me, laughing.

"Shut up!" he replied. "I'm serious! She's it for me. Now, if you can honestly say that Carly's it for you, then go ahead, man! Otherwise, don't. Because if you feel like there's still things you gotta do in your life, oats you gotta sow, it won't work."

"Aren't there things you want to do with your life still?" I asked, and he nodded.

"Yeah, with Sam. That's the key. If you picture your life right now, twenty years from now, and Carly's still in it, then ask her! And make sure it's good! Don't do it like I did, in a crappy hotel room in Vegas because we were trying to solve a problem. We honestly lucked out, and we lucked out like hell."

"I thought you said it was because of hard work," I stated.

"Yeah, it lasted because of hard work. But the fact she actually went for it, that she loved me then, and she still loves me now...I feel like the luckiest motherfucker alive," Freddie replied.

"Dude, you ARE a motherfucker now!" I said with a grin, and we both laughed.

"That is true," he replied. "Okay, so...let's say you think about this long and hard, when is this momentous occasion of popping the question to take place?"

"Christmas Eve," I replied.

"But we're supposed to go to that thing at April's parents," I pointed out, and he nodded.

"Yeah, BEFORE we go."

Freddie nodded, looking like he was deep in thought. "Okay. Well, like I said, think about it first man. Like, seriously. Because once it's done, you can't take it back. And divorce, well..." he shrugged. "Seems like a pretty painful road to go down too."

"I have thought about it," I responded. "A lot. I love her. It just seems right, you know?"

"Then do it, man!" he replied, punching me in the shoulder. "Holy shit! I can't believe this...now you can't give me and Sam shit anymore, you realize that right?"

"Oh, I dunno. I'm sure we'll find something else to give you guys shit over," I responded.

"Brad?" Freddie said, and I looked at him.

"What?"

"You know if you do this...both of you...are gonna have a LOT of maturing to do," he replied. "But I think you can. I mean, jesus, look at Spencer. He's all super-dad now."

"Yeah, it's kinda scary," I said with a shudder. "I know we do though. But I'm not too worried about it. I have faith."

"Whoa," Freddie said, his eyebrows going up.

"What?"

"I haven't heard you say that in almost two years," he said quietly. "I think you're right. I think this is gonna be a good thing."

"Seriously?"

"Yep," he replied, before punching me in the shoulder. "Now hurry up, dude, I gotta get my hits in now, gotta give you time for the bruises to fade. Can't have you all beat up when you pop the big Q."

"Oh, whatever, dude! It's you who's gonna need healing time!" I replied, chasing after him as he ran down the hallway into the gym.


	12. Chapter 12: Speak Free

**A/N: Oooh, drama! Also, a very, very hot lemon!**

**Chapter Twelve:  
><strong>**Speak Free**

~*Freddie*~

As Brad and I stood in the elevator, I looked down at my phone and smiled as I read over the text Sam sent me.

Sam: Tree is perfect. Just like u. Almost done with prettying up Herman the 3. Hurry back. Love u.

Sweet girl I've got, right? I leaned against the wall, taking a deep breath. I was feeling pretty tired, kind of dizzy. I was pretty sure I'd remembered to take my shot, but I couldn't be sure. Still, we were almost back at the apartment, I'm sure it would be fine.

I looked over at Brad, who seemed lost in thought. I was still a little unsure about the idea of him proposing to Carly. I mean, I knew he loved her, and she loved him, but I knew Brad was dealing with a lot of emotional problems, I couldn't help but wonder if he just thought of marriage as a quick fix to all of that. I knew Sam and I were a pretty bad example in that regard, because getting married had indeed fixed a problem, a big one, but like I'd told Brad, we both had to work extremely hard to get to the point we were now. Our anger issues had nearly split us apart. That had always been our biggest problem. Carly and Brad's biggest problem was acting like they didn't have problems. They did, both of them, and acting like they didn't exist only made it worse. Pushing their issues deep down would only come back to bite them in the ass later. Still, Brad was my best friend, he was making a genuine effort to grow up, and if he really wanted to marry Carly, I had to have his back.

All that went out of my head, and I looked over at Brad nervously when the elevator doors opened, and out of everyone in the damn apartment complex who could have possibly got on, GRIFFIN did, giving me and Brad both a glare before turning his back to us.

Oh shit. I edged toward Brad a little, so I could reach out and grab him, just in case he decided to do something stupid.

Of course Brad never disappoints, especially when it comes to that.

"So...my baby sister," Brad stated.

"She doesn't look like a baby. Or act like one," Griffin said over his shoulder with an amused tone in his voice. Brad practically growled at him, and I punched him in the shoulder, giving him a pointed look. He ignored me, continuing to talk shit to Griffin.

"Yeah, well, thirteen's a baby in my eyes. Be glad you dumped her, otherwise I would have had to kick your ass."

"Yeah, I did dump her," Griffin replied, before turning around. "But she came crawling back. Had to take her back. She's a sweet little thing, you know?

I grabbed Brad's arm quickly as he took a step forward, but I glared at Griffin too. "What the fuck, man? You know, if you dropped the Pee-Wee Baby habit, maybe you wouldn't have to keep combing the playground for a girlfriend!"

"Fuck off, dude. You're one to talk, you just started combing the trailer park instead."

"What the fuck..." I started, but then it was Brad's turn to grab ME, pulling me back against the wall, before giving Brad a violent shove against the elevator wall.

"You really do not want to talk shit when you're trapped in a little metal box with me and Benson here," he growled. "Because I will not hesitate for a second to kick your ass, and neither will he."

Griffin shrugged. "That's fine, if you want to go to jail."

"You're gonna go too, you fucking pervert!"

"I can deal with jail. Don't think you can, pretty boy."

I was fully prepared to knock Griffin out, but my phone started ringing, with the special ringtone I had for Sam. Instantly I had a reminder of why I DIDN'T want to kick Griffin's ass. He was a jack-ass, he needed to get the shit beat out of him, sure, but he definitely wasn't worth going to jail over. Not when I had Sam and the baby to worry about.

"Dude," I sighed. "Let him go. Not now."

Brad didn't respond, just glared at Griffin as the elevator doors opened. "Stay away from my sister," he warned, before he and I shoved past Griffin, stepping out.

"Oh, I'll stay away from her. I just can't guarantee she'll stay away from me. Night guys. Enjoy your trailer park princess, Benson," Griffin said with an evil smile, and my blood boiled.

In an instant I forgot about night fighting, and I lurched forward, but the elevator doors shut before I could get to Griffin. Good thing too, NO ONE talked about my wife like that. That guy really needed to watch his mouth, and his back, because he was already on Brad's bad side, and now he was on mine. It was going to take every bit of self-control I'd ever had to keep from snapping this guy's spine the next time I saw him.

"Man," Brad growled. "It's a good thing I don't know which apartment he lives in! Does Carly know?"

"Dude, just let it go," I said after I regained my head. I'd started to calm down, but as my testosterone levels went down, it occurred to me that I HAD forgotten my shot, and it was beginning to take hold fast. Son of a bitch.

"He is DATING my thirteen year old SISTER, dude! I cannot let this go! She's gonna end up..."

"You think your dad will take your calls? Clue him in?"

Brad sighed, shaking his head. "No. And Heather's not talking to me either. Maybe I can talk to Bry, but I'd rather not get him involved with this. Either way, I can't do anything until they get back."

I crossed my arms over my chest, trying to ignore the dizziness that was setting in. "This is gonna take some creative handling. Griffin doesn't scare easily. We can't go to the cops with it, I mean, your dad..."

"Yeah, I'm the bad son, they won't listen to me," Brad replied, before throwing his fist into the wall angrily. "Damn it! What do I do, dude?"

"I don't know," I replied. "Keep your head on straight, man. Remember, Heather's in Tacoma right now, nothing bad can happen to her there. It's a non-issue, at least until she gets back. You have other issues to deal with right now, remember?"

"Yeah," Brad said stoically. "Yeah."

"Come on, we gotta go in," I said, shaking my head slightly. I couldn't wait any longer, and I did NOT want to pass out in the damn hallway. "I blanked out on my shot, and..."

"Oh shit!" Brad said, snapping out of his trance. "Yeah, you definitely don't need to get in a fight right now."

We walked down the hall, and I stumbled a bit. Fuck, it was amazing how quickly it caught up with me. It'd been a long time since I'd forgotten to take my shot, but I hadn't forgotten how much this freaked me out. I leaned against the wall, eyes closed, as Brad fished his keys out of his pocket.

"If you pass out on me I'm gonna kick your ass, Freddie," Brad said, poking me to make sure I was still conscious. I opened my eyes to glare at him, and he shrugged. "Just saying." With that, he pushed the door open. "SAM!"

I stumbled in, barely making it to couch and just falling onto it, groaning as I lifted a hand to my head.

"SAM!" Brad yelled again, going to the bottom of the steps. "Where are you?"

"I'm here, what's going on?" Sam asked as she rushed down the stairs, followed by Carly. I didn't lift my head to look at her, and I heard her gasp. "Baby!" she exclaimed as she hurried over. "Did you forget to take your shot?"

"Yeah..." I said.

"Oh, shit!" Carly said. "How did this happen? He never forgets!"

"Oh god, okay. Okay. I'll be right back, just hold on!" Sam said, getting up and running into our bathroom, and I heard her clattering around the medicine cabinet, before running back out, practically diving onto the couch and unzipping my jacket, yanking my shirt up and sticking me in the stomach. I grimaced a little, she'd poked me a little too deep, but I guess it was better than passing out. After a moment she withdrew the insulin pen, dropping it to the ground and grabbing my face, staring at me, checking my eyes.

"Are you okay, baby?" she asked softly, and I nodded. "How did you forget? You never forget anymore!"

"I dunno," I sighed. "I was supposed to take it before I went to the gym, I just blanked out for some reason."

"Dammit," she replied. "This is my fault. I kept bitching about you rubbing my legs. I'm sorry, baby."

"It's not your fault, baby. It's my responsibility," I said with a sigh.

"Alright, just sit here for a second," she replied, rubbing my shoulders. "It's okay."

I just sighed, laying back and pulling her down with me, and she rested her head on my chest.

"It's so scary when this happens," she said softly. "I love you."

"I love you too, baby. Sorry I scared you."

She shrugged. "It's okay. Lay here with me for a few minutes, and then you can see the tree. Me and Carly finished it."

"Sorry, baby, I didn't get a good look at it, I had to sit down or I was gonna pass out."

"I know," she replied. "It's alright. You're not gonna be grumpy now, are you?"

"I'll try not to be," I replied. "Man...this is the first time I've forgotten in almost two years."

"Freddie, it's okay. Everybody makes mistakes every now and then."

"Just worries me, you know? Like...what if I forget to do something involving the baby?"

Sam shook her head. "Luckily babies start screaming their heads off when something's forgotten. Don't worry yourself, okay? You made a mistake, it's fine."

I nodded. "Okay," I replied, closing my eyes for a second.

"Dude, you guys okay?" Brad asked. I looked up at him, and he looked pretty concerned.

"Yeah, I'm good man," I responded. "Go tell Carly what happened."

"What?" Carly asked. "What does that mean? What happened?"

"Come on babe. Upstairs. We gotta talk," Brad responded, grabbing her hand and pulling her away.

"What? Why?"

Sam picked her head up to look at me suspiciously. "What happened, Freddie?"

I shook my head. "Nothing important. Let's just say Griffin needs to watch his ass."

"Oh, god...not this again," she replied, sounding annoyed.

"Not what again?"

She rolled her eyes. "More drama."

I just laid my head back down and closed my eyes again.

The poor girl had NO idea.

~*Carly*~

I sat down on the bed, concerned, as I watched Brad pace back and forth.

"So...what happened?" I asked, and he just made a sound that was half sigh, half growl.

"Ran into Griffin on the elevator," he replied.

"Oh god," I moaned. "Did you guys get in a fight?"

"Almost," he replied. "Man...she's still...he's dating my thirteen year old sister! This is so fucked up!"

"Oh my god!" I cried. "I told him how old she was! That's sick!"

"Yeah, you think?" he snapped. I sat back, a hurt a look on my face, and he sighed. "I'm sorry, babe, I don't mean to be short with you, but...I..I'm freaking out! And then he called Sam trailer trash!"

"WHAT?" I exploded. "Now I want to hit him!"

"Yeah, if Freddie hadn't been all insulin deprived, he probably would have killed the guy," Brad responded, sitting down next to me. "I don't know what to do, Carly. I really don't. I want to beat his ass, but...I can't keep getting into fights."

"You haven't gotten into a fight since high school," I reminded him. "At least you've gotten better about that. But I mean, I can't say I blame you."

"You can't?" he asked, turning his head to look at me, and I shook my head.

"No," I replied. "I know this is driving you crazy. And I know Heather's not going to listen...maybe you should see if your dad will talk to you long enough to tell him this."

"He won't, Carly," he replied sadly. "I...I don't know what to do. Ugh!" he laid down, his head going in my lap. "Help me figure this out. Please."

"I don't know what to do either, baby," I responded, bending down to kiss him.

Ugh, I felt SO bad for my boyfriend. He was trying so hard to hold it together, between school, trying to give up drinking, and now this Heather issue had fallen into his lap. I felt like he was really going through an identity crisis right now. He'd spent most of his life being the "good son", trying to be perfect, and now that role was lost, and it left a big hole inside him. Of course, I understood, the always trying to be perfect part. That was one thing we had in common.

Unfortunately, outside of iCarly and that, that was the only thing we had in common. We didn't like the same movies, activities, music, anything. We kind of did our own thing when we weren't filming...or having sex. That was kind of a problem for me, but what could I do? I was sure lots of other couples had the same problem, and they made it work, so why couldn't we? I loved Brad, I wasn't about to let two and a half years go down the drain just because we didn't like the same things. That'd be stupid, right?

I looked down at him, stroking his hair, trying to calm him down.

"I know I can't give you advice on this, but I can at least try to make you feel better," I said with a grin, and he looked up at me, a slow smile spreading across his face.

"And how do you propose to do that?" he asked, sitting up. I didn't respond, just leaned toward him, kissing him, and he moaned against my mouth, his hands tangling through my hair. We kept kissing, falling back onto the bed, and I reached for his shirt, pulling it over his head. He kissed me again, before pulling away to unbutton my shirt, kissing every bit of skin that was revealed with each unfastened button.

"I love you, Carly," he murmured against my skin, pulling away to look up at me. "You're the only good thing in my life, you know that, right?"

I shook my head. "That's not true, Brad. But I love you too."

"It is true," he replied, pulling my shirt down over my shoulders. "I don't know how I'd make it without you." He reached around me, unhooking my bra, and I moaned as his mouth found my breasts, my hands frantically searching for his belt buckle. God, I loved his mouth. I loved his skin. I loved the way he felt. Every time we were together, it felt so incredible. I just wish he still made me feel that way when we weren't sleeping together. It wasn't the same, we'd been growing apart lately.

I shook my head slightly, trying to clear my doubts of Brad out of my head. What was I doing? I loved Brad, and he'd given up everything, to stay with me! What kind of sick person lets someone do that, and then begins to have doubts about their relationship? Stop it, Carly! You love him! You love him!

"What's wrong?" Brad asked, pulling away from me to stare at me. "You seem kinda out of it."

"Nothing," I replied, giving him a smile, before kissing him. "I love you."

~*Sam*~

I looked up from the computer as I heard the front door open, and Melanie and Emily walk in.

"You know, for someone who's staying here, and came all the way from the East Coast to see me, I'm sure not seeing much of you," I commented, turning around to look at her.

"Sorry," Melanie said weakly. "We've just been up to a lot. How's it going?"

I shrugged. "Can't complain. Check out Herman the Third!" I gestured to the tree, and Melanie nodded appreciatively.

"Nice," she responded.

I gaped at her. "Nice?" I replied, standing up. "Just wait one second, Mellow-Me!" I walked over to the lightswitch and turned it off, allowing the tree's lights to fill the room with swirling colors, sparkle, and just overall decadence. Carly and I had spent almost two hours decorating Herman the Third, as far as I was concerned it was my crowning glory, and "nice" simply would not do!

Melanie stared for a second, her eyes wide. "Okay. I take it back. That's awesome!"

"See!" I replied, hands on my hips. "Em, what do you think?"

"I like it!" she replied. "It looks amazing! You should be an interior decorator! That's my major, it's really fun!"

Melanie nudged her and gave her a smile. "She called you Em. See, I told you she likes you!"

"Well, you're my sister's girlfriend, I have to, right?"

Emily shrugged. "Not necessarily. My parents...they don't really approve of my lifestyle. They're very...conservative."

"Lucky for you I don't have a conservative bone in my body. Besides, I don't know if you've noticed, but we don't do normal around here. In fact, we forbid normal in this apartment!"

"It's true," Melanie said with a nod. "They're all batshit crazy. And Spencer...when you meet him...he's Carly's older brother, he lived here before Sam and Brad and Freddie did, and...well...he's special."

I shook my head. "Not so much anymore. I mean, he's still Spencer, but...having Maggie, it really changed him a lot."

"Really?" Melanie asked, and I nodded.

"You'll see. You guys are coming with us to April's parents thing, right?"

"I...I guess?" Melanie asked with a shrug. "But didn't you say it was formal attire? I don't have a dress."

I just waved her off. "Carly and I are going shopping in the morning, you can totally come with."

"We're poor college students, sis. We're not made of money like you and the other iCarlys."

"We're not made of money either, Mel! Freddie's got a pretty firm hold on the finances. Only ten grand a month leaves the bank account."

"Only?" Melanie said with a laugh. "Whatever. Seems to me Freddie's got a pretty firm hold on everything around here."

"What?" I stated, confused, my hands on my hips. "What the hell does that mean?"

"Nothing," Melanie responded. "Never mind."

"What do you mean, never mind, Mel? What are you getting at?"

Melanie rolled her eyes. "It's not that serious...I just think Freddie's a control freak, that's all."

"What?" I snapped. "My husband is NOT a control freak!"

"Oh, come on, Sam! The show is named AFTER Carly, and who runs it? Freddie! Who handles you guys' finances? Freddie! Who picks and chooses what things are worth getting into a fight over, and what things aren't? Freddie! I mean, for god's sake, didn't Brad decide to stop drinking because FREDDIE pitched a bitch fit?"

"No!" I responded. "That's not it at all! I'm the one who blew the whistle on Brad's drinking, and he promised CARLY he would stop! He didn't talk to us about it at all! Mel, you're way off on Freddie. Way off."

"Am I?" she replied. "I mean, you used to be so damn feisty, and now..." she trailed off, shrugging. "You're a housewife, and Freddie deals with all the business stuff. I thought you never wanted that."

"That is NOT how it works! We both work, and we work our asses off, on the show! We all work! Carly and I are entertainment, Brad and Freddie handle production, and Freddie deals with the finances because he has a computer brain! That's it! And he doesn't lord over everything! We let him handle things for a reason, Melanie! Because he's GOOD at it. Please don't come in here trying to judge the way things work around here, when you've barely had a chance to even see it in action."

"And the whole...putting my mother in prison thing, did you let him handle it because he's good at that too?" she replied.

My eyebrows went up in shock, and I glared at her. "You need to calm the fuck down, right now! And for your information, Freddie was NOT present when the drugs were being put in the trailer. Once again, you have no clue what you are talking about~ And why do you care so much, Melanie? She should have gone to prison for child neglect, or child endangerment! And not to mention, even if she's not guilty of selling drugs, she was guilty of using them! You were just too young the last time you saw her to know what a track mark was!"

"She needed HELP, Sam! Not jail!"

"And so did we!" I screamed. "And what did we get? You got raped, I got jolted back to life twice, by a fucking defibrillator, across the hall, and Freddie's mom got a five hundred dollar carpet cleaning bill because a fucking cleaning staff had to come in and mop up quarts of my blood! What is WRONG WITH YOU?"

The door opened to mine and Freddie's bedroom, and he stuck his head out.

"What's going on? Sam?"

"It's fine, baby," I sighed. "Go lay down, you need to rest."

He just gave me a Look, and I shook my head.

"Baby, I got it! Please, I don't want you all worked up right now! You almost passed out!"

"Well, maybe I don't want you all worked up either," he responded, walking out. "What's going on?"

"See, there he goes, having to control everything again," Melanie said with a shrug, and I glared at her.

"Shut your mouth, Melanie. I swear to god."

"You know I'm right," she replied. "He is controlling you. You think that's healthy?"

"Oh my god!" I yelled. "You're one to talk! When it comes to what's healthy, I am way better off than you! I have stability! I don't jump from place to place, person to person, because I'm fucking afraid!"

"Ever think you may be afraid of what would happen if you didn't let him control things? Maybe you can't handle shit on your own, Sam! At least I can do that!"

"Look..." Freddie began to shout, but I held my hand up, stopping him in his tracks, and he just looked at me wordlessly, waiting for me to give him the okay.

I looked over at Melanie pointedly. "If he was controlling, I wouldn't have been able to do that," I stated in a calm voice. I took a step closer to her. "But you know something, Mel?"

"What, Sam?"

"He does get pretty controlling in bed. And when that happens..." I took another step closer to her, my face inches from hers. "I. Fucking. Love. It. It turns me the hell on."

She just shook her head. "You're sick, Sam."

I shrugged. "Maybe so. But I can give up control, let him take over, and I don't have to worry about getting hurt. And that makes me feel safer than anything. But you? You can't do that. You will NEVER be able to hand control over to anyone. Because you're too scared. And that's really sad, Mel. It's not me who needs help, and it's not our mom. It's you."

With that, I shoved past her, grabbing Freddie's arm and dragging him into our room, shutting the door. A moment later, I heard the door slam, and I sat down on the bed, sighing. Freddie sat down next to me, his hands rubbing my shoulders.

"What the hell was that about?" he asked.

I groaned. "Melanie thinks you're controlling."

"I gathered that," he responded, continuing to massage me. "What do you think?"

I shook my head. "You're not. She just doesn't understand how things work between us. Nobody does."

"Who cares?" Freddie replied, kissing my neck. "It's no one else's business."

"Exactly," I replied, turning around to face him. "Freddie?"

"Yeah?"

I leaned forward and kissed him. "I love you. I'm so glad I have you."

He just smiled, pushing the hair off my face. "I love you too, baby." He kissed me again, before pulling away. "Okay, now that I've got my bearings back, I've got something to tell you."

"What? More stuff about the Griffin thing?" I asked, and he shook his head.

"Nope," he replied. "Something else. You're gonna freak."

My eyebrows went up, curious about what he could possibly have up his sleeve, but the fact that he was grinning put my mind at ease, that it wasn't something bad.

"Okay, if I tell you this, you gotta PROMISE to keep your mouth shut!"

"Oh wow, this sounds good. Tell me!" I said, bouncing on the bed a little bit. Freddie shook his head.

"I mean it, Sam! If you don't keep those perfect lips zipped I will spank you, and really hard."

I smirked at him. "Like THAT'S supposed to deter me?" I asked, and he rolled his eyes.

"Alright, excellent point. But I'm serious, Sam! You can't say anything! It'll ruin everything!"

I sighed. "Okay, fine. I won't speak a word."

"Do you swear?"

"All the time, you know that."

"Sam!" he laughed. "That's not what I meant, and you know that! Swear you won't say anything."

"Fine, I swear," I replied, crossing my fingers behind my back. He reached behind me, grabbing my hand, giving me a knowing smirk.

"Nice try," he said with a shake of his head. "You forget how well I know you sometimes."

"Whatever, I still have my secrets," I replied, and he just snorted.

"No you don't," he said, and I rolled my eyes.

"Fine, you're right, I don't. Now tell me!"

"Swear on the baby," he said, and I glared at him.

"Freddie!"

"Do it, or I won't tell you."

I just sat there for a second, sighing, before rolling my eyes and acquiescing. "Fine, you drive a hard bargain, Mr. Benson. I swear on the baby, I will keep my mouth shut. Okay?"

He just lifted my hand to his lips, kissing it. "Thank you Mrs. Benson. Okay. So...you know how Brad was so antsy to get to the gym after we got the tree?"

"Herman the Third," I corrected. "And yes. But I mean, he needs all the gym time he can get...compared to you, he's so scrawny..."

"Sam!" Freddie laughed. "Anyway, he wasn't amped up to go because he wanted to work out. He wanted to talk."

"About what?" I asked.

Freddie just grinned at me conspiratorially. "He's gonna ask Carly."

My brows furrowed. "Ask Carly what?"

"Oh gee, I dunno," Freddie said flatly, giving me a pointed look, and my eyes widened.

"Oh my god!" I exclaimed. "He's gonna propose?"

"Yeah! Christmas Eve! Before the party! Can you believe it?"

I wrinkled my nose. "Are you sure they're ready for that?"

"Well, they've been together almost three years, and..." Freddie trailed off, sighing when I gave him a Look. "No," he admitted. "I don't. But Brad's my best friend. I gotta have his back on this. You don't think Carly will say no, do you?"

"Probably not," I replied. "But...it's just...I mean, in the beginning, they were really cute together, you know? Carly's first love...but...it didn't really go beyond..."

"Puppy love?" Freddie finished. "Yeah, I know. It's like they're still stuck on that same spot, and haven't really moved forward all that much. The relationship hasn't matured much, and neither have they."

"Yeah, it's just...it's like...I hate to say it, but it's kind of a shallow connection," I said. "I mean, I love Carly to death, she's my best friend, I'd do anything for her, and I love Brad too, but...I don't think they're ready for marriage."

Freddie just shrugged. "Maybe it'll be a long engagement?" he offered. "Maybe they're wait until they're done with school."

"I hope so," I replied. "I just...I don't know. I mean, it sounds bad that I'm calling it shallow, but...they're just...I can't put my finger on it, Freddie."

"Well...we're kind of in a weird place to judge things, baby," he responded, and I gave him a confused look.

"What do you mean?"

"Come on, this?" he gestured between us. "This is not normal. We've both agreed on that. We can say that Brad and Carly have a shallow connection, but maybe they don't. We don't really know what normal is, you know? We've...we've been through a LOT of shit, Sam. A LOT. I mean, fuck, both of us almost DIED at different points during our first year of marriage!"

"Yeah..." I said softly, not wanting to think about it.

"And there's lot of other stuff that happened too, major stuff. Carly and Brad haven't had to go through something that big yet. Their biggest issue has been Brad's family stuff."

"I don't want them to have to go through the same stuff we did, baby," I replied, and he shook his head.

"I don't either. I'm just saying, we can't really judge how serious they are about their relationship, because we're on completely different levels from each other. No two relationships are the same, you know that."

I nodded. "Yeah, I guess you're right." I laid down, sighing. "I don't know what to do about Mel."

"Sam," Freddie said, laying down next to me. "Look, I think it's great that you and your sister are talking, you know, after all those years of being apart and not even speaking, but...you guys are really different people. You may not EVER understand each other."

"I don't want that, Freddie!" I cried. "I..."

"But..." he interrupted me. "It doesn't mean you can't love each other, and have mutual respect for one another. She's gotta stop judging you, you gotta stop hitting below the belt when you guys argue, and you're gonna have to come to common ground over the issue with your mom."

"But she thinks you're controlling!" I cried. "I don't like that!"

"Baby, I don't care," he said, kissing me. "Let her think that. We both know it's not true. And I'd rather her hate me than hate you. I know that would really hurt you."

"Yeah, but her thinking that, and saying that, about you, that hurts me too. I just...I don't know, baby! It bothers me!"

"Consider the source, Sam. Mel had her entire childhood stolen from her. She's afraid to give up control, like you said. And watching you with me, the way you let me handle certain things, that probably scares her a little. I don't think she's trying to piss you off, I think she's concerned. Your sister loves you, baby."

"Maybe so," I grumbled. "But...I support her in her life choices, she needs to support me in mine!"

"Then tell her that. Tomorrow. Force her and Emily to go shopping with you and Carly."

I nodded slowly. "Okay," I finally said, and I gave him a smile, eager to change the subject. "I can't wait to see you in a suit again. It doesn't happen nearly enough. And I can't wait to rip it off of you afterwards."

"Mmm, sounds fun," he replied, kissing me. "And I can't wait to see you in whatever sexy little thing you pick out."

I sighed. "Guess I've gotta get all the sexy out of my system now, don't I? Won't be long until I won't have the body to dress sexy, and after that, I'll have a child, so it won't be appropriate."

"Bullshit!" Freddie responded. "You can dress however you want. And behind closed doors, you get full reign to dress as sexy as you want."

"Or as sexy as YOU want," I replied pointedly, and he just grinned at me.

"You don't think that's controlling?" he asked me, and I nodded.

"Very controlling," I replied before kissing him. "I fucking love it. Wanna control me right now?"

"Uh-huh," Freddie responded, that hungry look welling up in his eyes, and I backed away, laying on the other side of the bed.

"Come and get me, sexy," I stated, and he just gave me firm look, coming over me.

"Don't you dare tell me what to do," he growled, before kissing me fiercely. We hadn't gotten especially rough with each other in quite awhile, and the argument with Mel had done two things, gotten me fired up, and also made me a little bit defiant, so my hands went to the back of Freddie's head, yanking on his hair roughly, and he pulled away to glare at me.

"What the hell was that?" he asked, and I shrugged.

"Do something about it," I challenged him, and he just smirked at me.

"Oh, I'm gonna," he replied, his hands going to my hips and yanking my sweats and underwear off with one single, smooth motion. He rose up on his knees, straddling me. and I licked my lips as I watched him pull his shirt off over his head. God, he was so sexy. I would never get tired of looking at him. I put my hands on his stomach, moving upward over his abs, and he just grabbed my wrists, pinning them above my head.

"Nope," he replied. "I didn't say you could do that."

"Don't care," I growled, trying to jerk my wrists away, but he held fast, bending down to lick over my neck.

"You better be a good girl, or I'm gonna tease the shit out of you," he warned me.

"So what do I get if I'm good, then?"

He laughed. "You don't get teased. What part of that did you not get?" He let go of my wrists to pull my shirt off over my head, and when he brought his hands underneath me to unhook my bra, I surprised him by raking my nails down his back, making him hiss in surprise and slight pain.

"Damn!" he stated, glaring at me. "That fucking hurt!"

"Do something about it then," I replied, smirking at him, and he just shook his head, biting his bottom lip. I could tell he was doing it to keep from smiling, I could see it in his eyes. The defiance and little bit of pain stirred him up, most likely because it reminded him of how damn mean we were to each other when we were kids. It was so weird, we'd hooked each other in by being mean and nasty little brats to each other when we were younger, and now we were older, and desperately in love, but somehow the meanness still got to us both. It reminded us both of the spark, the fire, and every now and then, it had to come back out. And when it did? Oh god, it was hot.

Before I even knew what was happening, he leaned back down and sank his teeth into my neck, making me groan in pleasure/pain, and grind my hips into him, lifting my head to bite his shoulder.

"Fuck," he growled. "God, you're such a bad little girl."

"You fucking love it," I reminded him, and he nodded.

"Yeah, I do. But tell me something, baby."

"What's that?"

"How bad can you be?" he responded, and I looked up at him.

"You really wanna know?" I asked, and he nodded.

"Show me."

In an instant, my hands went to his shoulders, shoving him hard onto his back, straddling him.

"You asked for it," I said, kissing him passionately, and he groaned against my mouth, his hands going to the back of my head to hold me steady as he explored my mouth with his. I loved when he kissed me like that, it made me feel breathless, dizzy, my knees got weak, my stomach flip-flopped. Even after two and a half years, he still did that to me. It was so amazing.

I pulled away from him, and he seemed acutely disappointed, until I leaned down to kiss his neck, sinking my teeth in slightly, making him moan, before I kissed down lower, over his chest, his ribs, his amazing abs. I ran my tongue in between each defined muscle, over and over, before going back down to his chest and starting over, not being able to get enough of his skin, the way he tasted. God, he was just so sexy! I must have spent a full ten minutes kissing over his chest and stomach, and he squirmed, getting too turned on, feeling like I was teasing him. I'm sure it was a big tease to him, but to me, it was heaven, exploring his body with my mouth. I guess he felt the same way when he was doing it to me, so I knew how he was feeling right now...tortured.

"Baby," he groaned. "You're killing me!"

"Sorry," I replied breathily, kissing back down his amazing body until I got to the waistband of his jeans, quickly unbuttoning and unzipping them, pulling them down over his hips along with his boxers. I moved to his side, rubbing my chest over his and kissing him as he kicked his pants the rest of the way off, before flipping me over.

"Hey!" I cried. "No fair!"

He just smirked. "Since when do we fight fair, baby? Besides, I was in control first, if memory serves."

"Good point," I replied, kissing him again. "But I wanted my mouth on your dick."

He groaned, his eyes widening a bit, at my latest admission. "Shit," he responded with a laugh. "I can't say no to that." He pulled away, rising back up on his knees, about to lay back down, but I stopped him.

"Stay like that," I replied. "On your knees." With that, I bent down, taking his erection into my mouth, and he groaned, one hand tangling through my hair. Experimentally, he put a little bit of pressure on the back of my head, making me take him in deeper, then waited to see if I would protest. I didn't; I loved when he manhandled me like this. I just moaned in response, and that was his cue to keep doing it. I continued moving my mouth up and down on him, enjoying the way it was making him moan, and also enjoying the way he kept pushing my head down. It was so hot, so dirty, so animalistic, so...us.

He pulled away suddenly, and I looked up at him, biting my lip, waiting for his next move.

"Turn around," he said firmly. "On your knees, sexy."

I just gave him a sweet smile before turning around, and I heard him groan in admiration as he sat back a second just to look at me. We both LOVED doing it like this, especially on nights when we got really fired up. Like tonight. He could run his hands all over me, pull my hair, kiss my back and shoulders, all the things I loved. I looked over my shoulder, growing impatient.

"What are you waiting for?" I snapped. "God, hurry up! I need you now!"

"Be patient, sweetheart," he reminded me, running a hand over my back before going underneath me. I moaned as I felt him find my most sensitive spot, his fingers making slow circles over my clit, before suddenly thrusting into me.

"Oh, god!" I cried out, moving back against him.

"Good enough?" he asked, bending forward to kiss that really sensitive spot on my back, and I moaned, nodding, unable to speak. Or think. Or breathe. Oh god...this felt SO good.

"Please..." I finally managed to gasp out. "Don't stop. Fuck...don't stop...oh god..."

"Telling me what to do again, baby?" he asked, nipping my shoulder a bit and coming to a standstill inside me. I growled in frustration.

"No! No, please...oh god..." I tried to grind against him, but he just held my hips still, locking one arm around my waist, his other hand going back to rubbing me. Oh god! Now THIS, this was torture! It was driving me crazy, feeling his hand on my most sensitive spot, with him deep inside me, not moving at all, and I couldn't even move or grind against him. I couldn't do anything, except just sit there and take it. Absolute torture, but SO FUCKING HOT. Oh my god!

I was so amped up, so turned on...I was absolutely shaking, trying desperately to move a little bit, but he held me absolutely still, still rubbing my clit, still kissing and licking over that sensitive spot on my back. Driving me totally insane.

"Baby, please!" I begged. "Oh my god, this is killing me...oh god...please...please...baby!"

"You don't like this?" he murmured against my skin, before lifting his head to whisper huskily into my ear. "I can feel you. I can feel the way you're trembling, I can hear how shaky your breath is, I can even feel the way your muscles are clenching around me." I moaned, so turned on by the way he was talking to me. "And I feel how fucking wet you are, baby. You bad little girl, don't you DARE say you don't love this. You know it's not true, don't you?"

I didn't respond, and I jerked a bit as I felt his teeth scrape over my shoulder. "Answer me, sweetheart."

"I...I love this," I gasped breathlessly. "But...oh god...it..."

"It's driving you crazy, isn't it?" he asked with a laugh. "I know, baby. I love driving you crazy."

"Freddie!" I whined, bucking against his hand as much as I could...but god...he had me held so tight I could hardly move! I felt like I was going explode with frustration! I started to moan over and over as I felt him rub me faster, gripping handfuls of the sheet, my entire body shaking.

"You gonna come like this?" he teased. "I think you are. I don't even have to move and you get so amped up...you're such a bad girl."

"Please..." I begged. "Oh god...please..." I couldn't take it anymore, I was so turned on I couldn't even see straight!

"Please what?" he asked, going back to kissing that spot.

"Please make me come," I responded, all pretense gone. Normally I liked to resist as long as possible, but this time he'd won without me putting up much of a fight. He was THAT good. God, I was a lucky girl!

"Mmm, well, when you put it that way..." he replied, letting go of my waist and then suddenly beginning to move in and out of my quickly, angling his hips down to rub against my g-spot. He continued to rub me, and his other hand found my breasts, and I knew it would only be a matter of seconds before I was done.

"Oh, GOD!" I cried. My arms gave out and I buried my face in the mattress, grinding against him with reckless abandon, unable to control my own body. Oh god, this felt so good! But so did breathing, so I'd better turn my head to the side before I pass out. I continued to grind against him, moaning his name over and over. God, I was so, so close...

"Freddie...baby...oh god...don't stop! Please don't stop! Oh, baby...fuck! Freddie...Freddie...Freddie...AAAAHHHHHHHH!" I screamed louder than I ever remembered in recent memory, absolutely shaking, my eyes rolling back into my head. I continued to scream and moan; I couldn't tell if I'd climaxed again or I was just having an insanely long orgasm, but either way was just fine by me! God, this felt so good!

I felt Freddie pick up his pace a little bit, jerking a little as he moved in and out of me. I guess all that teasing me, and all the begging I'd done, had gotten to him, because I could tell he wasn't far behind me.

"Shit, baby...fuck.." he grunted. "Sam...baby! You feel so good. Damn...oh god...I...shit! SAM!" I moaned again as I felt him explode inside me. Oh god, that was so incredibly hot, I loved feeling him let go. He finally stopped moving, withdrawing and laying back down, flinging his arm over his face, desperately trying to catch his breath. I just laid there on my stomach, looking at him, trying to regain my own composure, before reaching over, running my fingers over his chest.

He pulled his arm off his face to look at me, giving me a smile, and pulled me to him. "Holy shit," he said, kissing me on my forehead. "That was intense."

"Yeah, no kidding," I replied, still out of breath. I laid my head on his chest, and I could feel his heartbeat thundering away. "God, you're amazing. I still can't believe how much I lucked out with you."

He shook his head. "Nope. I'm the one that lucked out." His hand went to my chin, lifting my head up to kiss him. "I know I say this all the time, Sam, but I love you so fucking much. More than anything."

"I feel the same way, baby."

"Even though I'm a controlling asshole?"

I laughed, shoving at his shoulder a bit. "You're not controlling, baby," I said, laying my head back down.

"Well...what about the asshole part?"

I didn't respond, just closed my eyes.

"Sam?"

Still nothing.

"Sam! I know you're not asleep!"

Still total silence.

"Alright, that's it," he said, before pushing me off him and tickling me furiously, and I squealed, trying in vain to squirm away, but he continued to tickle me. "Say I'm not an asshole!"

"You're not an asshole, asshole!" I laughed. "Stop! Oh my god, stop!"

"Not good enough!" he replied with a grin, continuing to tickle me. "Say it!"

"You're not an asshole!"

He stopped, laying back down and pulling me to him again. "Thank you."

"You're welcome." I paused for a few moments. "You are kind of a douchebag though."

"SAM!"


	13. Chapter 13: Ebb and Flow

**A/N: Long chapter for you guys! And just so you guys know I AM working on 2,000 Lightyears right now, it'll probably be up tomorrow, as I said before, it's a lot harder to work on, because I'm still developing the characters, and I have way less characters to work with! Just be patient!**

**Chapter Thirteen:  
><strong>**Ebb and Flow**

~*Carly*~

I sat down at the table, grumbling to myself a bit, oblivious to what was going on around me. Brad had rushed off this morning in a panic, and I had no idea what that was about, which irked me. I didn't like not knowing what he was up to. I knew Brad, knew his mischievous streak, just like I was aware of his drinking problem, so knowing him, he could be up to just about anything.

"Uh, Carly?" Sam said, snapping me out of my thoughts. "You should probably eat that, before..."

I looked down at my cereal, and groaned. It used to be cereal anyway. I'd been staring off into space, thinking for so long, now it was just mush. Great. Just great. It was only nine AM, why so many problems this morning already? First with Brad acting all mysterious, then the fact that my favorite sweater had gotten shrunk in the washer, now this!

"Oh, for god's sake..." I grunted, getting up and dumping the bowl in the sink, before stomping over to the counter and logging onto the computer, trying to get my mind off everything.

Sam's eyebrows went up, and she looked over at Freddie wordlessly, who just shrugged. Sam shot another look over at Freddie, before standing up, walking over to the other side of the counter and leaning against it.

"What's up, buttercup?" she asked. "Why so glum?"

"Nothing," I grumbled. "Nothing I can talk about with you anyway."

"What?" Sam exclaimed. "Since when? Fuck that, now you gotta tell me!"

I shook my head. "You won't understand. Not with the epic perfectness of you and Freddie's relationship."

"Perfectness?" Sam snorted. "Okay, yeah, so maybe me and Freddie are..." she looked over her shoulder at him and smiled. "Absolutely incredible together, but our relationship is far from perfect, Carly!"

"Yeah, we have our problems, Carly," Freddie added. "But we don't pretend like they don't exist. We deal with them."

"What's going on with you, Carly?" Sam asked. "You've been acting weird lately. Is everything okay?"

"I...I don't know!" I admitted. "I mean...never mind. You guys won't get it. You two are so damn crazy about each other that you can never be apart, and you love everything about each other! I don't know how you guys do it without getting on each other's nerves!"

"That's not true," Freddie said, getting up and standing next to Sam. "Sam does stuff that gets on my nerves all the time."

"Like what?" I asked.

"Yeah, like what?" Sam asked, elbowing him and sounding slightly annoyed.

"Oh, like I don't do things that piss you off, baby!" Freddie gave her a pointed look, and she sighed.

"Oh, fine. He does. Like the fact that he always has to have everything just so...it absolutely drives me crazy!"

"I don't have to have everything just so!" Freddie said defensively.

"Yes you do!"

"Like what?"

Sam's eyebrows went up, and she stared at him. "Like our movie collection? They're organized by genre...AND alphabetically! You almost had a heart attack the other day when I put Lord of the Rings in the Sci-Fi category!"

"That's because it's NOT science fiction, it's high fantasy! Duh!" he said in his "know-it-all" tone of voice.

"Don't 'duh' me! Only a nerd would know that!"

I rolled my eyes, looking over at Freddie. "Okay, so what does Sam do that gets on your nerves?"

"She pretends to be bad at stuff so she won't have to do it," he replied, smirking at her and nudging her a little bit.

"I do not!"

"Oh come on, the laundry?" he responded. "You knew damn well that putting a red sock in with a load of whites would turn the entire thing pink! I had to go buy all new boxers!"

"I plead the fifth," Sam replied flatly, and Freddie laughed, kissing her on her forehead.

"It's okay, baby. I don't mind doing the laundry."

"Wait...what?" I exclaimed. "So...Sam purposely screws up, and you just let it go?"

Freddie shrugged. "Well, I mean, if she hates doing something that bad, why force her to do it? I don't want her to be unhappy, even if it's for five minutes."

"Aw, baby..." Sam said, giving him a sweet smile, before leaning forward and kissing him. "I love you."

"Ugh," I stated, leaning back. "See? That right there, that's why I can't talk about this with you guys! There's no point!" I paused. "So...wait. So...you don't force Sam to do things she doesn't like, even if they have to get done?"

"Nope," he replied. "Why bother? It'll just irritate her, and she'll end up taking it out on me later. And then we'll argue, and..." he shrugged. "It's just not worth it, Carly."

I sat there in silence for a moment, thinking over what Freddie had just said, and also about all the little things Brad and I would have spats over, and then later just act like the spats never happened. Did we really have to do that, fight over it in the first place, and then not talk about our problems? That was the exact OPPOSITE of how Sam and Freddie handled things in their relationship, and look how happy they were! This was NOT making me feel better about things with Brad!

"So...you guys don't think that...like...just not doing things you don't like, that's what makes it work between you two?"

Sam shook her head. "Not at all. I do things for Freddie that I don't like all the time."

"Ew, Sam. I wasn't talking about that."

"Yeah, like what?" Freddie asked, sounding slightly worried.

"Oh my god! Not that! Geez, and you guys say I'M the perverted one!" Sam replied with a roll of her eyes. "I mean like...well...I hate watching Celebrities Underwater, but Freddie likes it, so I watch it with him."

"You said you loved watching Celebrities Underwater!" Freddie exclaimed, and Sam just grinned at him.

"No, I said I loved watching you watch Celebrities Underwater," she replied. "Because you're just so cute when you watch it. You get all excited and bouncy and you start yelling at the TV. Like a normal guy with football. It's adorable."

"Aw..." Freddie replied, kissing her. "That's sweet. But don't watch it if you don't want to."

"I don't. I watch you. While you watch it." Sam kissed him again, before turning to look back at me. "So...what's with the twenty questions, Carls?"

"I just...I'm starting to have second thoughts," I replied, biting my lip. "I feel so guilty."

"About Brad?" Freddie asked, and I nodded.

"Ugh, I feel so bad! I know he loves me, and a big, big part of me still loves him, but...I'm just starting to wonder whether or not we're like...meant to be, you know?"

Sam and Freddie looked over at each other, worried expressions flickering across their faces, and Sam looked at me with a firm expression on her face.

"Carly, you CANNOT break up with Brad! I mean, after everything he did..."

"Ah! Sam!" Freddie put his hand on her shoulder, shaking it a bit. "Cool it with the guilt trip! It's not helping!" He turned to me. "Why you having seconds thoughts, Carls? Did he do something?"

"Well...no," I admitted. "It's more like what he doesn't do..."

"Wait, what does that mean? He'll get in the elevator but won't go down?" Sam asked.

"Sam!" I exclaimed, laughing. "No! He does that plenty, believe me. I'm a very happy girl when it comes to that! Now whose mind is in the gutter?"

"Then what is it?" Freddie asked.

I sighed, running my hand through my hair. "I don't know, Freddie! It's just like...he seems so...settled now! We don't ever go out anymore, he's not all lighthearted and fun like he used to be, and...all the stuff he used to do the first year? Holding doors open for me, all that? He doesn't anymore. I don't know what happened, it's like...maybe he doesn't think I'm worth it anymore? I mean...we're just like...roommates...who have sex."

Freddie shook his head. "I can promise you that Brad does NOT think of you as just a roommate. And he does think you're worth it. He loves you, Carly. You just gotta remind guys of this kind of stuff. Stay on their ass."

"But Sam doesn't have to stay on your ass about stuff!" I countered, and Freddie let out a laugh.

"Like hell she doesn't! She's always on my ass!"

"Yeah, I ride this boy like a rented mule," Sam said with a grin. "And yes, that can be taken many different ways."

"Alright, whatever. But if I have to remind Brad to do stuff, it won't mean as much!"

Freddie rolled his eyes. "Seriously, Carly? Guys are NOT mindreaders! Especially not Brad...he's about as deep as a kiddie pool."

"Freddie!" I scolded.

"What? You know I love the guy, he's my best friend! But I'm serious! Brad's very much a guy's guy. If he sees a problem, he'll try to fix it, but he won't know there's a problem UNLESS you tell him there is one!"

I shook my head, still uncertain, and Freddie sighed.

"Okay. A few weeks ago, how was he with the drinking?"

"Horrible," I moaned. "Drunk as a skunk every other night!"

"And ever since we called him out on it, how many times has that happened?"

My brows furrowed as Freddie's words finally registered. "None. He hasn't drank at all."

"Exactly! Because we told him there was a problem, and look! He fixed it! You want romance, you gotta tell the boy! Believe me, he's crazy about you, he WILL pull out all the stops to keep you happy!"

"Okay," I finally said. "I'll try."

"Please do," he replied. "Because if you dump Brad, you're gonna make him cry, and that's gonna be very uncomfortable for everyone involved." He paused for a second. "But..."

"But what?" I looked at him carefully.

"You do realize that there's absolutely nothing either one of you can do to make things exactly like it was when you first got together, right?" I looked at him, unsure of what to say, and he continued. "That's a completely different stage, you guys are passed that, not only is it impossible to get it back, but you don't want it back."

"Why not?" I replied. "Those were good times!"

"Because there's better stuff ahead, Carly!" Sam responded. "Like this." She gestured to her and Freddie. "It was absolutely amazing when we first got together, yeah, but I wouldn't go back to that for anything! It's so much better now! I mean, we're so close now...we didn't have that in the beginning, we were still trying to feel each other out."

"But you guys couldn't keep your hands off each other in the beginning," I pointed out. "You don't miss that?"

"I still can't keep my hands off her," Freddie replied, and I watched one of his hands leave the countertop, going underneath and then Sam jump a little, before shooting a grin over at him. "I just have a little more self-control now. But, closed doors..." he trailed off, looking over at Sam, and they just stared at each other for a moment, not speaking. I cleared my throat, and they seemed to snap out of it.

"Believe it or not, Carly, the sex is actually better now," Sam said. "I mean...it's...wow. Just...wow."

"Yeah, I get it," I replied with a roll of my eyes. "But you guys have been through a lot together."

"You're right, we have," Freddie said with a nod. "I wish we hadn't had to have gone through most of it, but it happened, we dealt with it. You think you and Brad aren't gonna have rough times ahead? Because there will be. Lots of stuff. I guarantee you his drinking days are NOT over, Carly."

"You really think so?" I asked, and he nodded.

"But if you love the guy, you'll help him work through it," Freddie replied. "Do you love him?"

"Very much," I replied truthfully. "I'm just afraid the spark's gone. He's nothing like he used to be. He's changed so much...he doesn't even look the same!"

"I thought you liked that Brad was beefing up," Sam stated, rolling her eyes when Freddie gave her a Look. "What? I'm not blind! Besides, you're beefier, my sexy man." Freddie seemed to be satisfied by that, and they both focused their attention back on me.

"I do like that he's getting more built," I admitted. "Even though I thought he was hot before, but his style's changed. He's gotten almost...I dunno...sloppier?"

"That is true," Freddie agreed. "I mean, I've never met anyone with so many hoodies and Vans sneakers. And he could definitely use a haircut..." he trailed off, biting his bottom lip.

"What?" I asked, and he shook his head.

"Nothing. Hey, baby?" he asked Sam, and she looked at him.

"What?"

"You guys going shopping or what?"

"Yeah, I guess, right?" she looked over at me, and I nodded.

"The dress isn't gonna buy itself," I responded.

Freddie nodded, as if considering something. "Okay. So...are Mel and Emily still upstairs?"

Sam shrugged. "I think so. You still gonna let me take out some money to buy Mel a dress, or not so much?"

"No, I will. I gotta do the bank transfers anyway, I'm afraid if I don't get it done today, I'll forget, what with everything that's going on next week."

"Throw a little extra my way?" I asked. "For the dress?"

Freddie's eyebrows knitted together, and his eyes narrowed suspiciously. "How much extra?"

"Oh, not that much..." I looked down, fiddling with my nails.

"Carly," Freddie responded, giving me a look.

"Only like a thousand extra," I responded.

"A grand? For a dress?" Freddie replied. "You gotta be kidding me, Carly!"

"Come on! It's a cocktail party with the uber-rich! You know how these things are, Freddie! They're all chi-chi, I don't want to go in some bargain basement thing!"

"But you don't need top of the line runway extravaganza either, Carly!" Freddie replied. "Sam, back me up here."

Sam shrugged. "Whatever you give Carly, you gotta give me too!"

"Sam!" he exclaimed. "Baby, give me a break!"

"I'll pay for Emily's dress if you give me the grand," I replied. "Take some of the slack off your wallet."

"Five hundred," he responded.

"Nine hundred," I countered.

"Six hundred, final offer," Freddie replied.

"Seven fifty," I responded. Freddie glared at me, yelping a bit when Sam poked him.

"Oh, fine. Seven fifty," he groaned, and I just gave him a smile.

"What about shoes?" I asked, and he just pointed at me.

"Don't push me, kid. If it were up to you, you would've bankrupted iCarly a long time ago with your fashion habit!"

"Wardrobe is very important, Freddie!" I argued. "Come on, you yourself know how many emails we get per week asking about my clothes!"

"Yeah, I know," he grumbled, straightening up. "Alright, I'll go do the bank transfers."

"Baby?" Sam asked, grabbing his arm.

"What?" he asked, giving her a Look. "I know that look. What do you want now?"

"Well, I need money to buy Mel a dress too...so if I go a little bit over, that's okay, right?"

He groaned. "Sam! No! We all agreed, seven fifty! Do you realize that's a combined fifteen hundred dollars for you girls to spend on CLOTHES? And clothes for just ONE night! Why can't Melanie just wear something of yours that you already have?"

"Because I need to talk to her, while shopping, REMEMBER?" she replied pointedly. "C'mon, please? Baby...please?" she gave him a puppy-dog face, and when that didn't work, she just pressed against him, her arms going around him and kissing on his neck, and his head went back, sighing in defeat.

"Fine," he responded. "Eight fifty, not a penny more!"

Sam just grinned, bouncing up and down, before kissing him. "Thank you baby. I owe you."

"You bet your sweet little ass you do," he growled. "And you're gonna pay up in full when you get home, got it?"

"Mmm, yes sir," she replied with a smile, kissing him again. I just glared at them both, utterly annoyed.

"That's not fair! Sam!" I whined. "I can't do that! How come you get special treatment?"

Sam pulled away to grin at me. "Rule number one, you let a guy touch your boobs, you get special treatment. Remember that next time you want Brad to take out the trash instead of yelling at him."

"Besides, I'm not pulling the extra out of the business account," Freddie stated. "That's out of our personal account. So you can find it in your heart to spend an extra hundred of your own money too, Shay."

"Fine, point taken," I stated with a roll of my eyes. "Thanks...for...you know. Talking to me."

Freddie just shrugged. "Don't give up on Brad yet. He's a good guy."

"Yeah, I know," I replied softly.

That's what was making this so hard. I knew that, Brad was an amazing person, he'd just lost sight of who he really was lately. But it'd be wrong of me to punish him over it, right? I LOVED Brad, I just wish I knew how to get us past this slump we seemed to be in at the moment. And watching the way Sam and Freddie were always fawning all over each other, that didn't help either! It made it worse. I was incredibly jealous of how close those two were, jealous that Brad and I didn't seem to have the same thing.

But I wasn't going to end it, at least not until I'd taken Sam and Freddie's advice. I figured, if those two couldn't help us, nobody could. I just had to cross my fingers that their advice would actually work.

~*Freddie*~

"Oh my god," Sam stated once we were in our room with the door closed. "I can't believe this! I told you this whole proposal business was a bad idea, Freddie!"

"Shh!" I replied. "You wanna give it away?"

She shook her head. "No, but...oh my god! If they break up, it's gonna be a disaster!"

"Sam, normal people have doubts about their relationships, you know," I reminded her. "Come on, baby. It's actually good that Carly's realizing they have problems. It means she's not completely delusional. If they deal with their issues now, they may actually have a shot at making it!"

"So...what now?" she asked.

"Now, you get dressed, go to the mall with the girls, and go about your business. Sticking your nose in this won't fix a thing."

"But you're going to," she replied, arms crossed over her chest. "I know that look."

I shook my head. "I'm not gonna do a damn thing. Short of making Brad cut his hair. It's getting ridiculous."

"Yeah, he does kinda look like a headbanger now," she agreed. "And that just won't do."

"Nope," I replied. "But come on. You've got other things to focus on. Like Melanie."

"Yeah," she sighed. "I don't want to deal with this. But I know I have to. Otherwise, I'm gonna have to bitch-slap her."

"Sam..." I warned her. "I thought we were past bitch-slapping people, right?"

"I guess," she grumbled. "But you have no idea how hard that is for me! Not a day goes by that I don't want to pummel someone...and it's usually multiple times!"

"I know, sweetheart," I replied, kissing her on the forehead. "And I'm glad that you can hold back now. And as long it's not me that you wanna pummel, we're good."

She shook her head. "Never. I still feel guilty for all the times I hit you in the past...it makes me feel so shitty."

"Well, stop!" I responded. "Thing of the past. You've gotten so much better! Now, all we gotta do is get past you throwing shit, and we'll be good."

"It's been a few weeks since I've done that," she said softly, and I nodded.

"I know, baby." I leaned down to kiss her, pulling away slightly, our foreheads still touching. "I love you. You're such a sweet girl. Such a good person."

"Thank you," she said simply.

"It's true, baby. You are."

"I know," she said quietly. "I still need to hear it once in awhile though."

"Well, just let me know when you do, and I'll be sure to tell you," I responded, kissing her again. "Okay, get dressed, I'm gonna do the bank transfers real quick, and then I guess you guys can go. But you'd better not overspend, got it?"

"Ugh, fine," Sam responded with a roll of her eyes. "But I gotta get a dress, shoes, and...underthings."

At that latest admission, my eyebrows went up. "Oh really?"

"Mmhmm. Some really sexy stuff," she teased.

"Well, I can't wait to see it," I replied. "On you, and then on the floor."

She laughed, her arms going around my neck and kissing me. "I love you so much, you know that?"

"Yeah, I think I remember you saying that a few times," I teased. "Go get ready. The sooner you leave, the sooner you get back."

"Okay," she replied. "I'm gonna go hop in the shower. Sure you don't wanna come?"

Ugh, I did, but that would end up putting everything behind schedule, and I had quite a few things to do today. The Brad/Carly thing just ended up putting something else on my plate to handle, but it had to get dealt with, and fast.

"I'm gonna have to take a raincheck this time, sweetheart," I said with a sigh. "You know I want to, but I've got a million things to deal with today. I HAVE to balance the business account, I've been putting it off for too long."

"Oh, alright," she responded, sounding slightly disappointed. "But you better have it done by the time I get back, because otherwise it'll get put on hold for longer...cuz the second I walk in the door, I'm gonna rip your clothes off and have my way with you."

"Not if I have my way with you first," I growled, and she just gave me a sexy smile.

"Sounds good," she replied, kissing me. "Game on." She kissed me again, and I groaned, my arms going around her in spite of myself, moaning against her mouth as she ground her hips against me. I pulled away halfheartedly.

"Baby, get your ass in that shower before we end up in bed," I warned her. "You've already got me riled up."

"I can see that," she said mischievously, her hand reaching between us to grab my package, and I growled at her.

"Quit teasing me," I said, turning her around and giving her a push toward the bathroom, smacking her lightly on the ass. "Go get ready!"

"Mmm, I love it when you're bossy," she said, looking over her shoulder at me and giving me a look like she wanted to eat me alive. Ugh, why did she have to do that when we both had things to do? That girl loved driving me crazy, but she was SO going to pay for it when she got back.

As soon as she shut the bathroom door, I picked up my phone.

"Hey, Gibby? What's up, man? Yes, I realize it's incredibly early. Tell me, does your grandfather still cut hair?"

~*Brad*~

I bounded into the apartment with a big smile on my face. I was happy as hell, something new for a change. Yes, Carly was pissed off at me right now, for running off early in the morning and not telling her what I was up to, but I couldn't let her know what I was up to. You're not supposed to clue someone in on their Christmas gifts, after all, and I was pretty sure I'd outdone myself this year. She'd be really happy with what I got her this year, I was sure of it.

"Hey man," Freddie greeted me. He was sitting at the table, crouched over his laptop, pen in one hand, typing on his laptop with the other, the notebook he used to record all business dealings next to him. "What goes on?"

"Not much," I responded, flopping down on the couch. "What goes on with you?"

He shrugged. "Business shit. Just finished balancing things out. Man, we're really sucking up a lot of bandwidth, you know that? We got hit with extra fees this month. We're gonna have to upgrade again."

"Aren't we already paying like two grand a month in bandwidth charges?" I asked, and he nodded.

"Yeah. It's cool though, not like we can't afford it. I made a note of it. Anyway, I did all the bank transfers too."

"Well, that's good," I responded. "Because I just emptied my account out like an hour ago. Like, completely."

Freddie shot me an agitated look. "What? Why? On what?"

"Stuff for Carly," I shrugged. "Like this." I opened the massive box I was carrying, and his eyes grew big.

"Whoa. That's a nice guitar," he stated.

"Yeah, she's been wanting one for awhile," I responded. "Top of the line fender. Cost me three grand."

"Dude..." he trailed off, shaking his head. "Never mind, I have no room to talk. I just dropped about the same on Sam's stuff."

"Really? What'd you get her?"

"A necklace, among other things. But I think she's really gonna like it."

"Cool," I nodded, leaning back and relaxing for a bit. I looked at Freddie suspiciously. "What? Why are you staring at me?"

He just shrugged. "Talked to Carly this morning."

"About?" I pressed him, and he just sighed, shutting his laptop and turning to look at me.

"She's not happy, dude," he replied, and I felt my stomach drop.

"Why? Why is she not happy?" I asked, feeling panicky. "Tell me!"

"You've been dropping the ball, man," Freddie responded.

"What? No I haven't!" I exclaimed. "I stopped drinking! And...how did I drop the ball? We're not even fighting! I mean, not really."

"Just because you're not fighting doesn't mean everything's good, dude," Freddie responded. "It just means you have issues you're not talking about."

"Whatever you say, sensei," I said with a roll of my eyes. "So what'd Carly have to say?"

"Not much. Other than things aren't like they used to be."

"But...she's never said anything about it to me!" I replied. "Why is she talking to you about it?"

"Well, for starters, be glad she's talking to someone!" Freddie stated. "Secondly, come on, it's Carly. She wants everything to be perfect, and she HATES confrontation. You know that."

I sighed, looking up at the ceiling. "So what should I do?"

"Well, for starters..." Freddie trailed off, looking me up and down. "We gotta clean you up, dude."

"Clean me up?" I responded. "Like how?"

"Cut the hair, for one thing," he said. "And the clothes? Yeah, Carly doesn't go for the skater look, you know that, and yet, you continue to dress that way."

"I thought we were past that whole shallow shit," I grunted, and Freddie rolled his eyes.

"Brad, seriously? We are talking about CARLY SHAY! Fashion maven! Step your game up, or step off! If you're not gonna take this seriously, you might as well turn right around and take that ring back where you got it from!"

"Yeah, but..." I started, but Freddie just cut me off.

"But nothing!" he replied. "Look, do you love Carly?"

"Of course I do!" I shot back. "You know that!"

"Then she's worth cutting your damn hair, dude!"

"But..."

"I swear to god, if you say 'but it's my thing!' I'm going to punch you in the face, dude!" he stood up. "You gotta change shit up. Pull her back in. Or you're gonna lose her! And you gotta stop acting like you guys don't have problems. She's gotta force you into talking, and you've gotta do the same thing! And plus, like...when's the last time you guys went out? On a date?"

I rolled my eyes. "We went to the Groovie Smoothie yesterday."

"Oh my god," Freddie moaned. "I swear to god, dude. You are so damn dense sometimes. Nobody older than fifteen goes to the Groovie Smoothie on DATES! Man, seriously! You need to romance the girl, like hardcore. And you gotta do it BEFORE you propose. You have five days, I'd start laying it on thick, right now!"

"Maybe you're right," I said with a sigh. "So...you really think I need to cut my hair?"

"Without a doubt, dude. In fact," he looked down at his watch. "Should be taking care of that little problem pretty soon."

"What? What does that mean?" I asked, but before I could pester him about it further, a knock came at the door.

"Aaaand right on time," Freddie said, standing up and walking to the door.

"What? Right on time for what?" I asked.

"Your hair issue," he replied, opening the door. "Gibby! What's up?"

I stood up, absolutely horrified. "You've gotta be shitting me, Freddie! I am not gonna let GIBBY cut my hair!"

"Don't be ridiculous, Brad," Gibby said with a roll of his eyes. "I'm not going to cut your hair..."

"Oh thank god," I breathed, totally relieved.

"...my grandfather is," Gibby finished, turning around. "In here, Grandad!"

"Oh, you guys are absolutely crazy!" I responded. "If you think for one second I'm going to let Gibby Senior anywhere near my head with scissors..." Freddie just glared at me, and I shook my head, heading for the stairs.

"Nope!" he shouted, cutting me off before I got there. "You're not getting out of this!"

I glared at him. "I think you're forgetting I throw a pretty hard punch."

"And I think you're forgetting I can pin you down effortlessly," he responded with a roll of his eyes. "We can do this the easy way, where you sit down and shut up, or the hard way."

"What's the hard way?" Gibby asked.

Freddie shrugged. "Think your grandfather can still cut his hair if he's in a headlock?"

"Probably."

"Dude!" I replied. "Forget it!"

Freddie just stared at me wordlessly for a second, before walking over to the coffee table and grabbing my phone.

"What are you doing?" I asked.

"Looking at your photos," he replied, and my eyes widened.

"No!" I shouted, running towards him. "Get out of there! I have special pictures of Carly on there!"

"I know," he responded, his hand going to my chest and holding me back as he flipped through my phone. "Oh, damn. I thought you said she wasn't flexible."

"I swear to god, Freddie!" I hollered. "I will kill you!"

"Fine," he responded, turning the phone around so I could see it, a particularly revealing picture of Carly on the screen. "But are you sure you wanna give THAT up? Over your HAIR?"

I sighed in defeat. "Ugh! Fine, you win!" I snatched the phone out of his hand. "Stay out of my phone!"

He shrugged. "Just getting you back for the Thanksgiving episode from a few years ago. And at least I never kissed her."

"Oh god, are we back to that?" I exclaimed, and he shook his head.

"Nope, just saying. Now sit down and shut up! If you make the guy nervous, he might screw up. And if you lose an ear, I dunno how Carly's gonna react to that."

"What? What does that mean?" I asked, but Freddie just ignored me, turning to Gibby and Gibby's grandfather.

"Alright, ready for this?"

I sure wasn't, but I just groaned, flopping down into a chair and crossing my arms over my chest.

~*Sam*~

"So...what about this one?" Carly asked as she pulled a dress off the rack. I wrinkled my nose.

"Yuck. Pink."

"Sam!" she scolded me. "I happen to like pink!"

"Yeah, I guess you're right," I said with a shrug. "But I mean...you really wanna show up at April's parents' looking like webhost Barbie?"

Carly stared at the dress for a moment, before putting it back on the rack. "Point taken. So what color are you gonna wear?"

"Black," I said with a shrug.

"Isn't that kinda boring?"

"No!" I cried. "Come on, you can never go wrong with a little black dress. And anyway, black is slimming! And I'm gonna need all the help I can get in that department."

"Oh my god!" Carly replied with a roll of her eyes. "Sam, you are so far from fat it's not even funny."

"Growing baby, Shay!" I reminded her.

"There is no way you're showing yet!"

"I'm not that far off!" I argued. "My lower stomach is like...really hard." I lifted my shirt up a bit. "Feel it."

Carly pressed a hand to my stomach, and a slow smile spread across her face. "Aw, Sam! There's a baby in there!"

"Naw, really?" I replied with a smirk. "So...Monday when I have to go to the doctor, we get to hear the baby's heartbeat for the first time."

"Oh my god!" Carly exclaimed. "That's so cool!"

"Yeah, I know," I responded. "I'm really excited. I'm just...not so excited about the whole getting huge part. And I'm not entirely convinced I'm not showing yet. I mean, I notice a little bit of a bump already, when I get out of the shower and look at myself in the mirror."

"Does Freddie notice?" she asked, and I shook my head.

"I think he's too distracted by my boobs," I said with a laugh. I looked around, confused. "Where the hell did Melanie and Emily go?"

Carly pointed. "They're over there. Man, she is really avoiding you today! You think she'd be a little more appreciative of you buying her a dress!"

I shrugged. "We had some pretty intense words last night, you know?"

"About what?"

"She thinks Freddie's controlling."

Carly rolled her eyes. "Freddie is so NOT controlling. At least not when it comes to you."

"I know," I replied. "She just doesn't get it."

"She hasn't really been around you guys much, not enough to really understand the way you guys work," Carly said with a shrug. "I have, and I don't see it."

"What do you see?" I asked.

"That you guys are ridiculously in love, and would completely lose your shit without each other. You two are absolutely perfect together, Sam. I think it's so cool. You're so lucky."

"Carly, it's not like you and Brad aren't well-suited for each other either," I pointed out, and she just shrugged.

"I'm not so sure anymore. I love him, but..." she trailed off, biting her bottom lip. "It just feels like we're on automatic pilot. I can't even remember the last time he did something romantic for me."

I shrugged. "It's a two way street, Carls."

She stopped leafing through the rack of dresses and stared at me. "What do you mean?"

"Carly, come on!" I exclaimed, rolling my eyes. "Boys like romance too, they just won't admit it. But they do like it. A lot of nights I'll just turn the lights down, make Freddie turn off the computer, and then spend awhile rubbing his back, giving him reminders about how much I love him, what an amazing guy he is, that kind of thing. When's the last time you did something like that for Brad?"

Carly just stood there, looking down at the ground. "I don't know."

"A-ha!" I said, poking her. "So you're gonna bitch about Brad not being romantic anymore, but you don't tell him it bothers you, and you won't do the same for him? Carly Shay!" I scolded her. "You know better than that!"

"So it's my fault?" she snapped, her hands on her hips, and I shrugged.

"Partially!" I replied. "Come on, don't be mad at me! I'm just trying to help! Face it, Carls, you're BOTH getting lazy, and you should know that one person making an effort isn't going to make a difference! Freddie and I both work at our relationship, and we work our asses off!"

"You guys make it seem so easy," she said softly, and I shook my head fervently.

"It's not. It's a lot of work. We just refuse to give up," I responded. "I mean, it'd be like giving up on myself. Because I wouldn't be who I am right now without him."

"You really think that?" she asked, and I nodded.

"Do you remember what I was like, Carly? I was a broken person. He fixed me."

She nodded. "Yeah, I guess you're right. You're so happy now..."

"It's more than that, Carly. I'm like...at peace. Because I'm safe. And we have a future together. And we're having a baby, I mean..." I trailed off, biting my lip. Damn hormones! "Aw shit, now I'm gonna cry. Look what you did, Shay!"

Carly laughed, hugging me. "Aw, Sam! Don't cry!"

"I can't help it," I replied, wiping my face. "It's the stupid hormones. I get worked up over the littlest thing these days..."

"Well, only like...eight and a half months to go!" Carly said brightly, and I rolled my eyes.

"Yeah, that makes me feel a lot better." I turned to go through a rack of dresses, and my eyes lit up as I pulled one off the rack. "Ooh! You'd look good in this one!" It was a shimmery navy blue floor length gown, velvet, with a halter and deep V. "It'd show off them boobies you're finally starting to grow!"

"Sam!" she laughed, snatching the gown out of my hands. "Shut up!"

"What?" I replied. "I'm just saying...you are catching up. So do you like it?"

Carly examined the gown carefully, turning it around. "Yeah, I do! But that back's awful low."

"Well, so's the front. Come on! You'd look super hot in it! Brad's eyes will pop out of his head!" I said, bouncing up and down. "Just try it on!"

"Okay..." she said slowly.

"I'm gonna go talk to Mel a little, let me know when you've got it on," I said. With that, I left Carly to her own devices, walking across the store to where Emily and Mel were standing, going through dresses.

"How's it going, you guys?" I asked, leaning against the wall.

Melanie shrugged. "Fine," she said flatly.

I sighed; she wasn't going to make this easy. "Emily? Can you give us a sec?"

"Uh, sure..." she replied. "I'll just..."

"Nope," Melanie said, reaching out to grab her arm and pull her back, before glaring at me. "Anything you've gotta say to me, you can say in front of Em."

"Fine," I replied with a shrug. "Look, Mel, things got really out of hand last night, and..."

"They got out of hand with my mom too, huh?" she interrupted rudely.

"Mel, come on!" I exclaimed. "I'm sorry, okay? I had nothing to do with it, you know that! And everyone else, I mean...they didn't know what to do! I was in the hospital, Freddie was scared Bill was gonna try to finish what he started when I got out! You have no idea what I went through! I almost DIED, Melanie! How can you be mad at my husband for protecting me?"

She shrugged. "I don't know. I'm just really, really torn about all of it. I still think she needs help!"

"You're right, Mel, she probably does," I agreed. "But...I mean...look on the bright side, at least being in prison got her off the heroin!"

She shrugged again. "I guess so," she muttered.

"It's a serious drug, Melanie. I mean, if a cop had walked in that trailer before all of this, one who's not Bill I mean...she still would have gone to jail for that!"

Melanie was silent for a moment. "I never thought of that, but...come on...Sam. You and I both know, two wrongs don't make a right! Yes, she put us through hell, but..." she trailed off. "I don't know. And I know you disagree, but I still think Freddie's controlling."

I shook my head. "You don't know him," I said softly. "He's the most wonderful guy. I was so angry, so scared, before we got together, and he fixed all that for me. He takes care of me SO well. I literally worry about NOTHING with him."

Melanie was silent, so I continued. "Remember what it was like, growing up? The power or the water would always get shut off, we never had food, we had to wash our clothes in the sink...we were always dirty! Don't you remember that?"

"I blocked out a lot of it, honestly," she stated.

"Yeah, me too," I replied. "But my point is...Freddie and I have been together almost three years, and during those three years...the power has not been shut off, I don't have to worry about clean clothes, being hungry...all the basics are handled. And not just the basics. I don't feel scared, or lonely, or sad...he doesn't let me feel that way."

"He doesn't LET you?" she responded pointedly, and I rolled my eyes.

"That's not what I mean, Mel, and you know it! I mean if for some reason I AM scared or sad, Freddie just makes it all go away. And as far as lonely, well..." I laughed a bit. "That doesn't exist for me. I haven't felt that way in years. He makes me so happy. You have no idea how much I love him."

"I get that, Sam, but...I don't know," she said with a sigh. "He just...I've noticed since I've been here, he handles EVERYTHING!"

"Okay, the business stuff...Carly and Brad are really bad about remembering to deal with it. And I'm terrible at math. And I mean, Freddie's brain is just built for that kind of thing, come on! You know how smart he is, it's ridiculous!"

Melanie looked at me carefully. "Okay, so...what about all the other stuff? You could deal with a lot of stuff on your own, but he won't let you!"

I shrugged. "I let him handle things for a reason."

"And what reason is that?" she asked.

I was silent for a moment, trying to choose my words carefully. "I...you know, Freddie's got his own problems. Or I mean, he used to. He's better now...but when we first got together, he was ridiculously insecure. He felt weak, powerless. Less than a man. So...when I let him take care of me, handle things...in your words, CONTROL things...what can I say? It makes him feel better about himself. He feels capable. Like a man. Remember how hard it hit him when he got diagnosed with diabetes?"

"Freddie has diabetes?" Emily interrupted, and I nodded. "Wow, you can't even tell. I mean, he seems so healthy..."

I laughed. "It's not a death sentence, Em! It's pretty manageable. And he deals with it pretty well now, we've pretty much got it down to a science. But in the beginning it WAS really hard on him. He was convinced it made him weak."

"Wait, THAT'S why he was all bitchy when he first got diagnosed?" Melanie asked, and I nodded. "Wow. I didn't see that."

I shrugged. "So yeah, Freddie's not all Mr. Self Confident Ruler of All. I let him handle a lot of shit because it...I dunno, it makes him feel like a man."

"So..." Melanie trailed off, and I could tell she was trying to wrap her head around things. "Freddie handles things because it makes you feel safe and protected, and you let him because it makes him feel like a man?"

"Yes, exactly!" I exclaimed, nodding fervently. "That's EXACTLY how it works. We make up for each other's short-comings by manipulating each other's weaknesses a little bit. He jerks control out of my hands because it makes me remember he's not gonna hurt me, and I let him do it because it boosts his ego. Get it?"

"I guess so," she replied. She was quiet for a moment. "I guess you guys are good for each other."

"We are absolutely perfect for one another," I replied with a happy sigh. "Melanie...I don't think you realize how much I love him, and how happy he makes me. He's everything to me."

"I know," she responded softly. "It just worried me a little at first..."

"Believe me, you're not the only person who's commented on it," I replied honestly. "It definitely looks weird to outsiders. But it works for us, you know? And if something's not working, we'll either fix it, or try a different way. But, Mel?"

"Yeah?"

"I can't have you guys at odds with each other. I love Freddie, but I love you too. It would absolutely kill me to know you guys like...hated each other," I said, and her eyebrows went up.

"Freddie hates me?"

"No! He thinks you hate him!"

She shook her head. "I don't hate Freddie. I'm still a little on the fence about all this stuff about mom, and I was a little apprehensive about your relationship, but now that you've explained it to me, I guess I get it. But I definitely don't hate him."

"He's really, really good for me, Mel. Without him, I honestly don't know where I'd be right now." I paused. "I don't know if I'd even be alive."

"Don't say that, Sam," Melanie said, and I shrugged.

"I'm serious! You're lucky you never had to deal with Bill! He...he was a monster, Mel."

Melanie looked at the ground. "So was Joey," she said softly, and my hands went to her shoulders.

"I know, Mel. I know. I know it was bad for you. But it's okay. And you'll be okay."

"I know." She looked around, biting her lip. "Can we change the subject?"

"Sure," I replied, ready to change it myself. "Did you guys find anything good?"

"Sort of," Melanie replied with a shrug. "I was checking out this red dress, and Emily liked this white one." She pulled the dresses off the rack, and I eyed them critically.

"Wow, I like!" I said finally. "But you gotta try them on first. Hey, speaking of..." I turned toward the dressing rooms. "SHAY!"

"What?" Carly yelled from behind the curtain.

"Let's see it!"

"No! I look terrible!"

"Yeah, terribly hot!" I replied. "I'll be the judge of that! Let's see it!"

"No! I need different one, this one's too revealing!"

I rolled my eyes. "Oh, for the love of Gibby, Carly! Grow some balls!"

"I'm not coming out!"

"Don't make me send Melanie in there!" I threatened, and I was met with silence. "Carly!"

"I will definitely go in there," Melanie stated, and I glared at her.

"Settle down, perv. You're standing right next to your girlfriend."

"Emily thinks she's hot too," Melanie said with a shrug, and Emily nodded.

"She is pretty hot."

I rolled my eyes. "Oh my god, you guys. Settle down!" I focused my attention back on Carly. "Carly Shay! Get your cute butt out here, right now!"

"Ugh, fine!" she whined, shoving the curtain back and walking out. "Well?"

Melanie leaned forward, her mouth inches from my ear. "When did Carly grow boobs?"

"Melanie!" I said with a laugh, pushing her away.

"Sam?" Carly asked uncertainly. "It's too much, isn't it?"

"No!" I exclaimed. "You look hot! Really, really hot! Turn around and let me see the back!"

Carly rolled her eyes before turning around. "Well?"

"Wow," I said. "That thing is super low in the back."

"I knew it was too much!" Carly exclaimed. "Forget it, I'll find something else!"

"No way, Carls!" I responded, shaking my head fervently. "This is THE dress. You look amazing! Mel, Emily, back me up!"

"You look...fuckable," Melanie commented, and Emily nodded, making me groan and cover my face.

"Thanks Mel," I said flatly. I looked back at Carly. "It's lesbian approved. And let's face it...Brad is a lesbian in a man's body."

"True," Carly said with a laugh. "Okay, I guess I'll get it."

"Awesome!" I said. "Alright, you two, go try yours on!" I watched Melanie and Emily grin at each other, going for the same dressing room, but I grabbed Melanie's arm, yanking her back.

"Uh-uh!" I said. "Nice try, but no. You two are not about to go down that road in this store!"

"Ugh, fine," Melanie responded with a roll of her eyes. "Shouldn't you be looking for a dress too?"

I sighed. "Yeah, I guess. I just hope I can find something that my stomach's not gonna look ridiculous in."

"Sam!" Carly yelled through the curtain as she was getting re-dressed. She came back out a moment later. "Number one, you're PREGNANT. Number two, you're NOT showing yet!"

"Whatever," I grumbled. I was beginning to hate this. I hadn't really talked about it much, not even to Freddie, but I was really beginning to lament what pregnancy was doing to my body, and it hadn't even really started yet. Part of me was worried I wouldn't look the same after I gave birth, and my body would never quite go back the way it was. And if that happened, what if Freddie wasn't attracted to me as much? That would KILL me.

"Sam?" Carly said, giving me a concerned look. "What's wrong? You look like you're lost in thought. Did the talk with Melanie go okay?"

"Yeah, it went fine," I responded, forcing a smile. "It's nothing. I just...this baby makes me a little spacey, you know? Same way it makes me all weepy. Just hormones."

"Oh," she replied. "Alright. Well...let's go find you the perfect little black dress."

"Okay," I responded, still holding onto the fake smile. We may end up finding the perfect little black dress, but I wasn't so sure if it would matter on my body, which was rapidly becoming less than perfect, more and more each day.


	14. Chapter 14: Back in the Swing of Things

**A/N: Very Carly/Brad centric. And also...dun dun dun...Barly lemon! And you guys KNOW what that means, sour, but sweet!**

**Chapter Fourteen:  
>Back in the Swing of Things<strong>

~*Sam*~

"Are they upstairs?" Carly called to me.

I shook my head as I walked back down the stairs. "Nope. I have no idea where those two ran off to. Maybe the gym?"

"I guess?" Carly responded, flopping down on the couch. "Well, whatever, I guess."

I just harrumphed, I was agitated with Freddie. I was under the impression that Freddie would be home when I got back, but I guess not! I'd only been away from him for three or four hours, but I missed him! It had taken forever to find a dress I was happy with. Well, let me rephrase that. I'd found tons of dresses I liked, I just didn't like how they looked on ME. Under normal circumstances, I'd just slap a corset on underneath and call it a day, but I couldn't do that anymore. I was pregnant, with a growing child inside me, and I was positive that if I were to do that it would somehow cause some damage, and I didn't want that. When I finally found something I liked, I was worn out, exhausted, slightly depressed about the whole thing. I just wanted to crawl into bed with Freddie and snuggle...among other things. I sat down next to Carly, pulling my phone out of my pocket to text him.

'Baby where r u?'

A moment later, he texted me back.

Freddie: With Brad. Will be back soon, maybe half an hour? Love you.

I had to smile at that. I wondered how many times a day he told me he loved me? I'll bet it was a lot, and I bet I heard it a lot more than most people who had been married almost three years. He was so damn perfect. That reminded me, I was still kind of stuck on what to get him for Christmas. I'd picked up a few things here and there, but nothing major. I felt bad. When it came to gifts, he was always pretty good about getting me stuff I liked, but I wasn't as good at picking stuff out as he was. I usually just got him electronics or similar techie stuff. Okay, yeah, he loved that kind of stuff, but I knew I could do better than that! But what?

I couldn't figure it out. I knew I was going to get him a new phone, along with that new blu-ray player he'd been creaming over for weeks, but beyond that...I was at a loss.

I sat there with Carly, watching television...well, she was watching TV, I was busy agonizing over what to get Freddie, when the front door opened. I practically leaped up. Yeah, so it was kind of pathetic, being married to someone for three years and still not being able to handle being more than a few hours away from him, but I couldn't help it. It sounded so stupid, but every time I saw him, I got butterflies. Not to mention, I was feeling a little bit down. I just wanted to crawl into his arms and forget about everything. I was so relieved to see him walk in.

"Hey bab-" he was cut off by me pressing my mouth against his, kissing him like I hadn't seen him in days, eager to clear my head and just focus on him. He just laughed, pulling away and kissing me on my forehead. "Miss me?"

I nodded. "You know I did. Where were you guys?"

"Oh, nowhere," he replied.

"Where's Brad?" Carly asked.

"Right here," Brad replied as he walked in, and my jaw dropped.

"Holy hell, you got a haircut!"

"More like was forced to get a haircut, but same principle. You likes?" he asked, running a hand through his hair. God, he looked like he did back in high school! Kudos to Freddie!

I nodded. "Yeah, it looks awesome! And new duds too?"

"Yep," he replied, doing a little spin. He looked over at his girlfriend nervously. "Carly?"

Carly didn't respond, just walked over to him, this serious, hungry look in her eyes. It was so hard to keep from laughing, Carly looked like she wanted to eat him alive!

"Well?"

"What happened to you?" she asked, one of her hands reaching out to run over his chest.

"Gee, thanks," he responded with a roll of his eyes. "Carly, if you don't-"

He couldn't get any more words out, because Carly just threw her arms around him, kissing him passionately, pressing against him. He groaned against her mouth, kissing her back, and she finally pulled away, still staring at him. It was like she couldn't keep her eyes off him! I recognized that look, where had I seen it before? Oh yeah, I did it to Freddie on the regular.

"So that's a yes?" he asked with a grin, and she nodded.

"That's a hell yes! Baby, you look SO good. Oh my god!" Carly exclaimed, her arms still around him. Freddie laughed a little, grabbing my hand and pulling me over the couch with him. He sat down, and I sat in his lap.

"Wow, you really did miss me, didn't you baby?" he asked, and I nodded, laying my head on his chest.

"I love you," I said softly.

"Aw. Why are you being all sweetsy? Did you overspend or something?" he asked.

I shook my head. "No. I just missed you." I paused. "So is that what you've been up to today? Making over Brad?"

"Well, not the whole day," he mused. "Did a bunch of business stuff."

"You did a pretty good job," I replied. "I mean, I can tell Carly likes it. I don't think she ever told him to his face, but she really hated how long his hair was getting."

"I know," he responded. "That's why I made him cut it. Or...me and Gibby did."

"You and Gibby?"

"Mmhmm. Gibby's grandfather did it."

"Shut up!" I replied, lifting my head to look at him. "Why would you put him through that?"

"Oh come on, I remember a few years back he did good work on Spencer's hair."

I shrugged. "Well, whatever."

"So how'd shopping go? You and Mel finally square off?"

I nodded. "We're fine, baby. And I got a really nice dress, I think you'll like it," I said with a sweet smile, kissing his neck.

"I'm sure I will, baby. You look good in anything."

"Yeah?"

"Mmhmm. And nothing," he said with a mischievous grin, before kissing me. "Hope you saved up some energy for me..."

"You know I did," I responded. All of a sudden, he pulled away from me, shooting a look over at Carly and Brad. Carly had grabbed ahold of Brad's arm and was yanking him toward the stairs, and I couldn't help but laugh. I knew exactly what was going through her head right now. I loved my best friend to death, and while she was far from shallow, she was definitely very...aesthetically driven. Seeing Brad all cleaned up had to have gotten her going.

"Freeze you two!" Freddie yelled suddenly, and Carly and Brad stopped in their tracks.

"What?" Carly practically barked, and Freddie rolled his eyes, before giving Brad a pointed look.

"Oh!" he said. "Right. Uhh...Carly? Go change."

"What?" Carly asked, giving him a confused look. "Why?"

"We're going out."

"We are?" Carly responded, and Brad just gave her a smile, leaning forward to kiss her.

"Yep. Hurry up though, okay? We're on a time schedule right here."

Carly looked confused again. "What do you mean? A time schedule?"

"Ahem!" Freddie cleared his throat, rolling his eyes.

"I mean, we have reservations."

"Really?" Carly asked, a happy smile spreading across her face. "Where?"

Brad shrugged. "It's a surprise. Now go get dressed. Dress nice, but not too nice. Okay?"

"So like...what? Skirt? Dress? Pants? Heels? Flats? Boots?" Carly began riddling off fashion choices, and Brad just laughed, rolling his eyes.

"Carly!" he exclaimed. "Come on! Just put on something nice, you'll look great in whatever! Go! Hurry up!" He kissed her again, and Carly just flashed me a happy and surprised smile, before turning around and heading up the stairs.

Brad sighed, flopping down onto a barstool before glaring at Freddie. "Dude! Do you realize she was THIS CLOSE to dragging me upstairs and having her way with me? Do you have any idea how often that happens? Not very often!"

Freddie rolled his eyes. "Dude, play your cards right tonight, and it'll happen again. I promise." With that, he picked up a piece of paper off the coffee table, balling it up and throwing it at Brad's head.

"Hey!" Brad hollered. "What the hell was that for?"

"A TIME SCHEDULE? Are you kidding me? You're such a dumb ass, dude!" He rolled his eyes again. "You better not screw up tonight, I've done as much as I can, the rest is up to you!"

"I got this, man!" Brad responded, and I scoffed a little bit. "What, Sam?"

I shrugged. "If you 'got this', as you so eloquently put it, you wouldn't need Freddie to be tutoring you on the finer points of romance!"

"Whatever," Brad replied. "So...you really think my hair looks okay, Sam?"

"It looks better than okay!" I replied honestly. "You look great! You look like you did before...well, before you looked like an extra in a Woodstock movie." Brad huffed a little, and I just grinned at him. "Chill, Brad. You look good, okay? The hair's great, the clothes are good...are those new shoes?"

"Uh-huh," he replied. "I'm starting to feel like..."

"Like what?" Freddie asked, and Brad shrugged.

"Like I'm back to pretending to be perfect."

I gave Freddie a Look, and he shrugged.

"Look man, if you think she's worth it, then just suck it up and deal," Freddie replied. "Does it really bother you that much?"

"Well...no," Brad finally said. "But the other clothes were definitely comfier."

"Yeah, so are my sweats, doesn't mean I'm gonna walk around in them all the time," I shot back. "Look, if this doesn't work, you have my permission to hit Freddie."

"What?" Freddie exclaimed. "Sam!"

"Oh come on, you know it's gonna work, baby," I replied. "Carly looked at him like he was a steak. Or in her case a sale on designer shoes."

"True," he said with a nod.

I focused my attention back on Freddie, my arms going around him and kissing his neck. "Think you can leave them to their own devices now, baby?"

Freddie looked over at me, giving me that sexy smirk that drove me crazy. "Maybe. Why do you ask?"

I shrugged. "I missed you. I want Freddie and Sam time."

"I can give you plenty of that," he replied. "Get up." I got off him, and he stood up behind me. "Alright, well...good luck," he said to Brad. "We're out."

"Off to go grope each other?" he teased, and I nodded.

"Naturally. Have fun with Carly." With that, I dragged Freddie into our room, slamming the door shut, and I leaned against it, staring at him.

"What's up with you today?" he asked, amused, sitting down on the bed.

"No idea," I replied. I walked over to the bed, laying down, and he turned around to look at me, giving me a confused look.

"Uh, Sam?"

I held my arms out. "Lay with me."

He just gave me a sweet smile, laying down next to me and pulling me into his arms. "You seem like you have something on your mind, baby," he commented. "Everything alright?"

"Yes," I said, laying my head on his shoulder. "I just missed you. And I love you."

"That's all? Nothing going on inside that beautiful head of yours?"

"No," I lied. "Nothing at all."

Freddie was silent for a moment, trying to decide whether he believed me or not. "Okay," he finally said. His hand went to my hair, stroking it, and I sighed against his chest.

"Baby?"

"Yes, sweetheart?"

"We...we're always gonna be together, right?" I asked.

"Right."

"No matter what?"

"Of course!" He lifted his head to look at me. "Sam, what's wrong? Something's going on, I know you."

I sighed, one of my hands going up and down his chest. "I just...I don't know."

"Baby, talk to me," Freddie said gently. "Tell me what's bothering you."

"Am I showing yet?"

"No, not at all. Why?"

I shrugged. "I feel like I am. And my boobs, I mean...they just keep getting bigger and bigger."

"You have beautiful breasts," Freddie commented, rubbing my back. "And they're supposed to get bigger, remember? All that stuff was in those books I bought you. You have been reading the books, right?"

I lifted my head to give him a Look. "Have you?"

"Yeah, I have," he responded.

"Over-achiever," I grumbled, and he just laughed.

"Baby, come on! What's going on with you?"

I just sighed, biting my bottom lip. "I'm worried."

"About?"

"What happens if I get really big, and I end up not looking the same afterwards?"

"Baby!" Freddie exclaimed. "Stop worrying about that! You'll be fine! You and I both know you have an amazing metabolism!"

"Maybe," I said. "But...let's just say...that I don't look the same afterwards. Just for conversation's sake."

"Okay..." he said, giving me a suspicious look. "Where is this going?"

"I..." I trailed off. God, I was getting emotional AGAIN! What was wrong with me? Why was I acting like this? I bit my lip again, burying my face in Freddie's chest, and his hand went to my shoulder, pushing me off him and sitting me up, before sitting up himself.

"Sam, honey..." he said, cupping my face. "What's wrong, baby?"

"Are you still gonna love me if I don't look the same?" I asked softly, not meeting his eyes.

He sighed. "Baby, come here," he said, pulling me against him. "I'm going to love you NO MATTER WHAT, okay? You're fucking beautiful. And you're everything to me! Nothing, and I mean NOTHING, is going to change how I feel about you, got it?" I nodded, and he kissed me. "Listen to me, baby. You are carrying my CHILD. You are SUPPOSED to gain weight, and all of that, okay? It is normal! It's what happens when you get pregnant! And if you think for one second that it freaks me out, you're absolutely insane. Not only does it NOT freak me out, but I think it's sexy as hell. I love knowing that right now," he laid me back on the bed, pushing my shirt up and pressing his lips to my stomach. "Our baby is in there. It's the most amazing thing." He pulled away, looking up at me. "I don't wanna hear this out of your pretty little mouth any more, got it?"

I nodded. "Okay."

"What do I have to do to make you feel better, baby? Do I gotta make love to you the rest of the night? Kiss all over this beautiful body until you beg me to stop?"

I shook my head. "No."

"Then what? Tell me what to do, I'll do it."

I didn't respond, just put my hands on his shoulders, pushing him back into a laying position, before laying my head on his chest like we were before.

"Tell me you love me," I said softly.

"I love you, my sweet sweet baby," he whispered, kissing me on top of my head. "I love you so much. You know that. What else do you need?"

"Nothing," I replied. "Just hold me."

He smiled, kissing me. "I can do that."

~*Carly*~

"What are you thinking about?" Brad asked me as his eyes fixed on the road, driving.

I looked over at him and gave him a smile, a genuine one that wasn't forced. This was the first time in a long time that I hadn't had to do that while we were alone. Tonight had been nothing short of amazing! First of all, he'd finally, finally, FINALLY cut his damn hair, and he had a style that was pretty similar to what he'd had when we first got together. Plus, the baggy, shapeless hoodies, the worn out jeans that had begun to fray, and not in a cool fashionable way, the dirty sneakers? They were gone! He was wearing this amazing striped sweater that hugged his torso in a way that just made me want to tear it off him, a nice pair of jeans that fit him oh so well (every time he turned around I couldn't stop staring at his butt) and for once he wasn't wearing sneakers!

He'd taken me to a really nice restaurant we hadn't been before, and we talked. I mean, really, really talked. About stuff that didn't involve Sam and Freddie, or iCarly, or school. It was just so...nice. It was like the way things used to be, when we actually seemed to have stuff in common, and enjoy being around each other for more than sex. It reminded me of why I fell in love with him in the first place. Now we were just driving. He wasn't telling me where he was taking me, but that was fine. I was just enjoying being with him.

"Just how much I missed doing this," I responded. He glanced over at me, smiling at me before taking my hand.

"You still haven't told me where we're going, Brad."

"You'll see, babydoll," he responded. "So...the hair?"

"I love it," I said. "It looks so much better. I can see your face now."

"Yeah?"

"Yeah! I was starting to forget what you looked like," I teased, and he just grinned.

"Alright, point taken, Carly. I won't let it get that long again. Good enough?"

"Uh-huh," I replied. "Brad?"

"Yeah?"

"I love you."

He looked over at me again, squeezing my hand. "You know how long it's been, you saying that, without me saying it first?"

I frowned suddenly. "I...no. I don't."

"Awhile, Carly," he said with a shrug.

I sighed, leaning my head back in the seat. "We've been ignoring things for awhile, haven't we?"

"Yeah," he said softly. He turned onto a road, and I sat up, looking around, the familiarity setting in.

"The lake?" I asked. "Why are we here?"

"Thought it'd be good to talk. Somewhere outside the apartment." He parked and shut the engine off, turning to look at me. "Wanna get out?"

"But it's freezing tonight!" I pointed out, and he nodded.

"I know," he replied, before getting out. Okay, now I was confused. Everything had been going pretty good tonight, until this lapse in judgment call. I had no idea what he was up to. I looked in the rearview mirror to see him open the trunk. I looked ahead again, flipping down visor to look in the mirror, checking my makeup. I heard the trunk slam, and he walked around to my side, opening the door. "I brought blankets. Come on, Carly. Please?"

I sighed. "Oh, alright," I replied, getting out. I shivered a bit, the cold December air getting to me, and Brad quickly wrapped a blanket around me, rubbing his hands up and down my arms, trying to warm me up. I bit my bottom lip, staring at him.

"Better?" he replied in a low voice, and I just nodded, our faces inches from each other. He closed the distance quickly, brushing his lips over mine, before pulling away. "Come on."

"Where are we going?" I asked.

"Just come on, Carly!" he replied, reaching through the blanket he'd just wrapped around me and grabbing my hand. He led me down the path, toward the lake, before stopping a few feet away from it. "Okay." He took the other blanket he'd brought and laid it out on the ground, looking back at me. "Wanna sit?"

"Sure," I replied, sitting down, and he sat next to me.

"Got room in that thing for me?" he asked, and I nodded, smiling a little. He unwrapped the blanket from me, before wrapping it around both of us, his arms going around me.

"I like this better," I said, resting my head on his shoulder. "Body heat is way better."

"I agree," he said with a small laugh, but then his hand went to my chin, lifting my head up so he could look at me. "You know where we are right now?"

"The lake," I replied, and he just rolled his eyes.

"Yes, babe, the lake, but a little more specific," he said. When I didn't respond, he just gave me a smile. "Well, there was this day senior year, when we went to the lake the first time, and that was the day I told you I loved you for the first time. Remember?"

I gasped. "Brad! This is the spot?"

He nodded. "Yeah, the exact spot."

"Aw, Brad!" I gushed, kissing him. "That's so sweet!"

"I meant it then, and I mean it now. I love you, Carly," he replied, kissing me again. "I'm serious. Look, I know we've been having...issues lately. But...it doesn't change how I feel about you."

"We just have to learn how to talk," I stated, and he nodded.

"Yeah, we do. We're both really bad about it," he replied. "So talk. Tell me something."

I stared at him, not knowing what to say, and he just kissed me on my forehead. "It's okay, Carly."

"Sometimes I feel like I'm just your roommate. That you have sex with. And like...we spend so much time on your issues, that you don't have time to help me with my problems."

Brad laughed. "You're so NOT my roommate. You're my girlfriend. And the sweetest, most caring person I've ever met. And as far as the other goes...Carly...babydoll, you don't TALK about your problems! And when you do, you go talk to Sam and Freddie about them! That makes me feel shitty! Like you don't need my help! So I just...I stopped asking, because you'd never talk to me about stuff."

I just stared at him. "I...I didn't know you felt like that."

He shrugged. "Yeah, I know. Didn't know what to say, or what to do. But I do know that I LOVE you, Carly! I don't want things to be like this anymore!"

"Do you love me more than your virtual girlfriends?" I asked softly, looking at the ground. I was of course, referring to his porn habit, which irritated the crap out of me, but I'd never really been able to say anything about it. I figured it was normal, all guys did it, and it wasn't like he was actually going out and cheating on me, so what was the big deal? But still...I hated it.

"Does that bother you?"

"I...oh, I don't know," I mumbled. "I mean...maybe."

"Carly," Brad said firmly. "Does it bother you?"

I was silent.

"Babe?"

"Yes, it bothers me," I responded finally, looking up at him. "It makes me feel like I'm not enough for you."

"Then I'll stop," he responded firmly. "You are enough for me."

I looked at him quizzically. "Wait...just like that?" I asked.

"Uh-huh."

"But...but..." I trailed off, sighing in frustration. "Oh man. I should have brought this up like a year ago."

"Yeah, you should have!" he replied. "I can't fix the problem if I don't know there is one, babydoll!"

I nodded. "You're right. I'm sorry."

He shook his head. "Don't be sorry. Just be honest with me from now on. And I'll do the same for you, okay?"

"Okay," I replied. I looked up at the night sky, the stars taking my breath away. "It's so beautiful out here."

"Yeah, it is," he replied, staring at me.

"Brad!" I laughed. "You're not even LOOKING at the stars!"

He shook his head. "I don't care about the stars, Carly," he replied, before his mouth found mine. I quickly forgot about the stars too, my hand going to the back of his head and pulling him against me even more.

I may have forgotten about the stars, but there was one thing about tonight that I did remember, and I wouldn't forget again.

I was absolutely, positively, 100% batshit crazy in love with Brad.

Thank god I'd remembered.

~*Brad*~

I swear to god, I thought Carly was going to jerk my arm out of its socket as she dragged me down the hallway, back the apartment, pushing me against the door before pressing against me, her arms going around my neck and her mouth coming down over mine, kissing me passionately. I groaned, grinding into her. Man, she hadn't been this stirred up in I don't know how long. Freddie was absolutely right...that whole romance thing? It totally works. But I wasn't doing it just to get laid. I loved Carly, I loved her to death. I wanted to spend the rest of my life with her. I just wanted to get past all this bad stuff we'd been dealing with lately, before I popped the question. Make her remember why she was with me in the first place.

Of course, at the moment, I wasn't having any trouble in that department. She literally couldn't keep her hands off me, or her mouth. One hand was at the back of my neck, the other gripping my hair, her lips on my neck. I was having a lot of difficulty trying to get my keys out, and I knew opening the door was going to be an impossibility in this position.

"Carly," I said, and she pulled away to look at me.

"What?" she asked breathlessly, and I had to laugh.

"Let me get my keys out and get the door unlocked, babe!" I said. "Unless you want to make out in the hallway all night?"

"No," she replied, reaching into my pocket and pulling my keys out herself, before going back to kissing me. I heard the frantic jangling of the keys Carly was trying to jam in the door, and I had to laugh against her mouth. She'd probably have an easier time with this if she wasn't so hell-bent on kissing me. I pushed her off me a little, grabbing the keys from her.

"Let me do that," I said softly, sticking the key in the door, groaning a little when I felt Carly pull down the collar of my jacket and start kissing the back of my neck. Oh man, tonight was going to be SUCH a good night! I finally got the door open, and Carly practically shoved me in the door, grabbing my arm so I'd turn to look at her, before pressing against me and starting up all over again. I couldn't stop myself from kissing her back, one hand tangling through her hair, the other going to her hip and pulling her against me. We were so lost in each other, we didn't even notice that Sam and Freddie were sitting on the couch watching us.

"Uh, guys?" Sam said, in a tone of voice that made me sure she was trying to hold back laughter. "You're kinda blocking the TV."

I pulled my mouth away from Carly's to look at them. "Sorry," I responded, barely getting it out before Carly grabbed my chin, turning my head back to face her.

"Damn!" Freddie commented. "Good night?"

"Yeah, goodnight," Carly responded, sounding dazed, before leading me up the stairs.

"What the hell was that?" I heard Sam say to Freddie in disbelief.

"I told you he needed to cut his hair," I heard Freddie respond. I just rolled my eyes, but as Carly dragged me up the stairs, into our room, slamming the door shut, I quickly forgot about it. I pulled my jacket off, very aware of the way Carly's eyes were traveling over me.

"I like that sweater," she commented.

"Thanks," I responded, and she nodded.

"Take it off," she said, and my eyes widened. Whoa. She was really, really, REALLY riled up, and man, did I like it! I pulled my sweater over my head, dropping it on the floor, and I was confused when I saw her frown.

"There's more underneath?" she whined, walking towards me and yanking my tank top off. I laughed, shaking me head a bit, and she took a step back to look over me. "Mmm, much better."

"Not quite," I replied. "Your turn."

She didn't respond, just gave me a sexy smile, her arms going up over her head, and I just smirked at her, grabbing her shirt and pulling it over her head, before reaching behind her and unhooking her bra. It fell to the floor, and my hands went to her waist, pulling her against me. She sighed, wrapping her arms around my neck and kissing me.

"Brad, I love you so much..." she whispered, busying herself with kissing my neck. "Make love to me. Right now."

"Okay," I murmured, walking to the bed and taking her with me, laying her down and then coming over top of her, kissing her. Oh man, we'd never stopped having sex, but it just felt sort of...perfunctory, like we weren't really connecting. Just something to satisfy a physical urge and that was it. But this? This felt so different. Good different. Amazing different. I pulled her boots off, followed by her skirt, leaving her in just those thigh high stockings she always wore with her boots, and a tiny thong.

"Holy shit," I commented, looking down at her. "Babydoll...you are just too beautiful, you know that?"

She just looked up at me, biting her bottom lip, before sitting up, her hands going for my jeans, unbuttoning them and yanking them down over my hips, along with my boxers.

"You want me to leave these on?" she teased, gesturing to her stockings, and I nodded.

"Oh god, yes," I groaned. "You have the sexiest legs...I swear to god..."

"Brad..." she said, "Come on. Now."

I shook my head. "Not yet." I pulled her underwear off, throwing them aside, before joining her on the bed, laying down between her legs. She just looked down at me, breathing heavily, the sexiest expression on her face I had ever seen.

Now, I always tried to make this good for Carly, but I really took my time with her tonight, licking over the spots I knew would drive her craziest, nibbling on her slender thighs, kissing all over. I was rewarded with lots of moans, pants, groans, sighs, every amazing noise in the book, her hips jerking, back arching, fingers tangling through my hair, moaning my name over and over. God, this was so hot! It hadn't been this passionate in almost a year...it was absolutely incredible, and I wasn't even inside her yet! I kept going until she'd had enough, kissing back up her body, pausing to take time licking and kissing all over her beautiful breasts, before finally reaching her mouth, kissing her intensely, grinding against her.

"Was that good?" I murmured into her ear before kissing her neck. She nodded, her arms going around my neck.

"Brad..." she gasped. "Brad! Please! Now, please..."

"Shh, it's okay," I replied. "Don't rush..."

"I'm not rushing, I just can't...please..." she was starting to not make sense any more, which was definitely a good thing in my book, it meant I'd got to her so much her brain wasn't even working anymore. When I felt her legs go around me, I groaned, starting to feel slightly dizzy, way too turned on, and then it occurred to me that I was now in the same boat, because my brain had now officially ceased to work. I kissed her one last time before thrusting into her.

"Oh, god!" she cried, her head going back. "Brad! Oh baby! I love you so much!"

"God, Carly," I groaned. "I love you too...god you feel good!"

"Don't stop, okay?" she moaned softly, and I nodded.

"I can't...it feels too good."

"I know...oh my god..." She bucked against me, her body shaking, as I moved in and out of her at a slow pace, my mouth finding hers again and kissing her, over and over. This felt so amazing, so incredible, so intimate. I missed this! It was funny, I hadn't even noticed it was gone! We'd been steadily drifting apart, but now...I felt like we were back on track, and now I remembered how it felt to be like that with her again. It was absolutely perfect.

My sweet, beautiful girlfriend was having a hard time controlling herself, especially how loud she was being. Normally she didn't like to be loud, she was pretty private when it came to our sex life, but tonight, she didn't seem to care. She was too into, too far gone, to notice how loud she was being. It kind of reminded me of the way she got the first time I'd ever given her an orgasm, in the backseat of the Mustang. She was so loud I was surprised she didn't break the windows or something with the volume. And now she was back to that again. It drove me absolutely crazy; it meant she REALLY liked what I was doing.

Of course, I really liked it too, and I wasn't in much better shape. I was also having a lot of difficulty controlling myself, both how loud I was being, and how long I was lasting. The latter part wasn't usually a problem for me...normally I could last as long as I wanted to, but I guess she'd really gotten to me tonight. She was amazing. I loved this girl so much!

"Brad..." she whined, grinding against me frantically. "Brad...I...oh god...baby...I can't...Brad..."

"It's okay, Carly. Just let go," I whispered in her ear, groaning as I felt her pull me against her even tighter. She was absolutely shaking, sweating a little, her head tossing back and forth. She was about to lose it. I could see it, and I could feel it too. Hottest thing ever.

"Brad!" she moaned. "Oh god, I'm..." I cut her off, pressing my mouth to hers, kissing her passionately, and she moaned against my mouth as I felt her whole body tense up and then relax, shaking uncontrollably, and she let out a squeal against my mouth, tearing away and burying her face in my shoulder, continuing to moan.

I wasn't too far behind, in a matter of moments I was trembling, moaning, jerking against her, my eyes rolling into the back of my head.

"Damn...oh god, Carly!" I groaned, feeling that wonderfully familiar feeling, but so much more intense than it had been awhile. It finally subsided, and I laid there for a moment, kissing her neck.

"I love you so much," I whispered, finally withdrawing and laying down next to her. She rolled over, staring at me, one hand going to my face, and I looked over at her, our eyes locked.

"Baby, that was so incredible," she commented. "I mean, it hasn't been like that..."

"In a long time?" I asked, and she nodded.

"I don't want things to go back. Like they were."

My brow furrowed. "You don't?"

She shook her head. "No. Cuz if we go back, we'll have to go through all this bad stuff again. And I don't want that."

"Well, what do you want?" I replied.

"I...I wanna move forward," she responded, leaning forward to kiss me. "I love you. I just...I think I was starting to forget."

I shook my head. "Please don't forget, Carly."

"I won't," she replied with a smile. "Not anymore." With that, she laid her head on my chest, sighing softly, and I laid my head back, taking a deep breath and staring at the ceiling.

She'd said she wanted to move forward. Did that mean what I thought it meant? With Carly, you could never tell. She could say one thing, and mean something completely different. Still, I couldn't help but have a little more hope about the proposal. And about us in general.

I just had to keep stepping my game up, had to keep reminding her why she fell for me in the first place.

I would not give up, no matter what.


	15. Chapter 15: You Will Be a Hot Dancer

**Chapter Fifteen:  
><strong>**You Will Be A Hot Dancer**

~*Freddie*~

"So are you ready for this?" I asked Sam as I parked the car, and we got out, heading for the doctor's office. She nodded.

"I am so ready," she responded.

I took her hand in mine, giving her an encouraging smile. "I think you're gonna feel a lot better about this whole thing when you hear the heartbeat. It's just gonna reinforce the fact that there's a reason you're going through so many changes, you know?"

She frowned. "Freddie, I know there's a baby in there. I'm not an idiot."

I rolled my eyes. "Baby, come on. I know you're not. But I think it's a really abstract thing for you right now, you know what I mean?"

She sighed. "I guess..."

I leaned down and kissed her softly. "I love you." I pulled away, and watched the anger and frustration melt away from her face, and she gave me a small smile. Man, I loved when that happened. I hated seeing her upset, but I loved knowing I could pull her out of it. I kissed her on her forehead before holding open the door for her. "Come on."

"At least I don't have to get poked today," she said, sounding somewhat better. "And nobody has to go in and...poke around."

I laughed. "Nope. None of that today. Just a check-up."

"Hopefully it won't take too long," she commented. "I'm supposed to go shopping with Carly today."

I frowned. "Again?" I exclaimed. I could practically feel my wallet getting lighter already, even if it was a card she was using and not cash.

"For Christmas presents, nub," she replied. "Not for me."

"Oh," I replied. "Well, okay."

"Oh, I see, so it's okay when I'm spending money on you!" she teased, poking me as we walked to the front desk, and I just gave her a Look, pretending to be mad.

"Very funny. At least you didn't overspend."

"Uh, yeah, I was under by like three hundred! And that's with Mel's stuff too!" She grabbed a clipboard with sign-in papers, and we sat down.

"Maybe so, but still...a hundred dollars, for shoes?" I wrinkled my nose. "They better have like...bluetooth built in them or something."

She rolled her eyes. "God, you just don't get women's clothes, do you? And come on, a bluetooth? In a shoe? What are you, Maxwell Smart?"

"Aw!" I stated. "Baby! You made a nerd reference!"

"Oh god, I did," she said with a laugh, covering her face briefly. "I guess you've finally started rubbing off on me."

"Mmhmm. Only a matter of time before you start reading Technology Weekly," I teased. She shook her head, laughing again.

"I seriously doubt that," she responded.

Things were finally starting to pick up and get back to normal around the apartment. Sam and Melanie were finally cool, although it was still a little bit awkward between myself and Mel, and finally Brad and Carly seemed to get past their issue. Or at least, that's what Sam and I thought, anyway. We hadn't really seen much of those two ever since their date, which was almost kind of funny. The way they always got onto us for spending too much time in bed, making too much noise, and now they were guilty of the same thing! Of course I was happy for them, I'd just made a mental note to give them shit about it when I finally did see them, and I'm sure Sam felt the same way about it.

Of course, my mind was more on the doctor's appointment today. We'd get to hear the baby's heartbeat, which we were both really excited about. The idea was just SO cool! Plus, like I'd told her, I was pretty sure it would help Sam get over her "body issues" that were beginning to pop up. This was completely new, uncharted territory for us. As far as I was aware, Sam had never had body issues, other than just normal girl stuff I'm sure, but honestly, it was starting to worry me. Not because I worried about her doing something stupid, just because I didn't like my baby to hurt, at all. I thought she was absolutely gorgeous, and she had amazing figure and body. I couldn't believe she was starting to doubt that. Her breasts were DEFINITELY starting to get bigger, which didn't bother me one bit, and let's face it, I considered a perk, but it was getting to Sam. I just hoped I'd be able to help her get through it. There wasn't much I could do, except drill it into her head how much I loved her, which I already did, and log a LOT of hours proving to her how much I absolutely adored her body, which I also already did.

I was snapped right out of my thoughts when the receptionist called Sam's name, and I followed her down the hall into the exam room.

"Nervous?" I asked her, and she shrugged.

"Maybe just a little," she responded.

Dr. Boyd came in a few minutes later, going over the usual stuff with us, asking Sam questions about how her morning sickness was going, any pain, things like that, and everything seemed to be checking out pretty normal.

"Okay, now we're just going to check for the baby's heartbeat," she said, pulling something out of one of the cabinets that looked like an old fashioned microphone. Sam laid back, pulling her shirt up over her stomach and inching her jeans down over her hips a bit, taking a deep breath. She looked over at me, and I just gave her a smile. I was so ready for this. Yes, Sam getting pregnant had really thrown me for a loop, and I was scared out of my mind I'd somehow screw this whole thing up, but I'd be damned if I didn't WANT this kid. I did. The idea of it was amazing, mind-blowing, scary as hell, but...I wanted it. And so did she.

"Ready?" Dr. Boyd asked with a smile, and Sam nodded. Dr. Boyd. She pressed the device against Sam's lower stomach and turned it on, and my eyes widened as I heard the rhythmic 'thump thump thump' of the baby's heartbeat for the first time.

Nothing on earth could have prepared me for that. I knew when I woke up this morning I would be hearing the heartbeat for the first time, but knowing is one thing, actually experiencing it is another. I just sat there for a moment in shock as the realization finally hit me that there was a living being, inside of her, right now, our child, half me, half Sam. We'd created something together, not just the amazing life we had together, but a CHILD! I didn't think I could love her more than I did at that moment.

Sam gasped, her hands going to her mouth. "Oh my god!" she exclaimed. She looked over at me. "Baby..."

I just gave her a big grin, standing up and kissing her on the forehead. "See? That's your baby, honey. That's our baby."

"Oh my god," she said again, and I saw her eyes well up.

"Shh, it's okay, sweetheart," I said, kissing her. I looked up at Dr. Boyd. "That's her biggest problem right now. She's been really emotional lately." Of course, I'd be lying if I said this wasn't making ME emotional, listening to my son or daughter's heartbeat for the first time, because it certainly was!

"Oh, it's completely normal, trust me," Dr. Boyd responded. "In fact, so far, Sam, your pregnancy seems to be completely normal, totally healthy, no complications."

Sam nodded. "That's good to hear," she replied, quieting down to continue to listen to the baby's heartbeat. "Oh my god, this is...wow."

"I know, baby. This is so cool..." I said, shaking my head. Normally I'd be able to come up with something a million times more eloquent, but damn. This had completely knocked me off my feet. I was surprised at just how much so! I was expecting it, yeah, but I hadn't expected it to feel like this!

"Well, there you have it," Dr. Boyd said with a smile. "I'll see you two back here in two weeks, alright?"

I nodded. "Okay. Thanks, Dr. Boyd." Sam was still having a hard time keeping it together, so she merely waved at Dr. Boyd, who gave us one last smile before excusing herself. Sam sat up, wiping the tears off her face, looking down at the floor.

"Baby?" I said, my hand going to her chin and lifting it up so she'd look at me. "Are you okay?"

She didn't respond, just stood up and put her arms around me, crying a little.

"Ah, baby...it's okay," I said, kissing her on the top of her head and rubbing her back.

"I know," she said softly. "I just...it's really starting to hit me, you know? There's a child in there! Our child...I mean...we talked about it and talked about it, over and over, but...hearing the heartbeat...oh my god!"

"Yeah, it's pretty amazing, huh sweetheart?" I asked, and she nodded.

"More than amazing. It's like...indescribable." She looked up at me. "When's the first ultrasound supposed to be?"

"In about a month, baby," I responded. "They'll be able to tell whether the baby is a boy or a girl."

An expression flickered across her face, one I recognized, that only came out when she was considering something very serious, very carefully, before looking back up at me.

"Freddie," she started. "What if..."

"What if what, sweetheart?"

"I mean, are you absolutely DYING to know?" she asked, and I shrugged.

"I don't know. Kind of? I mean, I told you, I just want the baby to be healthy," I responded, and she nodded.

"Me too."

"But you know we'll find out eventually...in like...eight months," I teased, and she rolled her eyes.

"I know that, nub. But...I wouldn't mind waiting until then, would you?"

"You want it to be a surprise?" I asked, a little taken aback. Sam didn't usually do surprises, she always liked to be in the loop. But Sam just nodded.

"Yeah!" she replied, sounding a little excited. "Is that okay?" She bit her bottom lip, looking up at me hopefully.

Well, damn. I'd kind of been wanting to find out, but I guess she was right, it would be pretty cool to find out in the delivery room. But I was a planner, and not knowing for certain would definitely throw a wrench in those gears.

"Well...I mean, yeah...but...when we finally get our own place, I mean, there's...painting, nursery décor, clothes, toys..." I trailed off. "It's kind of sex determined, Sam."

"Well, we could get some gender neutral stuff, until I actually have the baby, and then buy the rest of the stuff then?" she asked.

"Kind of puts the kibosh on the whole...affiliate, iCarly fans buying baby stuff, thing though, remember?"

She shook her head. "Baby...I know that..it would save us money in the long run, but...I don't want that."

Now I was confused. "You don't?"

"No! This is a private thing! Just because we have a webshow doesn't mean every single facet of our life should be a part of it! This is my baby, and your baby. It's our baby. Not a marketing tool. Don't you see where I'm going with this?" she sighed. "I mean, it's awesome that like...the whole internet is abuzz over it, but I'd like to keep it as low-key as possible. Okay?"

I nodded. She had a point, it was our child, not a prop or marketing ploy. "So, are you saying little baby Benson will not be making any appearances on iCarly?"

"God, no!" She laughed. "The Seddiers would freak out if we refused to give them at least a glimpse. But ONE. After the baby is born. That's it! I mean it!"

"Alright, baby!" I stated, my hands going up. "You win. I'm not gonna fight you on that. In fact, I agree with you! It's fine."

She nodded. "And waiting to find out about the gender?"

"If that's what you want, sweetheart," I kissed her softly. "I can wait."

"Okay," she replied, before a grin spread across her face. "AAAHHH!" she squealed, throwing her arms around me. "This is so flippin' cool!"

"Wait until you feel the baby kick for the first time," I said with a smile, and her eyes grew big.

"Oh my god," she said, her hands going to her stomach. "That's gonna be so cool..." She trailed off, shaking her head. "I gotta stop, before I start crying again."

"Aw, baby," I said. "It's okay. Come on, let's get out of here. I'd hate for you to be late to go buy me stuff."

She rolled her eyes before sticking her tongue out, and I just laughed, holding open the door for her, and she walked in front of me. I trailed to a stop behind her, noticing something I hadn't caught that morning. Once she became aware I wasn't next to her, she turned around to look at me.

"Freddie?" she asked. "What's wrong?"

I shook my head. "Nothing. Are those new jeans?"

She looked down, wrinkling her nose. "No. They're old as hell. Why?"

"Nothing," I responded. "I gotta look something up when we get home."

"What?" she asked, sounding confused, and I just smirked at her.

"Pregnancy is really doing amazing things for your ass," I said, and she just gave me a sexy smile.

"Oh, really?" she replied, and I nodded, my hands going to her shoulders and turning her around.

"Definitely. Now keep walking. I have got an excellent view back here."

"I'll let you get the uncensored view when we get home," she replied over her shoulder, and I groaned.

"Thought you were going shopping with Carly."

"I can put it off for an hour. Or two."

~*Sam*~

After we'd gotten home and Freddie and I'd had our fun (and oh, what fun it was...) I bounded up the stairs to bang on Carly and Brad's door. I didn't care how damn happy the girl was, it was t-minus three days to Christmas, we had to get shopping done, and done TODAY! Plus, I'd finally figured out how to make Freddie's present extra-special. Just had to handle a few things first.

I walked up to their bedroom door, pressing my ear against it, grinning to myself a little as I heard moaning and groaning through the door. Guess they had gotten over their issues alright, because Freddie and I had seen hide nor hair of them since their date. We'd heard some banging around in the kitchen last night, but we were too wrapped up in each other to give it much thought at the time. But that was then, this was now! It was go time!

"Carly!" I yelled, banging on the door. "Shopping time! Let's go!"

It got quiet for a second, and I banged on the door again. "Carly!"

"Sam! I'm busy!" I heard Carly yell, and I grinned to myself as I heard a soft moan follow her yell. Brad was definitely throwing major game at her, and she seemed to be enjoying it, but oh well, payback time for all the times she'd interrupted me and Freddie!

"Don't care!" I yelled. "Get your butt out here! Three days until Christmas! We have to do this TODAY!"

"Go away!" Carly hollered through the door. I put my hand over my mouth, trying to cover my laughter up. It'd get her out a lot faster if she thought I was pissed off; if she knew I was not only terribly amused by this, but thrilled she was back to being happy, she'd never come out!

"Carly! Get off Brad's dick! We gotta go!"

"Oh my god!" I heard Carly yell, sounding embarrassed, and the sound of Brad laughing. I pressed my ear against the door again, grinning victoriously when I heard a bunch of shuffling and grumbling. The door flung open a moment later, revealing a very annoyed Carly in her robe.

"Morning, sunshine," I said with a smile. "It's two in the afternoon! You guys been in bed all day?"

"Maybe," she replied, crossing her arms over her chest. "And I'm thinking it's not such a bad place to be right now."

I looked past her, leaning in the door a bit to wave at Brad, who was just laying in their bed with the blankets over him. I could tell he was shirtless, and I suspected more than that. "Hey Brad! How's it going?"

"Well, it was going great. Until..." he trailed off, looking irritated, and I shrugged.

"Payback's a bitch," I responded, before looking back at Carly. "Okay, you got twenty minutes to be ready to go. If I have to come back up here, it's going to be extremely embarrassing for you. You know I can pick a lock pretty effortlessly."

"You wouldn't dare!" she stated.

"Oh, I would," I replied. "Come on, Shay! The sooner we get there, the sooner we get back, and then you go back to banging Brad stupid. I mean...more stupid."

"Hey!" he yelled, sounding offended, and I just stuck my tongue out at him. I looked back at Carly.

"Twenty minutes," I reminded her, before going back downstairs.

Well, it ended up taking longer than twenty minutes, but Carly and I finally ended up at the mall, and it seemed like both of us were back to our old selves, bouncing around, acting goofy. It was refreshing!

"So, you and Brad?" I asked, and she just grinned, her hands clamping down on my arm.

"Oh my god, Sam!" she gushed. "It's so amazing! I mean, I don't know what happened, but I'm so glad it did! It's just like it was before! You know, he took me to the lake, back to the very spot where he told me he loved me for the first time!"

"Aw!" I exclaimed. "Atta boy! So I guess I don't even need to ask about the sex, do I?"

She shook her head. "Nope. But oh god..." she trailed off, and her eyes glazed over a bit. "So hot. So, so hot."

"Sounds like it. I mean, I figured, since I had to practically drag you out of there earlier," I said, and she shrugged.

"So how was the doctor?" she asked, and I just smiled.

"Great! We heard the heartbeat...Carly, it's the most amazing thing EVER. I mean, it was...wow. Just wow. I got really emotional."

"You're getting emotional over everything these days, Sam!" she said with a laugh, poking me.

"Not everything!" I exclaimed, and Carly rolled her eyes.

"Come on, the toilet paper commercial?"

"Shut up! Those bears are really sweet!" I replied, then frowned. "Oh god, I'm such a sap now!"

"Yeah, you are kinda sappy," she agreed, looking away when I gave her a death glare. "Hey look, clothes!"

I rolled my eyes. "Very nice try. Anyway," I said, changing the subject. "I figured out what to get Freddie."

"Besides the blu-ray? And the new phone?" she asked, and I nodded.

"I just...I need your help."

"Why?" she asked, her brow furrowing.

"You'll see," I responded. "And I need Brad's help too."

"Uh, okay..." she said. "What do you need him to do?"

"Just need him to get Freddie out of the apartment for a few hours while we do this," I replied.

"What?" Carly exclaimed. "Sam! What are you up to?"

"Look, I'll explain it when we get back, okay? Just...please, please help me with this!"

"Does it have to be today?" she asked, and I nodded.

"Yes, Carly, today! Time is of the essence with me! Every day, I run the risk of developing a visible bump, so it's gotta be handled, and now!"

Carly's eyes widened. "I don't like where this is going," she said, and I glared at her.

"Carly, I swear to god, if you don't help me, I'm gonna tell Freddie the real reason why there was a bank discrepancy last month, and not because he made an accounting error."

Carly gasped. "You wouldn't!"

"Try me!" I replied. "I mean, if Freddie finds out that five hundred went missing over a pair of BOOTS, he's gonna flip his shit!"

"But those boots were really cute!" she argued. "And come on, five hundred isn't that much out of that account!"

"It will be to Freddie!"

"I'll tell Brad what really happened to his vintage Chucks," she threatened, and I shrugged.

"I was getting back at him for throwing my shoe out the window. Even if it did hit Lewbert, it's the principle of the matter!"

"Ugh, fine!" Carly stated with a roll of her eyes. "I'll help you. But this better not go...too far."

"Relax, Carly, it won't," I replied, and she breathed a sigh of relief. "I can shoot video without you," I added, and she groaned.

"Ew!"

"Ew nothing, you really wanna spice stuff up with Brad? Do the same."

"Really?" she asked, and I nodded.

"You know how the guy is with porn."

Carly's eyes widened, and she grabbed my shoulders suddenly, shaking me. "Sam! Oh my god! I almost forgot to tell you! He is GIVING IT UP!"

"What?" I cried. "Does he have a fever or something?"

"No!" she exclaimed, bouncing a little. "I told him it bothered me, and he said he would stop! Can you believe it?"

"Aw, Carly!" I said, hugging her. "That's so cool. Brad's giving up another vice for you, and you ACTUALLY talked for once! Kick ass!" I pulled away, looking at her. "So, yeah. If he's actually giving it up, getting rid of his stash, give him a NEW stash. Chocked full of you."

"Really?" she asked, and I nodded fervently.

"Doesn't he already have pictures of you?" She nodded, and I continued. "Well, you know he loves those! So give him some new ones, and a little bit of...footage, as well. He'll go crazy over it."

"Well...okay," she finally said, giving me a smile. "But nothing too serious."

"No, just some really sexy stuff. You can make your little video on your own time, Shay," I replied. "But...first thing's first! If we're gonna do this..."

"What?" she asked, and I just grinned at her.

"We need wardrobe."

She laughed, bouncing up and down. "Now you're speaking my language! Let's go!" With that, we both took off running down the mall, not caring whether we ran into people or not. Okay, so I was about to spend the afternoon taking naked photos of my best friend, and she was going to do the same, but who cared? It'd be fun, and besides, something tells me Freddie and Brad would appreciate their little photos even more once they found out who the photographers were. They were such little pervs. But they were sweet little pervs, and for that, they were going to get rewarded.

~*Brad*~

Freddie shook his head unbelievably. "I can't believe this."

I just shrugged, moving another file to the recycling bin on my laptop. "Believe it. It's happening."

"Yeah, I see that," Freddie said with a roll of his eyes. "I just can't believe it. I guess you're taking this more seriously than I thought."

"Hey man, Carly wants me to get rid of it, I'm getting rid of it." With that, I moved the final file to my laptop. "Last one."

"Yep," Freddie responded, before giving me a grin. "I can't believe you're giving up porn, man! And you say I'm whipped!"

"What can I say? It's not so bad being whipped."

"See?" Freddie said pointedly. "I told you! And you're all like, no Carly doesn't have me whipped, and I don't have her whipped, we're not like that dude! Yadda yadda yadda. I see things have changed!"

I shrugged again, running my hand over my hair, still trying to get used to having it shorter. "She's definitely worth it. And if it makes her happy...why not?"

"Exactly," Freddie replied with a shrug. "Brad?"

"Yeah?"

"You gotta empty the recycle bin to make it go away," he said pointedly, and I groaned.

"I know..." I trailed off, my hand on my mouse. "Well..."

"Do it," Freddie said. "That button, right there."

I glared at him. "Shut up! I know how to use a computer, damn!"

"Just reminding you," he stated with a smile. "Come on, do it!"

I hesitated slightly. Yeah, I'd agree to give up porn, but man, I loved porn. It had no bearings on how I felt about Carly at all, and it didn't mean she wasn't enough for me, but come on. I was a guy. Guys liked variety, right? I turned around to look at Freddie, narrowing my eyes.

"What?" he asked, and I just sighed.

"You're honestly telling me you don't look at porn?"

"Nope," he responded. "Why look at chicks getting paid to pretend to be nymphomaniacs when I have a bonafide nymphomaniac right in my bed?"

I just stared at him, not quite believing him, and he laughed at the expression on my face. "I'm serious, dude! I love Sam! I don't need to look at other girls!"

"Are you saying I don't love Carly?" I replied.

"No!" Freddie responded with a roll of his eyes. "I'm not saying that at all. I mean, I still look at girls, I'm not blind! But...I mean...I've only been with one girl, her, and that's enough for me. And I mean..." he trailed off, grinning. "I don't have time to look at porn. That girl keeps me pretty busy, you know."

"So I hear," I said flatly. "Every night. Through the walls."

"Oh, whatever!" Freddie replied, punching me in the shoulder. "Sam and I heard some pretty intense noises coming from upstairs last night! I dunno what you were doing to her, but it sounded like you were killing her!"

"What can I say?" I said cockily. "When she likes it, she really likes it!"

"Then she must have really liked it," he said with a roll of his eyes. "Alright, enough fucking around, do it!"

"Okay," I replied, looking back at the computer, pulling down the menu and going to the 'empty recycle bin' option. "Bye bye, ladies."

With a final click of the mouse, it was gone, and I looked up at Freddie. "Satisfied?"

He shrugged. "I don't care one way or the other. But Carly will be."

I nodded. "That's what I'm going for. I don't want there to be a single doubt in her mind when I ask her."

"Have you thought at all how you're gonna do it?" he asked.

"Well...maybe a half hour before we gotta leave? And I need you to keep the area Sam-Melanie-Emily free!"

"Not a problem dude. Although, now that I think about it, maybe we should have kept the porn around long enough to distract Melanie. And Emily."

I rolled my eyes. "No kidding."

"Whatsa matter, dude? You were all amped up about having Sam and Carly look-alikes making out right in front of you when they first got here, what changed?"

I shrugged. "Yeah, it was cool at first, but it's still Melanie. And Melanie annoys the hell out of me! I dunno how you can be nice to her."

"Eh, she's not so bad. Plus she's my wife's sister. I gotta be nice to her."

"True," I responded with a shrug. "Dude..." I turned to look at him again.

"What?"

"Do you realize, if everything goes according to plan, this time next year, you may not be the only able to throw that term around?"

"What term?"

"Wife!" I exclaimed, and Freddie just laughed.

"Yeah, that's true. But...maybe you guys should wait until you're done with school."

I frowned. "You think?"

"Maybe. I dunno. Talk about it. Dude...you realize this time next year I'm gonna have a kid?"

"Yep," I replied. "Lots of shit's changing."

"Yeah, no kidding," Freddie replied. "It's pretty damn cool though."

We were interrupted from our little guy talk when the front door opened and Sam and Carly walked in.

"Hey!" Sam said, dragging in a bunch of bags with her, Carly right behind her in the same predicament.

"Did you buy out the whole mall, baby?" Freddie asked. "What's in the bags?"

Carly and Sam shot looks over at each other, before looking back at us.

"Nothing!" they both shouted, heading for the stairs with their bags. Freddie and I looked at each other, rolling our eyes. They were up to something, I could feel it, but I figured I'd find out soon enough.

"So that's all of it, right?" Freddie asked, and I nodded.

"Yep. It's ancient history. Like the dinosaurs."

"Sweet," Freddie responded, patting me on the back. "Good job."

"Good job what?" Carly asked, coming down the stairs. "What are you guys doing?" She walked over to me, wrapping her arms around me from behind and kissing me on the cheek.

"Nothing much," I responded, turning my head to kiss her. "Just finished cleaning out my hard drive."

"Of what?" she asked, and I raised my eyebrows at her.

"What do you think, babe?"

She gasped. "Brad! It's gone? All of it?"

"Yep, just got done. Happy?" I asked, and she nodded, kissing me again.

"Ecstatic," she responded. "I love you."

"Love you too, babe."

"Awww!" Freddie said in a mocking voice. "You guys are just so cute!"

"Shut up," I growled. "This is nothing compared to the all day long 'I love you more, no I love you more' between you and Sam."

Freddie just shrugged, walking over to the couch and flopping down, leaning his head back. "Sam!"

"What?" she hollered from upstairs, and Freddie rolled his eyes.

"What are you doing?"

"Nunya!"

"What?" he asked, confused.

"Nunya business!" she shouted, and Freddie just made an annoyed sigh, looking over at me.

"Isn't she just the sweetest thing?"

"Shut up, Freddie, you know you love her," Carly stated, her arms still around me, and Freddie nodded.

"Oh yeah. You're right."

A moment later, Sam came back downstairs, flopping onto Freddie's lap. "Hiya, baby."

"Hi yourself," he replied. "So how much did my wallet get hit for this time?"

"Not much," she replied. "Don't forget, it's my wallet too! And you'd better stay off the bank website until after Christmas! If you start poking through the list of charges, it's just gonna tip you off!"

"Fine," he sighed, and Sam poked him.

"I'm serious, Freddie! You need to take time off from work stuff until after the holidays!"

He rolled his eyes. "Fine, but aren't you guys forgetting tomorrow's Tuesday?" he asked, and we all groaned.

"Oh, quit it!" he stated. "Tuesdays, business meetings, deal! What do you think it's gonna be like when we get actual jobs?"

"Don't say the J word!" I hissed at him. "It's Christmas, dammit!"

"Alright, fine!" he shouted. "Business meeting, TOMORROW, and then I'll lay off until the holidays! And then it's back to normal, got it?"

"Slavedriver," Carly quipped, before turning back to me. "So are you and Freddie going to the gym tonight?"

I looked over at Freddie, and he shrugged. "I mean, I guess...maybe? We hadn't really planned on it. Why?"

"Um, no reason," she responded. She looked over at Sam, who just gave her a pointed look. "You guys should go."

"Why?" I narrowed my eyes at her. "What are you two up to?"

"Um...I...we..." Carly stammered, looking at the floor. That girl was absolutely TERRIBLE at keeping secrets, I knew that, so whatever they were up to, I could easily pull out of her.

"Brad said you were a dweeb, Freddie," Sam said suddenly.

"What?" I exclaimed when Freddie glared at me. "No I didn't!"

"And...Freddie thinks you're stupid."

"WHAT?" Freddie exploded. "I never said that!"

"You guys should go beat each other up in the ring!" Sam exclaimed. "Take your frustration out!"

"Alright, that's it!" Freddie responded, giving Sam a Look. "What are you girls up to? It's something! Otherwise you wouldn't be so hell-bent on getting us out of the house!"

"Um..." Sam just shot a look over at Carly, who started to get that panicky-oh-god-I-can't-keep-a-secret look on her face.

"Sam's pregnant!" Carly exclaimed, and Sam just groaned, rolling her eyes.

"Nice, Shay. Everyone's aware."

"What?" Carly whined. "It's all I got!"

I just smirked, kissing her, before looking over at Freddie. "I think they really want us out. Should we bite?"

"Maybe," Freddie replied, looking over at Sam. "What do I get out of it?"

Sam and Carly just tossed each other knowing looks, and that made me a little bit nervous. Those two could be downright devious when they wanted to be, especially Sam, and she was very well-versed in manipulating Carly to do her bidding. Sam turned back to Freddie, giving him a smile.

"Lots," she replied, kissing his neck. "Good stuff. Promise."

"Oh, alright. What time do you want us out?"

"Mmm...two hours?" Carly asked, and Sam nodded.

"For how long?"

"I dunno, like...two or three hours maybe?" Sam replied. "But don't spend the entire time working out, baby! I don't want your glucose levels getting knocked out of whack! And take your shot before you go!"

"Yes ma'am. You'd better make this worth my while though."

"Oh, trust me, it will be," she said with a grin.


	16. Chapter 16: Pantomime

**A/N: Hey guys, I am very sad to announce that the modem where I'm staying is OFFICIALLY dead. So until the powers that be deem it necessary to buy a new one, what I'm gonna start doing is continuing to write chapters daily, but I'll have to wait until I can get online to post them. So, on the plus side, when I do update, you'll get several chapters at once, but on the other hand, the updates won't be as frequent. It's the best I can do right now, sorry! So today, I have four chapters for you to read! Now, on that note, drama-llamas, start your engines! Or...llamas. Whatever. Just read!**

**Chapter Sixteen:  
>Pantomime<strong>

~*Freddie*~

"Dude!" I hissed, slapping Brad on the chest.

"Ow!" he exclaimed. "What the hell was that for?"

"Shut up!" I responded. "Did you just see that?"

"See what?" he replied, and I shook my head.

Brad and I were leaning against the counter, waiting for Melanie and Carly to get done showering (separately of course) and everyone to finish getting ready. Then, it would be time for a few things, first of all, the party, but most importantly, tonight was the night Brad was going to pop the question! I could tell he was nervous, I was even a little bit nervous for him! But he'd been really stepping his game up the last few days, and I could tell Carly was really responding to it well. They'd been all over each other for days, being super sweet. I had to admit, it was kind of cute.

But right now, I wasn't thinking about that. My jaw had just about dropped when Sam had leaned over Emily to grab the TV remote, and Emily had just started eyeballing her chest! Like I wasn't even in the room! What the hell?

"Dude, she was just checking my wife out!" I grunted, and Brad smirked a little.

"Well, what do you expect? She's a carbon copy of her girlfriend, but with bigger jahoobs!"

I gave him a death glare. "Number one, I've told you a million times, stop looking at my wife's breasts, and number two, will you stop referring to them as jahoobs?"

"Then tell her to reel those things in!" he replied pointedly. "I mean...damn! She is wearing a very low cut shirt today. And no, I will NOT stop calling them jahoobs!"

"Why not?" I replied.

"Because it's a fun word!" he replied. "What would you like me to call them? Knockers? Ta-tas? Hooters? Flesh bongos? Honkers? Jugs? Bazongas?"

"Alright!" I replied, elbowing him. "I get it, okay? Jesus!"

"Don't take the lord's name in vain on Christmas Eve, dude."

I looked at him incredulously. "What? Where the hell did THAT come from?"

He shrugged. "See? Now you're not mad, just confused."

I rolled my eyes. "I swear..." I grumbled, trailing off, before looking back over Sam and Emily, rolling my eyes when Emily just continued to unabashedly check her out. Ugh. Okay, so Sam lived here, she should be able to dress however she wanted in her own apartment, I got that, but let's face it. The pregnancy had made Sam's breasts grow like crazy, and even though I was a big fan of it, I was NOT a big fan of other people checking her out. At least not recently. I don't know what happened, I used to love the idea of guys looking at Sam when we were together, but lately it'd just been bothering me. It drove me nuts. And even though Brad was my best friend, desperately in love with Carly, and mere hours away from proposing to her, I was NOT cool with him looking at her boobs! Between him and Emily, Sam had to cover up, or I was going to lose it.

"Sam?" I called, and she looked up from the TV.

"Yeah, baby?" she asked, and I didn't speak, just motioned for her to come over. She did, a curious look on her face. "What's up?"

"Nothing," I replied, grabbing the bottom of the hoodie she was wearing and pulling the zipper all the way to her neck. "Much better."

She rolled her eyes. "Is that all?"

"Mmhmm," I responded, and she just jerked the zipper back down. "Sam!"

"Freddie, I'm hot!" she whined. "I don't want this damn thing zipped up to my eyebrows!"

"Baby, you gotta cover up," I replied, and she glared at me.

"Why? You always liked showing me off before...am I embarrassing you or something?"

"No!" I responded. "Sam!"

"Am I getting too fat to be shown off, is that it?"

"Oh my god, really baby?" I asked, not wanting to get into an argument, but feeling like one was headed my way whether I wanted it or not. "You are not fat! Not by any means! But..." I trailed off, knowing that no matter what I said, she'd probably take it the wrong way. She just glared at me for a minute, shaking her head, before turning and walking off in the direction of our bedroom. "Where are you going?"

"Guess I'd better find something else to wear! Since I'm getting fat!" With that, she stalked off into the bedroom, slamming the door behind her.

"Dammit," I moaned, laying my head on the counter.

"Very smooth, dude," Brad said, and I lifted my head to glare at him.

"Shut up!" I replied, straightening up and dragging myself out of the kitchen. "I gotta go deal with this."

"Yeah, good luck. How long should I wait before I send someone in to make sure you're not dead?"

"Dude, don't be ridiculous!" I replied, before sighing. "Half an hour."

"Okay. Search party, thirty minutes! Good luck!" he called. "Don't stare into her eyes, she'll take it as a direct challenge!"

"Shut up!" I hollered, before walking into the bedroom, shutting the door behind me. "Sam, look..." I started, but trailed off at the sight of her sitting in the middle of our bed, knees hugged to her chest, crying. "Baby," I said softly, getting onto the bed and sitting down next to her. "Why are you crying? On Christmas Eve, of all nights?"

She shrugged. "I'm not. It's allergies."

"You don't have allergies!" I exclaimed.

"How the hell do you know?"

"Because I've been married to you for like three years! Would've came up in casual conversation, don't you think?"

She just harrumphed, looking away, wiping her face.

"So what are you allergic to, then?"

"Bullshit," she grumbled, and I rolled my eyes.

"Baby, why are you being like this?" I asked. "I just wanted you to cover up! I mean...you've been making Brad's eyes pop out of his head all day, and then I caught EMILY checking you out!"

She shrugged. "It never bothered you when people checked me out before."

I sighed. She had a good point. I actually got a kick out of it, it was sort of like my own personal vindication. Freddie Benson, total nerd growing up, ends up with a girl this hot? And MARRIED to her? Yeah, I guess I was a big fan of showing her off.

"Yeah, but most people have a little more tact about it. Emily was not trying to hide it at all."

"What are you worried about, Freddie? I'm straight, remember?"

"I know..." I replied. "I just...I dunno! I didn't like it, okay?"

"Why?"

"I don't know, Sam! It's different now! I mean, it was one thing when we were seventeen and I was still geeking out over the whole thing, but I mean...you're my wife! I don't want other people looking at you anymore! Not only that, but you're pregnant!"

She gave me a death glare. "So people shouldn't look at me because I'm pregnant? Am I that gross?"

"No!" I exclaimed. "Baby, you're beautiful! You're absolutely gorgeous, and you're sexy as fuck! You know how hot I think you are! I don't know...I don't want other people looking at you like that now, because...I have more to lose."

She gave me a confused look. "What do you mean?"

"I am more in love with you now than I ever have been," I responded truthfully. "You're everything to me. And now you're carrying my child. If I lost you...I'd lose everything."

She was still confused. "And my sister's girlfriend checking me out made you worry about losing me?"

I shook my head. "No, baby. Just brought it to a head, that's all. It's been other times lately. When we go out in public. Guys just leer at you! It's not like a brief checking out anymore, they just gawk! And I don't like it!"

"Because of these?" she asked, looking down at her chest, and I nodded.

"Yes! Come on, you know how guys are about boobs! And yours happen to be particularly stunning..." I trailed off, biting my lip. "I'm sorry, baby. I didn't mean to hurt your feelings, or upset you. I was just getting sick of people staring at your chest all the time! It's driving me nuts!"

"Yeah, but you stare at them too," she pointed out, and I just grinned at her.

"That's because I'm allowed to," I replied.

"Oh, is that right?" she responded, and I nodded.

"You're mine. I can look all I want."

"Hmm," Sam commented, and I saw a hint of mischief flash in her eyes. Oh, really? I leaned forward to kiss her, and she didn't pull away, just let me brush my lips over hers, waiting to see what else I'd do.

"Do you need me to remind you that you're mine, baby?" I growled, intensifying the kiss, and she nodded.

"I think I do," she said breathlessly.

"And do I need to remind you how much I love your beautiful body?"

"Yes," she said huskily. "Please remind me, right now."

I just grinned, pushing her onto her back. "No problem there, baby." Before it could go any further, we heard a loud knock at the door. I groaned, my head hanging down for a second, before getting up and walking to the door, pulling it open. "Yes?"

It was Mel. "Shower's open. Just thought you should know. Dipshit's complaining about everyone taking too long."

My brow furrowed. "Dipshit?"

"Yeah, Brad?"

I rolled my eyes. "You and Brad are gonna have to learn to get along one of these days."

"Maybe when he stops being such an idiot."

"Okay, thanks, Mel," I responded gruffly, shutting the door in her face before turning around and looking at Sam.

"So..." she said, standing up. "Guess I should go hop in the shower?"

"But..." I trailed off, frowning. "What about..."

"And I guess you should come with me," she responded, slowly walking towards me. "I mean, in the interest of saving time and all."

I just smirked at her, biting my lip. "Oh really? Is that all? To save time?"

"Mmhmm," she responded, running her hands over my chest, before grabbing my shirt collar and leading me toward the bathroom. "Let's go."

I wasn't really sure what was going on with Sam lately, what with the jumping from happy to angry, back and forth, constantly, other than the hormones, but of course, as she shoved me against the bathroom door and ripped my shirt over my head, it wasn't really at the front of my mind. And the girl didn't give me a second to figure it out.

~*Brad*~

"Holy hell, what is taking those girls so long?" I hollered as I paced back and forth nervously.

Freddie shrugged, not bothering to look up from his laptop. "They're girls, what do you expect?"

"Yeah but..." I trailed off, continuing to pace. "Aaargh!"

I felt like I was going to have a mental breakdown! Other than the day I'd told my dad I wasn't going to the academy, I can't ever remember being so nervous in my entire life.

Freddie turned around and gave me a Look, startled at my outburst. "Problems?" he asked, and I just sighed.

"Forget it, I'm not doing this," I growled, and Freddie shrugged.

"Okay. So don't."

I looked at him in shock. "What? You're not supposed to say that! You're supposed to say 'Brad, you'll be fine, don't worry!' What the hell is the matter with you, man?"

"I don't know," Freddie said with another shrug. "I mean, if you don't have the balls, you must not love her that much. Maybe it's a bad idea."

"Shut up!" I hollered, glaring at him. "I do love her! And it's not a bad idea! She's gonna say yes, mark my words!"

Freddie just smirked at me. "Good to have you back," he replied, before turning back to his laptop. I gaped at him, my jaw dropping open.

"Did you just..."

"Yep," Freddie responded flatly.

"Dude!" I yelled. "What did I say about using reverse psychology on me? Stop doing it!"

"Then stop falling for it," Freddie replied, turning to look at me again. "Look, Brad. We've gone over it a hundred times. You know what you're gonna say, you know what you're gonna do, you've really stepped your game up this week, you'll be fine! She'll say yes! Now man up!"

I took a deep breath, finally flopping down onto the couch. "Thanks."

"Yeah, that's what I'm here for. That and to make sure we don't go bankrupt."

"I thought Sam told you to stay off the bank account until after Christmas," I pointed out, and Freddie shrugged.

"What Sam doesn't know won't hurt her."

"Yeah, but what she finds out will kill us all!" I responded. "Besides, the girl's right, you need a vacation."

"And when the time finally comes that I'm able to take one, I will. Trust me," Freddie responded with a sigh, leaning back in his chair. "I can't right now. There's business stuff, Sam stuff, baby stuff, apartment stuff, and in less than two weeks it's back to school."

I stared at him. "You're gonna give yourself an ulcer one of these days, you know that?"

"So they say," he responded with a roll of his eyes, before looking at his watch. "Okay, you're right. This is taking way too long." With that, he stood up, walking to the bottom of the stairs. "Girls! Get a move on! We're gonna be late!"

"Be down in a sec!" I heard Sam holler, and Freddie sat back down, satisfied for the moment. I just sat on the couch, my knees bouncing nervously.

"You better chill, or you're gonna tip her off," Freddie commented, and I shrugged.

"I can't calm down. And I'm hella nervous about the party too."

"Why?"

"Because," I said with a sigh. "Two words: open bar."

"Oh," Freddie responded flatly. "Geez, you're right. But you'll be fine. Just don't drink anything. Besides, we are still underage, so...it's not like we'll be expected to."

"True," I agreed. "But come on, man. You know how rich people act. Like the rules don't apply to them."

"Who don't the rules apply to?" Sam asked as she walked downstairs. "Besides me, I mean?"

"Damn!" Freddie exclaimed, standing up. "Look at you...you look gorgeous, sweetheart."

Sam just gave him a sweet smile, her arms around his neck. "Really? It's not too much?"

He shook his head. "Nope. Just enough. You make me feel like the luckiest guy on earth, you know that?"

"Aw, baby!" she said, kissing him, and I rolled my eyes.

"It's getting a little too cheesy in here," I commented, and they both glared at me.

"Says the guy about to propose," Sam said pointedly, and I rolled my eyes.

"Whatever. Man, I hope this night goes right..."

"Yeah, me too," Freddie responded. "There are going to be a shit-load of high society and business people alike, and I still have to track down an internship for this summer."

Sam gave him a Look. "Are you sure that's such a good idea? Cruising for an internship at a Christmas party, Freddie? Please don't tell me you're bringing your resume."

"Of course not," Freddie stated with a roll of his eyes. "Just my business card."

"Ugh!" Sam responded, throwing her hands up. "What did I say? Did I say no business stuff?"

"This isn't business, it's for school," he replied.

"Freddie! Take a break from your pursuit of excellence! Please!" Sam begged. "You need to lighten up!"

"That's what I said!" I exclaimed.

Freddie sighed, sounding agitated, before looking at Sam. "Fine. I'll take a night off. For you."

"No, you'll take two nights off! If you spend Christmas day worrying about your future, I swear to God..."

"Our future?" he replied. "I can't help it, baby! I'm just worried, okay? Now is not the time to slack off!"

"And when is?" Sam cried. "When you're six feet under? And if you keep pushing yourself so damn hard, it's gonna be sooner rather than later!"

"A little dramatic, honey?" Freddie responded, and Sam just glared at him.

"Brad, back me up here."

"You do work too hard," I commented, and Freddie rolled his eyes.

"Somebody's gotta pick up the slack."

I opened my mouth to say something, but Sam beat me to the punch. "Oh, so I'm a slacker?"

"What? No! I didn't say that, baby!"

"Then what are you saying? That I'm lazy? That I have no goals or thoughts about our future?" she cried. I rolled my eyes. Oh, great. Sam had been going off the deep end way too often lately. I knew it was the hormones, but it didn't make it less annoying! And I didn't want this to happen, not right now, not right before the party, and not right before I was going to propose! I didn't want everyone all jacked up right now! I sighed, leaning against the couch as Sam and Freddie began arguing. Well, Sam was arguing, Freddie was trying desperately to defend himself. That poor, stressed out, overworked bastard.

"Sam, come on! Don't do this right now! You're overreacting!"

"I am NOT overreacting!" Sam yelled. "Forget this! I'm not going!" With that, she turned around and stomped off to her room, slamming the door shut, and Freddie groaned when he heard the click of the lock.

"Dammit!" he growled. "Not again! Man, I can't deal with this shit every day for the next seven and a half months! This is ridiculous!" He stalked over to the door, banging on it. "Baby, open the door!"

He was met with silence, and he groaned in frustration.

"Sam! Honey I'm sorry! I didn't mean to hurt your feelings!" He banged again. "Sam! I swear to god, if you don't open this door, I'm gonna kick it in!"

"You don't have the strength!" she yelled, and Freddie rolled his eyes.

"Sam!" He took a deep breath, trying to control himself. "Alright, that's it!" With that, he went into the bathroom, which had another door that opened into their room, before stalking back out angrily.

"She locked that door too! This is ridiculous!" I just rolled my eyes. Great! Just what I needed to set the mood, a fight between a married couple! Not the best example I needed right now!

A few more minutes of knocking on the door and coaxing her to come out, and Freddie still wasn't making progress, and he was really starting to get agitated. "Okay, time for drastic measures," he said to me, before looking back at the door with a determined look in his eyes. "Sam, I swear to god, if you don't open that door by the count of five, every single meat product in this house is gonna get thrown out! No more bacon, no more ham, no more pork chops, and I WILL cancel your membership to the Roast of the Month Club! Do you hear me? I'm serious!"

He was met with more silence, and he shook his head. "One...two...three...four...five! Say goodbye to the pig, Sam!"

With that, he began walking to the kitchen, and the bedroom door flung open. I had no idea how Sam could run so fast in a pair of heels, but she did it, zooming across the living room and practically tackling Freddie before he got to the kitchen.

"You leave my meat alone!" she hissed, and he pulled her arms off him, turning around to face her, before pushing her against the wall, pressing against her.

"You listen to me," he growled. "I'm tired of you being short with me!"

"I am short, dumb ass!" she growled back, their eyes locked, faces inches away from each other.

"You know what I mean!" he shouted. "I'm trying, Sam! And I can't do it with you getting irritated over every little thing I say! I'm a stupid guy! You know that! I say stupid shit!"

"You got that right," Sam replied, and Freddie just shook his head.

"You're such a little brat sometimes, Sam. I swear to god!"

"You got a problem with me being a brat?" she responded.

I waited for Freddie to come back with something that really stung, but he didn't. Instead, he just grabbed her by the back of her head, kissing her fiercely, before his head snapped back and his hand went to his lip.

"Ow! You fucking bit me!" He shouted, sounding shocked, and she just shrugged.

"Do something about it."

He just stared at her for a second, before picking her up and carrying her to their room, the door slamming shut, and the next sound I heard was Sam moaning. I rolled my eyes, looking down at the floor. God those two were weird! One second they wanted to kill each other, the next they were tearing each other's clothes off! Yeah, if those two could figure out how to make things work, then there was no doubt in my mind that Carly and I could make it work just as well.

Just had to get her to say yes first!

~*Carly*~

I looked at myself in my mirror nervously. I was still a little unsure about this dress, it was so form-fitting and showed off a lot too. I'd been developing a lot over the last few years, but I still wasn't completely comfortable with my body, and this dress wasn't doing much to fix that. And aside from the cut, there wasn't too much about it that would wow. It didn't have any frills, lace, shimmer...just navy blue velvet that hugged every inch of my curves. I'd decided to wear my hair up, and aside from my earrings and a bracelet, I wasn't wearing any jewelry. Ugh, I just didn't know about this!

I wish Sam hadn't gone downstairs already, and I really didn't need advice from Mel and Emily, because I already knew what they would say. Besides, the one person whose opinion I really cared about was Brad's, and he was downstairs! Guess I just needed to suck it up and go down there, it was probably getting close to time to leave anyway.

I grabbed my clutch, looking at myself in the mirror one last time, before leaving my room and going downstairs, where I found Brad alone, sitting on the couch. I cleared my throat softly, and he turned around, his jaw dropping.

"Holy shit!" he exclaimed, rising to his feet.

"Do you like it?" I asked, fidgeting anxiously, and he just gave me a smile, before walking over and kissing me.

"Babe, you look absolutely gorgeous!" he replied, hugging me. "Oh wow, and you smell good too. Is that new perfume?"

"Mmhmm," I replied. "You look nice, Brad! I love this suit. I always have."

"Thanks," he replied, fiddling with his tie a bit. "But this may be the last year I wear it. The sleeves are getting kinda tight."

"Well, that's because your muscles are getting bigger," I replied, squeezing one of his biceps. "And that's just fine by me."

"Yeah?" he asked, before kissing me again. He pulled away, staring at me, and I could tell he had something on his mind, though I couldn't really tell what it was. Either way though, the way he was looking at me still gave me chills. In a good way. Our eyes locked for a few moments, and I just couldn't pull myself away from his gaze.

"So...where'd Sam and Freddie go?" I asked, finally breaking out of my trance, and Brad rolled his eyes.

"They're fighting. Or having sex. I can't really tell. It might be both."

"At the same time?" I responded, grimacing a bit, and Brad shrugged.

"You know those two..."

"I dunno what happened, they were all lovey-dovey last week, and now Sam's being all..." I pointed to my head and made a circular motion with my finger.

"Psycho?" Brad replied, and I nodded.

"Exactly. But I mean, as long as they don't break up...who cares, right?"

Brad scoffed. "They'd never break up. To break up would be to admit failure, and Freddie would rather die than let that happen."

"True," I said. "But they do love each other."

"Oh, no doubt," Brad agreed. "Just saying. Don't you think Freddie takes the perfection thing a little too far sometimes?"

"Definitely. But...I'm sure he'll get out of it eventually. Or Sam will kill him."

We both looked at the door suddenly as a loud groan escaped, and I rolled my eyes.

"I think she's killing him right now."

"Yeah, but he sounds like he's enjoying it," Brad responded, before looking at me. "Look, Carly..."

"We're ready!" Melanie shouted as she bounded down the stairs, walking right between me and Brad. Brad let out an annoyed growl, and I just rolled my eyes.

"How do I look?" Mel asked as she struck a pose. "Don't I look awesome?"

"Yes, Mel, you look great," I replied with a forced smile, a little aggravated. Brad obviously had something on his mind he wanted to talk about, and Melanie had just interrupted it! Ugh!

"And my sexy girlfriend, how about her?" Melanie put her arms around Emily, who just flashed her a smile.

"Yeah, you girls both look incredible! You'll fit right in!"

"With snobby Seattle society?" Mel said, and I nodded, a little pissed. Part of that snobby Seattle society was my brother, sister-in-law, and my niece, not to mention Melanie had spent her formative years in a hoity-toity boarding school, so I had no idea what she was complaining about! Not to mention, I was in the middle of something with Brad!

"Yeah, Mel," I replied. "As soon as Sam and Freddie get done with whatever they get done with, we'll leave..."

"Freddie probably made her change, his controlling ass," she muttered, and I gave her a surprised look.

"What did you say?"

"Nothing, never mind," Melanie responded. "Forget it."

"No! Did you say Freddie was controlling?"

"So?" she replied with a shrug. "He is! I mean, you guys let him control the bank account. That's weird."

"It's not weird!" Brad barked. "He's the business manager! He's like the freakin' accountant! All businesses have one!"

"So why not get a real accountant?"

"Because Freddie's probably smarter than them!" I replied. "Melanie, seriously. You don't understand how things work around here, and I really don't want to get into an argument on Christmas Eve, so can we just let it go right now?"

"Fine," she sighed. "So, this party. Will there be booze?"

Brad laughed. "That's an understatement."

"You gonna partake or continue to play bitchboy?" Melanie said with a grin, and Brad rolled his eyes.

"Neither, Mel. I'm going to continue to exercise self-control. Like right now, because I don't want Sam to kill me, and because I don't hit girls, I'm exercising self control. By not smacking you upside the head."

"Oh my god!" I cried, stepping between them. "What is up with all this aggression? Melanie, I thought you and Sam dealt with this Freddie shit! And you have no right to say that to Brad! He's working on his problems, which is more than I can say for you!"

Melanie just glared at me, before shaking her head. "Whatever. I'm so getting wasted tonight."

"Yeah, go right ahead, Mel. But you better not embarrass me tonight, got it? Or your sister."

"Fine." She crossed her arms over her chest. "Em and I will be upstairs, just let us know when it's time to leave."

"Yeah, whatever," I said with a wave of my hand. I waited until they went up the stairs before giving Brad a surprised look. "Oh my god! What the hell?"

"Seriously, who lit the fuse on her tampon?" he snapped, and I laughed.

"I don't know, but...did you want to talk about something?" I asked, changing the subject. "You just seem like something's on your mind, baby."

"Uh, yeah," Brad said slowly. "Something is my mind."

I sat down on the couch. "Okay. So talk. What's going on? Is it something to do with your family, baby? Because I'll help you get through this."

"I know," he responded quietly. "You're really good about that. I love you, Carly."

I gave him a smile. "I love you too, Brad. So what's going on?"

"Um...well...I've been thinking about this for awhile. And I've been wanting to ask you..."

"Yeah?" I asked, my brow furrowing as I noticed the look on Brad's face. He looked so damn nervous, like he was going to fall over! He hesitated, taking a deep breath. "Brad, baby, just spit it out! Whatever it is, it can't be that bad!"

"Carly..."

"Yeah?"

"Will you..." he trailed off, frowning. "...mind if I paint?"

"What?" I asked, confused. "Paint?"

"Uh, yeah! The bedroom? I'm sorry, I'm just getting a little tired of the purple. We could do turquoise! You like turquoise, right?"

"Yeah, sure. I love turquoise. It'll be...great." I said. Okay, what was going on? All those nerves, over painting? No way! Something else was up, he just didn't have the guts to tell me, I could feel it! Something wasn't making sense here! I tried to replay the last couple of days over in my head. The sudden change in appearance, the going overboard with the romantic stuff, and now he was afraid to tell me something! Something was wrong!

"Is that all? Painting?" I asked, and he nodded.

"I just...I know how you are about change. You don't like it."

"Yeah. You're right, I don't like it," I said softly, before looking down. "Um, I just remembered, I left something...my lipgloss. I need to get it before we go. I'll be right back, okay?"

He nodded. "Sure, babe. I love you."

"I love you too," I replied, standing up quickly and heading up the stairs. Brad was keeping something from me, I could feel it. And it was probably bad, really really bad.

I just had to figure out what it was.

~*Freddie*~

"You done being a brat?" I growled against Sam's neck as I moved in and out of her, ignoring her moans and whimpers. "Answer me!"

"Yes..." she moaned.

"I'm sorry, what?" I asked, slamming into her, making her arch her back and grip my shoulders tightly.

"Freddie, please!" she cried, and I shook my head.

"Not until you decide to be a little bit nicer to me."

"Baby!"

"Say it!"

"I'm sorry! I'll stop being a brat!" she gasped, grinding against me frantically. "Please let me come!"

"You promise you'll be nice?"

"Yes!"

"You'll stop taking everything I say the wrong way?"

"Yes! Oh god, please!"

"And you won't forget how much I love you and I'd never hurt you?" I asked, kissing her softly, and she nodded, absolutely shaking with need.

"Yes! Please, baby! Oh, fuck!"

"Alright," I responded, picking up my pace a little. "Come on baby. Come for me."

"Oh, god..." she moaned. "Baby...don't stop! Please! Oh, fuck! Freddie! AAAAHHH!" she buried her face in my shoulder, digging her nails in as she quaked against me, letting out a loud, drawn out moan, before collapsing back on the bed. "Oh, my god..."

"My turn," I responded, kissing her again, moving against her, feeling myself getting closer and closer. "God, Sam...you feel so good...shit...shit...FUCK!" I growled as my explosion overtook me, struggling to catch my breath. I withdrew, laying down next to her, still breathing heavily.

"Wow," she said softly, before looking over at me. "Sorry, baby."

"It's okay," I replied, turning over to look at her. "Please stop being so sensitive, sweetheart. I can't keep putting up with this!"

"I know," she responded. "I just...I can't help it! I'm trying, Freddie! This pregnancy is making me crazy!"

"It's alright, baby. I promise. You'll be fine! You're not gonna be pregnant forever!"

"True," she said, stretching a bit. "We should probably put our clothes back on."

"Yep." I sat up, quickly getting re-dressed, before looking over at her. "I wonder if Brad's asked Carly yet."

"Well, we should go find out," she replied. "Zip me up, honey." She turned around, and I kissed the skin of her back softly before pulling the zipper back up.

"You look absolutely beautiful tonight," I commented, kissing her on the cheek. "This dress looks amazing on you." It was short and black with little sparkly beads all over it, and it hugged her figure in an amazing way. I didn't know what she was talking about; to me, it didn't look like she was showing at all, not that it would bother me when she finally did.

One thing was for sure though, I was tired of Sam getting an attitude with me all the time, even if she was pregnant, and if I had to "adjust her attitude" over and over like I just did, then so be it! I definitely enjoyed doing that, and at least we didn't have marathon fights and stay mad at each other for days like most couples! This was so much better.

"Thank you, baby," she replied, turning her head to kiss me. "I'm sorry I've been so out of sorts. You know I love you, right?"

"I know. And I love you too," I responded simply. "Come on, let's go see what's going on out there."

We walked back out to find Brad sitting on the couch, grumbling to himself.

"Everything okay?" I asked hesitantly, and he just looked down at the floor, growling, sounding annoyed. "Dude what happened?"

"Did she say no?" Sam exclaimed worriedly, and Brad shook his head.

"I would have had to ask her for her to say no," he said with a sigh. "By the way, Freddie, you're gonna help me paint."

"What?" I asked, confused, and he nodded, fervently.

"Yeah, turquoise!" Brad responded.

"Okay, explain," Sam said, flopping down next to him. "Because I'm not getting it."

"Well, the first time I was going to ask, Melanie came downstairs and ruined the entire thing! And then, Melanie flips out, starts acting like a..." he trailed off when Sam glared at him. "Unpleasant individual...then she goes back upstairs. And I try to ask Carly again...and I lost my nerve. And so instead, I asked her if she wanted to paint. And just my luck, she does! And she loves turquoise! Oh my god, I'm so pathetic."

"Yeah, that is kinda pathetic," Sam agreed, and Brad and I both glared at her. "What?" she squeaked. "Come on, man! You can do this! It's Carly! You guys have been together almost three years! You're suddenly afraid of her?"

"I'm not afraid of her!" Brad responded. "I'm afraid of her turning me down. I mean, we've never even talked about this! Not really..."

"Brad," Sam said, giving him a Look. "Carly loves you, okay? Just do it!"

"Easier said than done, Sam!" Brad replied. "I mean, it's not all simple like it was with you and Freddie!"

"Simple?" I said with a laugh, shaking my head. "You gotta be kidding me, man! There was nothing simple about my proposal to her! I mean, the location was horrible, and the execution could have been a lot better, but it wasn't simple! And do you think I wasn't nervous? I was scared as hell!"

"You were?" Sam asked, looking at me, and I nodded fervently.

"You'd just ran away and I tracked you down! I didn't know if you were just running away from the situation, or running away from me."

"Aw, baby!" Sam said, standing up and putting her arms around me. "Of course I wasn't running away from you! I was protecting you! You should know that!"

"I do know that, now!" I replied. "But not then!" I looked over at Brad. "But it was worth it! I mean, look at this!" I gestured to Sam. "I love this girl, she loves me, we're happy, we have a kid on the way. But none of it would have happened if I didn't have the cajones to ask her. So you want this? With Carly? ASK HER!"

"Ask me what?" Carly asked, walking down the stairs, looking perplexed. Sam and I shot worried looks at each other, and Brad looked like he was going to have a heart attack, leaping to his feet.

"Um. I...uh..." Brad stammered, looking down.

"We...we better go upstairs and get my sister and Emily," Sam suggested, shooting a look at me, and I nodded.

"Great idea. And we'll take the elevator down, so don't worry about...interruptions."

"What's going on, you guys?" Carly asked, her arms crossed over her chest. "I feel like I'm missing something here."

"Not for long," Sam said under her breath, and I poked her, causing her to yelp a bit.

"No, there's nothing!" Brad replied. "I swear! And you guys can stay!"

"Don't be silly, Brad," Sam responded, reaching up to pat him on the head. "You guys...talk. We'll see you there. Okay?"

"But, you guys..." Brad whined as I grabbed Sam's hand and walked her past Carly, heading for the stairs.

"No buts! You guys have fun!"

"What is going on?" Carly asked. "Why are you guys dipping?"

"Uh...stuff. To take care of," Sam replied, giving her a grin. "Love ya, Carls."

"Guys!" Carly cried. "Why is everyone being so weird today?"

"Bye!" I shouted.

"I'm putting you two on anti-nutbar medication!" Carly yelled up the stairs, and I looked over my shoulder to see Carly staring at Brad intently, with him looking down at his shoes nervously. I sighed, rolling my eyes.

Brad had better man up, because zero hour was upon him, and if he screwed this up, I doubted he'd get another chance.


	17. Chapter 17: Answer

**Chapter Seventeen:  
>Answer<strong>

~*Carly*~

I stared at Brad, my arms crossed over my chest, as he shifted his weight nervously from foot to foot.

"Something's going on," I said, continuing to stare. "Tell me."

"It's nothing, Carly," he said with a sigh, running his hand over his hair.

"You're lying," I stated, and he shot me a surprised look. "Brad, I know you. You're lying. Something's up with you. Tell me the truth."

He took a deep breath, staring at the floor. "I...fuck, I can't do this," he said to himself, sitting on the couch, and I looked at him in shock.

"What do you mean you can't do this?" I exclaimed. "Are you breaking up with me? On Christmas Eve?"

"No!" Brad replied, leaping to his feet again. "Carly, no! It's not that, I swear!"

"Then what?" I exclaimed. "Why are you acting like this?"

"Because!"

"Because of what? Was...this whole last week...nothing? Something's up with you! Things were going so well! What happened, Brad? Why are you being this way?"

"Because I'm nervous!" he replied, and I gave him a confused look.

"Brad, why are you nervous?"

"I...god. Can we just forget this happened?" he grumbled, looking at the ground, and I shook my head, walking towards him.

"No," I said softly, my arms going around him. "Something's bothering you. I won't forget that. We're supposed to be open and honest with each other, remember? We made a promise."

"Yeah," he replied. "I know."

"So be honest with me, Brad. I love you. You can tell me anything, you know that!" I exclaimed, looking up at him, and he just nodded.

"I...I love you, Carly."

"Yeah, I know," I said with a smile. "But that's not what you wanted to tell me, is it?"

"Well, it's a big part of it," he replied, pulling away from me. My arms dropped to their sides, and I stared at him, still confused.

"Please stop being so cryptic, baby. You're freaking me out."

"I know," he responded. "I just...man this is hard to get out! I didn't think this would be so hard!" He took another deep breath. "Okay, I'm just gonna spit it out, and I don't care what you say, because I've gotta get this out! I just...it's really hard, but I gotta man up, right? Yeah. I gotta man up. So I'm gonna say something, and..."

"Brad. Brad? BRAD!" I shouted, my hands on his shoulders. "Calm down! You're rambling!"

"Sorry," he said, shaking his head.

"Baby, just tell me!" I said with an encouraging smile. "I promise you'll feel better once you get it off your chest!"

"Maybe. It depends," he replied softly.

"Depends on what?" I asked.

"It depends on what you're gonna say," he replied. He opened his mouth to say something, but stopped. "Crap, I forgot. Okay. Here goes."

I gasped when he dropped to one knee and it finally dawned on me what he was so damn nervous about. Oh my god! Was this really happening? This couldn't be happening? Could it? Oh my god! What was he doing? Was he...

"I love you, Carly," he said. "I've loved you for nearly three years. You're so important to me. I gave up everything in my life to be with you, and I wouldn't hesitate to do it again."

My hands flew to my face, covering my mouth, as I tried to remain vertical and not fall over with shock. He pulled a box out of his pocket, and I gasped as my eyes focused on the gorgeous ring he had displayed. It was a white gold band with, of all things, a HEART-SHAPED diamond on it. How sweet! "Oh my god," I whispered. "Brad..."

"I can't imagine being without you for one day. You're the sweetest person, the most beautiful girl I know, I love you so much...marry me. Please?"

"Oh my god!" I said again. "Brad!"

"Carly?" he asked, staring up at me.

"Yes!" I squeaked. "Oh my god! Yes!"

"Really?" he asked, sounding totally shocked.

"Yes!" I replied. "Get up here and kiss me, you idiot! Oh my god!"

Brad stood back up, a mile-wide grin across his face, before putting the ring on my finger and pulling me to him, kissing me passionately, and I threw my arms around his neck, kissing him back.

Oh my god! He'd proposed! I couldn't believe it! He actually wanted to spend the rest of his life with me? He didn't have doubts about us? He wanted me to be his wife?

"I can't believe this," I whispered, kissing him again, before looking down at my ring. "Baby...I...wow."

"Are you happy?" he asked softly, and I nodded.

"Happy as hell!" I shouted, kissing him again. "Oh my god! I'm gonna be...Carly Harrison."

"Yeah," he said with a smile. "You are."

"Unless you wanna be Bradley Shay," I suggested, and he wrinkled his nose.

"I think I'll stick with Harrison, thanks," he said with a laugh. "So...so we're really gonna do this?"

"Yes! That's what an engagement is, Brad! Oh my god!" I looked up at him again. "This is amazing!"

"I'm so glad you said yes," he said, hugging me. "I was so freakin' nervous!"

"So the painting thing?"

"Bullshit," he replied. "I chickened out."

I shrugged. "That's a shame. Because you're still gonna paint."

He groaned. "Seriously, babe?"

I laughed. "I'm just kidding. Oh my god! And this ring! It's incredible, baby! Oh my god!" I couldn't stop saying it, over and over, I was so surprised by all this. Another thought crossed my mind, and I looked up at Brad. "Do you think they've left already?" I asked, referring to Sam and Freddie, and he shrugged.

"No idea," he responded. "Go find out."

I nodded, pulling away from him with a grin and rushing over to the steps. "SAM!" I screamed out like a banshee. "SAM!"

I heard a door open and then the clomp clomp clomp of Sam's heels as she came running down the hall.

"What?" she yelled. "Everything okay?"

"NO!" I screamed. "Get down here now! Both of you!"

"Chill, we'll be right there, Amazon woman!" I heard Freddie yell, and rolled my eyes, before going back to grinning like an idiot and bouncing around.

"What's going on?" Sam asked as she rushed down the stairs.

I didn't respond, just held my left hand up, pointing to it with my right, before bouncing up and down.

"I'm engaged!" I cried, and Sam let out a happy squeal, throwing her arms around me.

"Oh my god, he grew some balls!" she shouted as we did our happy dances, and Brad rolled his eyes at her. Freddie came down a moment later, and I thrust my hand into his face.

"Freddie look! Brad asked me to marry him!"

"Awesome! He grew some balls!" Freddie said, and Brad threw his hands in the air, exasperated.

"Come on! I have plenty of balls, thank you!" he replied.

"Let me see this rock!" Sam said, grabbing my hand. "Oh, how cool! A heart shaped diamond?" She looked over at Brad. "Wow, you do have good taste, Brad!"

"I know, right?" I said gleefully. "Oh my god! Sam! I'm getting married!"

Sam and I stopped jumping up and down, and she looked at me carefully. "When?"

"I...I don't know!" I replied. "But I'm getting married!"

"AAAAAHHH!" Sam shrieked, and we started jumping up and down all over again. Brad and Freddie stood there watching us, amused, and Freddie just turned to Brad, slapping him on the back.

"Good job, dude. I told you it'd work out!"

"Yeah, you did," Brad said with a sigh. "I am so relieved."

I pulled away from Sam to turn to Brad, kissing him passionately. "I love you, you idiot! Of course I was gonna say yes! You're awesome, and I can't wait to be your wife."

"And I'd hate to break this up," Freddie said, looking down at his watch. "But we can't wait to leave either, or we're gonna be really late. Come on, Carly, I know you're dying to break the news to Spencer and April."

"Oh my god, I am!" I exclaimed. "And...where the hell is Melanie and Emily? I gotta show them too!"

"Oh hell yes, we are so rubbing this in Melanie's face!" Brad shouted, raising his arms.

"What?" I asked, confused. "I mean, I'm excited to tell her, but Mel's a lesbian, why would we rub it in her face? She's not gonna care if we get married."

"Oh, she'll care," Freddie responded, shooting an amused look over at Brad, who just bit his lips to keep from laughing.

"What?" I asked. "Why?"

"Uh, nothing Carls," Sam responded. "Let's just get them down here, and we'll go, okay?"

"Can I tell her can I tell her can I tell her? Huh huh huh?" Brad asked giddily, jumping up and down. I nodded, and he grinned, bounding over to the stairs. "Oh MELLL-UH-NEEE!" he called in a sing-song voice. "Come down here!"

~*Sam*~

"I can't believe they're actually engaged," I commented to Freddie as I sat in the passenger's seat.

"It is kinda unreal, right?" he said with a laugh, and I nodded.

"I can't believe it either," Melanie said flatly, and I rolled my eyes.

"Mel, come on!" I said, turning around to look at her. "You could at least pretend to be happy for them! I know you hate Brad, but Carly loves him, and if Carly's your friend then you need to be happy for her!"

Melanie just sighed. "Yeah, but...Carly's not really my friend, you know?"

"Wait, what?" Freddie asked, his eyes flicking up to the rearview mirror.

"I mean, I don't talk to her on the phone, we don't hang out just the two of us...it's...it's whatever."

I looked over at Freddie, who just shrugged. Man, Melanie was acting really weird lately. Things had been really tense for the most part, ever since she'd showed up in Seattle. I didn't get it, and she wasn't talking to me, so it's not like I'd be able to find out any time soon! But still, it was bothering me. She was acting bored, uninterested, sullen, just generally disagreeable. And it seemed like she picking fights with me and my husband, not to mention Carly and Brad, which bothered me. I just hoped tonight would go alright, otherwise we were in trouble.

"Holy hell...this is April's parents' house?" Melanie asked as Freddie parked the car.

"One of them," I responded. "They also have a penthouse in New York, a house in LA, and...where's that other one?"

"Like...Lake Tahoe or something? I think?" Freddie responded, wrinkling his nose. "Don't forget the London flat."

"Must be nice," Melanie said, and I shrugged. "I dunno, we can barely keep track of the apartment," I said with a laugh, looking over at Freddie. "Alright, everyone out!"

"Sit your ass right there," Freddie responded, before getting out and walking around the car, opening my door for me. I ignored Mel's disgusted sigh, taking Freddie's hand and getting out.

"You're so sweet," I said with a sigh. "I love you."

"Love you too, beautiful," he replied, leaning forward to kiss me. I gave him a sweet smile, before turning around and looking at Melanie and Emily.

"Okay, rule number one, this is a classy party, so act like it," I said.

Melanie grunted. "Since when do you do classy parties, Sam?"

"Since now!" I responded, slightly offended. "This isn't my first rodeo, sister dear. Now, I know my sweet sister is in there somewhere, so she'd better come out tonight. There'll be people our age, not just old stuffed shirts, so you won't be completely bored, okay?"

Melanie just nodded, and I continued. "Secondly, just because it's an open bar doesn't mean you can go nuts, okay? In fact, please don't! You'll make us all look bad!"

"And I would hate to make the girl who makes a living off making a spectacle of herself look bad," Melanie stated. "What else?"

"Wha-" I started, before shaking my head. Do not snap on your sister, Sam! No matter what! Not in this dress! Man, she was making it hard though! "Um...don't go upstairs."

"Okay, fine," Melanie said, flipping her hair over her shoulder. "Anything else?"

"No..." I trailed off.

"Okay. See you later. Come on, Em," she said with a wave, taking Emily's arm and jerking her toward the stairs.

"What the hell?" I cried, looking over at Freddie. "Did you see that? What...did I do something?"

"Yeah, I think you did," Freddie responded as he watched them walk away, and I looked at him in horror.

"What? What did I do? Tell me, so I can fix it!"

"You got your life together! You're happy! You have an amazing life with amazing friends, who are a little bit closer to you than your sister, and now she's jealous," he replied, kissing me on my forehead. "Baby, don't worry about Mel right now, okay? Just try to relax, and have a good time tonight, okay?"

I nodded, sighing. "You really think that's it? That she's jealous?"

"Yeah, I do. Your sister's trying to figure out her place in your life, and right now she doesn't feel like she has one."

I just stared at him. "Have I ever told you how smart you are?"

"Only every day," he mused, kissing me. "Come on, baby. Let's go. I know you're dying to go see Maggie in whatever cute little thing April's put her in."

"You know me too well," I said with a smile.

~*Freddie*~

I stood against the wall with Brad, trying to look through the crowd of people, before nudging him.

"Where are the girls?" I asked, and he shrugged.

"I have no idea," he replied with a shake of his head. "Last I saw they ran upstairs with April, something about putting Maggie down."

"And probably to fangirl over your fiance's ring," I teased, and he grinned.

"Oh man, that is so cool. I don't have a girlfriend anymore, you know that?" he asked. "I have a fiance!"

"So...have you thought about dates yet?"

Brad shrugged. "I mean, we haven't really had time to talk about it, you know? We will though, probably tomorrow after all the hustle and bustle wears off. Man, I really want a damn drink right now, though!"

I gave him a horrified look. "What? Why? You're supposed to be happy!"

"I AM happy, numnuts! That's why I want a drink! To celebrate," he responded. "But I'm not gonna," he added hastily. "I mean, I'm not saying I'm gonna give up drinking forever, just until I don't have to use it as a crutch."

"Or until you're of legal drinking age?" I asked pointedly, and he nodded.

"Or that." He punched me in the arm suddenly. "Hey, there's Spencer!"

"What up Spence?" I greeted him as he walked over, and he gave us a big grin.

"Alright, you two, we gotta talk!" he exclaimed. "First of all, you!" he pointed to me. "Knocking up my baby sister's best friend! Excellent work!"

"Yeah, well, you know," I said with a grin. "Put in many, many hours of hard work. Long hours."

"Loud hours," Brad said with a roll of his eyes, and I just smirked at him.

"And you!" Spencer said, giving Brad a hug. "Carly just told me! That's awesome, man!"

"Really?" Brad asked, giving him a confused look. "I thought you hated me."

"I never hated you!"

"Spencer!" I yelled, exasperated. "You tried to kill him the day he deflowered your baby sister, remember?"

"I've blocked a lot of it out," he said flatly. "Come on, that was two years ago! Ancient history! I can't believe you guys are getting married!"

"How's Magdalena?" I asked, and he just laughed.

"MAGGIE is just fine," he replied. "Man, it's so cool, she's walking so good now, and she's talking a little bit. I keep pushing April to get her a dog, but she's a little hesitant. I think Maggie would love a puppy though, you know? She loves the puppy sculpture!"

"Puppy sculpture?" I asked, and he nodded.

"Yeah! We made a giant eight foot puppy! It's the coolest thing!" Spencer responded. "Married life is so cool!"

"Your married life is so not normal!" I said with a laugh. "You stay home with your wife all day and make sculptures and play with your daughter! Most people work!"

"I feel sorry for most people!" he responded. "So when's the kid due?"

"September 3rd," I replied with a nod. "I'm still a little shock, honestly, but I'm pretty excited."

"Ah, dude, you'll love it. Babies are so cool! Ooh, that reminds me, once the baby's old enough, you guys can bring the baby over, I just installed a foam pit in the backyard."

"A foam pit?" Brad and I both said, and Spencer nodded.

"With a diving board!" Spencer shouted. "It's super fun!"

"Wait, so...was the foam pit for you, or for Maggie?" I asked with a grin, and Spencer shrugged.

"It...it encourages bonding between father and daughter. Do you know what you guys are having yet?"

"Okay man," I said with a laugh, shaking my head. "And no. Sam wants it to be a surprise."

"Sam? Surprised?" Spencer made a face. "That's not really her thing."

I shrugged. "No kidding. But she's been going through a lot of changes lately."

"Yeah, I saw..." Spencer said, and I punched him in the arm.

"Don't look at my wife's breasts!" I hollered.

"Man, I wasn't trying to! They're out there! Sam's like a little sister to me, you think I wanna look at those things? No! But I can't help it! They're out there!"

"Yeah, I know," I said with a roll of my eyes, and Brad nudged me a little, grinning.

"Shut up, you're a lucky bastard and you know it," he replied.

"Yeah, I know," I said again, laughing.

Brad rolled his eyes. "Alright, I'm gonna go track Carly down."

"They should still be upstairs with April, try there first," Spencer suggested, and Brad nodded, before walking away. Spencer turned back to me, eyeing me carefully.

"What?" I asked, and he shrugged.

"Nervous?"

"No!" I replied. "Of course not! Why would I..." I trailed off, sighing. "I'm scared as hell."

"Yeah, I was too," Spencer said, squeezing my shoulder reassuringly. "But you'll be fine. You figure stuff out really quickly."

"Yeah but...you know, I didn't really have my dad around, and..."

"Well I didn't either, he was in a submarine most of my life," Spencer replied. "I know it's not the same thing, but I'm just trying to give you some perspective. And if you get completely lost, you know you can ask me. I'll try to help as best I can."

I nodded. "Thanks, Spence."

"Yeah, I mean, between me, and April, and Carly, and...your ridiculously overbearing mother, you two should be fine, you know?"

I laughed. "I hope so man, because I'm freaked out as hell! I try to put up a good front for Sam, but...man it's hard!"

"Dealing with Sam can be hard," Spencer agreed, and I shot him a look.

"What? No! That's not what I meant! I meant pretending like nothing's wrong! Not dealing with Sam!"

"Yeah, but dealing with Sam is hard, right?" Spencer asked with a grin, and I just scowled at him.

"Spencer..." I warned.

"Right? Right?" Spencer poked me in the ribs, and I sighed, my head going back.

"That girl's gonna kill me one of these days."

Spencer laughed. "Ah, she would've killed you already. She's way too invested now. Anyway," he looked around the room, before his eyes fixated on someone. "When I saw Sam she was complaining about you being on the hunt for an internship?"

"Uh, yeah..." I trailed off. "But I'm not supposed to be."

"But you're looking for one, right?"

"Of course," I responded. "Why?"

"One of the VP's for Cisco is here tonight. Friend of April's dad. I could go track down Daddy-in-Law-Dearest and see if he'll make with the introductions, you in?"

My jaw dropped, and I looked at Spencer in surprise. "Cisco? Are you kidding me? Let's go!"

~*Carly*~

"Oh my gosh, Carly, I am so excited for you!" April gushed as she sat on her parents' bed, rocking little Maggie back and forth. "How did he do it? Was it super romantic?"

I laughed and shook my head. "He was so nervous, he looked like he wanted to throw up!"

"Aww..." April laughed. "That's so adorable. But I never would have pegged Brad for the nervous type. He seems so...cool and confident."

"I know, right? But...he was really, and honestly scared!" I replied. "It was the weirdest thing!"

"That's because he's scared of losing you, Carls!" Sam responded as she looked over April's shoulder down at Maggie. "Aw, she's so cute..."

"And you!" April replied. "Pregnant! I can't believe it! Well, I mean, I can...I've heard all about how...you and Freddie are." She made a face. "But still! It's so cool!"

"Yeah," Sam responded, a dreamy look on her face. "I can't believe I'm gonna be a mother. It's so weird. Is it the hardest thing ever?"

"It can be," April said with a shrug, looking down at her daughter. "But it's worth it. She's such a sweet little thing. She can say I love you now!"

"Awww!" Sam and I exclaimed together.

"Well, she is just the prettiest little thing. I love her hair..." I said. "Are you ever gonna cut it?"

"No way!" April replied, adjusting Maggie's bow. "You can't cut little girls' hair! It's just wrong!" She turned to Sam. "So...when do you find out the sex?"

"When it comes out," Sam responded, and April gave her a surprised look.

"Sam wants it to be a surprise," I replied. "But it's not gonna be much of a surprise, it can only go one of two ways..."

Sam snorted. "That kid's half Puckett and half Benson. I have a feeling they'll be full of surprises!"

"Do you have names picked out yet?"

Sam nodded. "Sadie for a girl, and Freddie for a boy."

"Fredward Karl Benson, Jr. I can't believe you're doing that to that poor child!" I poked Sam, and she laughed, swatting my hand away.

"Oh come on, Carly! You know how much I love that nub! I'd love a tinier version of him just as much," she responded. "But still, it could be a Sadie."

"That's true. Oh, I hope it's a girl!" I exclaimed.

"Well, maybe you and Brad will have girls of your own," Sam said pointedly, and I made a face.

"What was that?" April asked.

"Yeah..what was that?" Sam chimed in, and I shrugged.

"I'm just not so sure I want kids, that's all. I mean, I love Maggie to death, and I'm sure I'll spoil the heck out your baby," I said to Sam. "But...I just never pegged myself as the mother type, you know?"

April and Sam looked at each other, before looking back at me. "That...might not go over well with Brad," Sam stated. "He comes from a big family. A huge family. One that doesn't talk to him anymore. I'm pretty sure he's going to want a whole pile of kids!"

"Well, it's a joint decision!" I responded pointedly. "And...I'm still on the fence about it."

"You may change your mind, when you get older," April offered. "I did."

"I dunno. You know...my mom went through a really difficult labor with me, and you went through one with Maggie. Maybe it's a Shay thing? Maybe it runs in the family. Maybe I don't want to go through all that."

"God, please don't talk about labor right now," Sam groaned. "That is the one part I am SO not looking forward to!"

"Well, it'll happen eventually, Mommy-To-Be!" April said pointedly, giving her a smile. "You'll be fine. It hurts, sure, but...after the epidural kicks in..." she trailed off, shrugging. "Anyway, you'll forget how bad it hurts as soon as they put that baby in your arms."

"Yeah, I guess. Aw, I can't wait, I..." Sam said. She trailed off suddenly, frowning. "Aw, man!" She fell back on the bed.

"What?" I asked, alarmed. "What's wrong?"

"Look!" Sam whined. "You guys made me cry again! Stop! I'm gonna smear my eye makeup!"

"Aw!" April laughed. "You're going through the hyper-emotional stage, aren't you?"

Sam rolled her eyes. "Biggest understatement ever! I almost ripped Freddie's head off twice today! And then I cried about it! I'm pathetic! Biggest sap ever!"

"Sam!" I exclaimed. "It's just your hormones! Underneath all those baby-growth chemicals, you're still the same feisty, evil Sam!"

"Really?" she asked, and I nodded.

"Definitely."

She sighed. "Thank god, I was thinking I was beginning to lose my edge."

"Yeah, well, wait until the baby says 'Mama' for the first time. You'll be done for," April said with a smile.

"Aw," Sam said, touching her stomach. "Mama...dammit!" she sat up, wiping her face again. "Knock it off!"

April and I just laughed, and then we were interrupted by a soft knock at the door. I turned around, grinning when I saw Brad standing in the door.

"Hey you," I said, staring at him.

"Hey girlies," he said, leaning down to kiss me. "Whatcha doin?"

"Being girly," I replied with a smile. "What's going on?"

"Nothing," he replied, rubbing my shoulders. "Just missed my fiance."

"Aw! You said fiance!" I said, standing up and kissing him. "That's so cool!"

"So...you wanna come downstairs with me? So I can show off my new fiance?"

"Yeah!" I responded. "Besides, I totally wanna show off my rock!" I looked over at Sam. "You coming?"

"Yeah, I should probably go find Freddie," she replied, stretching and then getting off the bed.

"Tell Spencer I'll be down shortly, Maggie's almost gone..." April said, and I nodded.

"Okay. We'll see you later." With that, Brad, Sam and I left the room, heading for the stairs. Sam went down first, leaving me and Brad alone, walking slowly behind her.

"Man, Maggie is so cute, isn't she?" I asked him. "I love that dress April put her in!"

"Yeah, she is pretty cute," Brad agreed, before putting his arms around me and pulling me to him. "I can't wait to have a few of our own," he whispered in my ear, kissing my neck. I pulled away, staring at him.

"Really? Like...how many?"

"Oh I dunno, three, maybe four?"

I laughed nervously. "That's a lot of kids."

"Yeah," he said with a shrug. "But I like kids. You know? I mean, I figure we'll wait like...two or three years, but..." he trailed off. "It'll be so cool."

I just gave him a small smile before kissing him. "Yeah, it'll be...great."

"Let's go back downstairs," he said, giving me a big smile and taking my hand in his, walking me toward the stairs. I just smiled back at him, but inside I was freaking out. Brad and I had NEVER talked about kids. We'd never even talked about marriage!

Maybe it would have been a good idea to discuss this stuff before we got engaged?

Oh well, what was done was done, and I was sure we'd figure it out eventually.

Right?

~*Sam*~

I navigated through the large group of people in April's parents' ballroom, trying to find Freddie. Man, this place was huge! I'd been here a few times, but I never could get over the size. April's parents had SO much money. A few years ago, I never would have pictured myself at a party like this, unless I was crashing it, of course, but here I was, actually on the invite list, and Mr. and Mrs. Gossamer knew me on a first name basis. There were a LOT of really powerful people here tonight. Business execs, politicians...Freddie was probably going nuts over the possible connections he could be making right now. But I hoped he was serious about not hunting too hard over that internship. I wanted him to have fun tonight, not just be on the prowl for a future job. He always took everything so seriously. Just for once, I wanted him to relax, have a good time, and NOT worry about the future, or taking care of me and the baby. He needed to let go once in awhile!

I slowed to a stop as I passed the food table. Oh god, food or Freddie? Food or Freddie? That was a tough call. Of course, I could find Freddie first, and then get food...

Oh god, that's Oysters Rockefeller!

Screw it, my hubby was a big boy, he'd be fine for a few more minutes. I was absolutely starving! I grabbed a plate and started perusing the food, only to look to my left and find my hunger quickly replaced with disdain for my sister. She looked like she could barely stand up straight! She was holding onto Emily's shoulder with one hand, the other hand had a glass of champagne in it, which she was currently lifting to her mouth and chugging like it was water. I stomped over to her, grabbing the champagne glass and slamming it on the table.

"Hey!" she cried, picking the glass back up. "I wasn't done with that," she mumbled around the glass, emptying it quickly and then putting it back on the table.

"How many of those have you had?" I asked, crossing my arms over my chest, and she shrugged.

"I dunno, five, six? It's free, come on!"

"It's free for non-alcoholics, Melanie! What the hell?"

"Then I guess Brad's out of luck!" she laughed. "Come on, Sam! Lighten up!"

"You lighten up on the champagne, and maybe I will!" Melanie ignored me, waiting for a server to walk by and snatching two glasses of champagne off the tray he was carrying.

"Want one? Maybe you'll loosen up!"

"Melanie! I'm pregnant, I can't drink! Are you insane?"

Melanie shrugged, handing the other glass to Emily, who was just as bad off as she was, and was now holding a glass of champagne in each hand. "You're such a buzzkill, Sam! I don't know what happened to you, you used to always be the life of the party! I mean, the angry life of the party, but the life of the party nonetheless."

"First of all, I don't have to be angry anymore, Mel. I'm happy! I'm in love! I'm settled, and...I'm going to be a mother! I can't act out anymore, and I definitely can't drink! And even if I wasn't pregnant, I wouldn't! Because Freddie can't, and I don't want him to feel bad!"

"That boy is holding you back, Sam," Melanie responded. "In a big way."

I shook my head. "No he's not. He made me safe. He made me HAPPY. I got into college because of him, Melanie! Why are you like this? What's happened to you?"

"Remember when I used to be the perfect one, and YOU used to be the screw-up?" Melanie said drunkenly, laughing. "Man, times have changed, haven't they?"

I just glared at her, nodding. "A screw-up, huh?"

"Oh come on, Sam. You know it's true! I was perfect. I WAS. But...not anymore. I've fallen from grace."

"What are you talking about, Melanie? You haven't fallen! But you're acting like you're about to just dive off!"

"Why do you care? You have Freddie," she spat. "And Carly. And Brad. You don't need me!"

"You are the one who left, Melanie!" I responded, putting my hands on her shoulders. "You left to go to school in North Carolina, remember? To find yourself?"

She shook her head. "I don't like who I found, Sam. But it's me. Can't deny it. But you, the way you're acting? I know it's an act. Why don't you just drop it?"

"It's not an act, Melanie," I said softly. "I've changed. Just accept it, okay?"

"No," she replied. "It's an act. You know it is. Puckett women are not mothers. They're not wives. They're...this!" she gestured to herself. "So just live a little, Sam! And have some fun! Quit playing house! It's not you!"

"Just shut up, Melanie," I replied. "I don't want to hear any more."

"I'm just trying to help you, Sam!" she responded. "You're not gonna be able to do this! You and I are one in the same, we're just like mom! Why fight it? She couldn't be a mother, I know I can't be a mother, and neither can you! And the wife thing?" she laughed. "Come on! Seriously?"

I took a step back, sucking in a deep breath. "Melanie...you just...just go to hell." With that, I turned, leaving my drunken sister and her girlfriend behind. I looked over my shoulder to see the two of them dancing seductively, their arms around each other, oblivious to the champagne they were spilling, and I quickly looked away, ducking into one of the side rooms to clear my head.

I had barely sat down on a chaise lounge for two minutes when Freddie walked in.

"There you are!" he exclaimed. "I've been looking for you!" He sat down next to me. "Okay, I know you told me, no looking for internships, and please don't be mad at me, but Spencer and April's dad introduced me to one of the VP's for...get ready for this...Cisco Systems! Baby!" he grabbed my shoulders. "Cisco! Can you believe it? And believe it or not, the guy's daughter watches the show, and so..." he trailed off, frowning. "You're crying. Why are you crying?"

I just sighed, turning my head. "I'm fine, Freddie."

"No, you're not. What's going on?"

I shrugged. "Melanie."

Freddie rolled his eyes. "What the hell did she do this time? I saw her walking around, looking a little drunk, but that was like...half an hour ago...is she absolutely plastered now? Did she embarrass you or something?"

I laughed bitterly. "Yeah, just a little. But it's not how she's behaving..."

Freddie's brow furrowed. "Then what?"

I shook my head. "Just something she said. Nothing important."

"Tell me."

"Don't worry about it, okay?" I replied, forcing a smile. "I'm fine."

"Yeah, if you were fine, you wouldn't be giving me your fake smile," he stated, and I rolled my eyes. "What's going on, sweetheart?"

"You know, sometimes I hate that you know me so well," I grumbled.

"Sometimes?"

"But most of the time I love it," I admitted. "Just not right now. I don't want to talk about this."

"Baby..."

"Do you think I'm like my mother?" I cut him off, staring at him, and he shook his head.

"No," he responded. "Not at all. You'd have to be heartless to be like her. And you're not. You're sweet. And considerate, and thoughtful, although you have an odd way of showing it sometimes..."

"Odd?"

"Or...illegal, sometimes," he replied with a grin. "But still...sweet. So Melanie thinks you're like your mother?"

"She thinks she is too."

Freddie shrugged. "What else did she say?"

"That I was just a screw-up, and that Puckett women can't be mothers, and they can't be wives either, so I needed to drop the act." I sighed, looking down. "What if she's right?"

"She's not. Forgive me, sweetheart, but your sister's a fucking idiot," he growled, standing up. "Excuse me. I'll be back."

"What?" I cried, standing up. "Where are you going? Freddie! I don't want you to get into a confrontation with her!"

"I'm not," he called over his shoulder.

"Then what..."

"Carly is," he finished, and my eyes widened.

Oh, no. If Carly found out Melanie was getting uber-drunk and saying horrible things to me in her sister-in-law's parents' house, it was going to be a done deal! And it wouldn't even matter if I got to Carly before Freddie did, because either way, Carly was going to fly off the handle. There were few things she got upset about to start a confrontation over, and most of them involved me or Brad. She didn't get as protective over Freddie, mostly because she knew I was perfectly capable of that on my own, but when it came to her best friend or boyfriend...or I guess fiance? It wasn't pretty. I'd never seen Carly get into a physical fight, but she didn't have to. She didn't even have to fling out insults at people, she'd just bring them down by holding up the metaphorical mirror and making them feel like shit about themselves.

This wasn't going to be good.


	18. Chapter 18: Echo

**Chapter Eighteen:  
><strong>**Echo**

~*Carly*~

"So, a naked lady walks into a bar with a salami under one arm, and a poodle under the other. Bartender says, I suppose you won't be needing a drink," Spencer said, and I groaned, not sure where this was going, and not really sure I wanted to find out either.

I was standing around with Spencer and Brad, trying to have a good time, but the whole kid thing was beginning to nag at me. With all the crap Brad constantly gave Freddie and Sam about having baby fever, who would have thought Brad would have turned out to want a bunch of kids too? I supposed it made sense, he did come from a huge family, but Brad only saw it from the perspective of being one of the kids, not one of the adults! I wasn't so sure I wanted to go down that road...I wasn't even sure if I wanted to go down the road of having one, forget three or four!

But still, it was too early to think about that, and I didn't want to spend Christmas Eve, or my first night of being engaged, bogged down in a bunch of what if's, so I tried to relax and have a good time. Even if I did have to keep readjusting the neckline of my dress. I didn't care what Sam said, this thing was too low-cut, and I felt really self conscious in it!

"So then what happened?" Brad pressed Spencer about his joke, and Spencer just grinned.

"Well, the naked lady said..."

"Carly!" Freddie yelled, walking up. "I gotta talk to you." He looked irritated...well, strike that, he looked pissed off!

"What's up?"

"Melanie's gone off the damn deep end, I swear to god," he gruffed. "I gotta put you on this one, because there is no way I can deal with this without absolutely losing my shit!"

"Uh..." I looked over at Brad and Spencer. "I'll be right back!"

"Wait! Don't you wanna know what the naked lady says?" Spencer called.

"Not really!" I replied over my shoulder, following Freddie away from Brad and Spencer. He pulled me into the kitchen, and I just stared at him, crossing my arms over my chest, mostly to cover up my over-exposed chest. "So what happened?"

"Well, for starters, Melanie is absolutely wasted," Freddie started, and I rolled my eyes.

"I am so glad we got that out of our systems in high school," I said, and Freddie nodded.

"Yeah, no kidding. Anyway, so she's wasted, and mouthing off."

"What'd she say?"

"Well, I only caught the gist of it, but...what if I told you that Melanie told Sam she was just like her mother?"

I glared at him, taking a deep, angry breath. Sam's mother was an absolute piece of shit, we all knew it, and we all knew how sensitive Sam was about it, how fearful she was that she might one day turn into her mother.

"I'd be pretty upset. What else you got?"

"Well, what if I told you that after that, Melanie said that Puckett women can't be mothers, and they can't be wives either?"

I gasped, my hand covering my mouth.

"She said that? To Sam? Oh my god! This is only the most important thing in her life! Melanie's her sister, what the hell is wrong with her?"

"A lot, obviously! But I don't care what's wrong with her, she can't just say shit like that to her! But...I can't take this one! I've already gone head to head with Melanie, I don't want to do it again. But I've had it, Carly. Can you help with this?"

I nodded. "That chick's toast." I knew Melanie had been through a lot, but so had Sam, and Sam had been through hell trying to change the angry, sullen girl she used to be. She was happy, excited about her future...and also terrified she'd screw it up somehow, and we didn't need Melanie putting thoughts in her head to make it worse. "Where is she?"

"I don't know," he replied. "I saw her go upstairs with Emily a few minutes ago...which Sam told her NOT to do, but she didn't listen! Just like she didn't listen about the not getting wasted bit!"

"Ugh, you know, if I didn't know better, I'd say she's jealous!"

"I'd say you hit the nail right on the head, Carly! She is jealous! She's jealous Sam's getting her shit together, and she's just...doing whatever the hell she's doing! Being a party girl! Bouncing from person to person. Whatever. But she can't take it out on Sam! And if I say something to her, then I'm the controlling asshole! Help me out here!"

"She already said you were a controlling asshole," I stated, and he nodded.

"Yeah, I know."

"And I jumped down her throat about it too."

"You did?" Freddie asked, surprised, and I nodded.

"Of course! Freddie!" I shoved his shoulder slightly. "You're one of my best friends, you think I'm not gonna stand up for you too?"

"Aw!" he replied, giving me a smile. "That's sweet, Carly."

I shrugged. "I mean, you're an asshole, sure, but not controlling..."

He groaned. "You always gotta ruin my moments, don't you?"

I just laughed. "I'm kidding, okay? Go...console your wife. Again. I'll deal with Melanie."

Freddie sighed. "I can't wait until she's past this emotional stage."

"Yeah, me neither," I replied. "Hey, it won't last forever though. It won't be long until she's going through the eat everything in sight stage, right?"

"Oh god," he said, a worried expression forming on his face. "I hadn't even thought of that! She already eats everything in sight! Do you know what our grocery bill's gonna be like?"

"Just...keep the chinese place on speed dial, you'll be fine," I said with a shrug.

"And the pizza place."

"And the Thai place."

"And the grocery store!" he groaned. "Oh god, we're doomed!"

I just laughed. "Probably. Now, if you'll excuse me. I have to have a word with your sister-in-law."

He sighed, shaking his head. "If only there was a legal procedure to emancipate myself from THAT."

"No kidding," I responded. "I'll be back!"

I stomped up the stairs, agitated that I was having to deal with this, angry that Melanie had said something so mean to Sam, and even more angry that Melanie was plastered, and upstairs, doing god knows what! I looked around nervously. Where could they be? I started walking around, poking my head in bedroom doors, fingers crossed that Mr. and Mrs. Gossamer, April's parents, wouldn't find me poking about. I'd met them several times, and they liked me, but that would change if they thought I was nosy!

I opened one of the guest bedroom doors, and quickly shut it back, rolling my eyes. Well, I found them! Just wish I hadn't! Now I was even angrier! They were drunk and making out upstairs in the guest bedroom of the Gossamers' house! This would not fly! I took a deep breath, before flinging the door open.

"Alright, what the hell?" I shouted, shutting the door and crossing my arms over my chest. "Are you serious, Melanie?"

"Carly!" Melanie slurred, sitting up, and I rolled my eyes to see her in only her strapless bra and underwear, shoes still on, while Emily was only in her underwear. "What's up?" I didn't like the way she was looking at me, but I quickly brushed it aside.

"I heard what you said to Sam," I replied. "First of all, you're completely off! Sam is nothing like your mother! She's an amazing person!"

"So I keep hearing," Melanie replied, getting off the bed. "Sweet Sam. Such a good person. That's definitely different from the words that used to get tossed around."

"Yeah, until she got with Freddie," I replied. "They're good for each other. She's in love."

"Yes, Freddie shaped her and molded her into the person he wanted her to be. How romantic!" she cooed, and I rolled my eyes.

"Uh, Freddie was nuts about her before she changed, if you'll recall! Remember, you kissing him, supposedly to move things along between the two of them? Because they were in love? You supported this whole thing in the beginning, Mel? What happened?"

She shrugged. "I don't like the person Sam has turned into."

"Yeah, because she's better than you now!" I snapped. "Look at you, Melanie. You're a mess."

She snorted. "You're such a prude, Carly. You can't handle alternative sexuality, can you? Just typical, average, normal sex, with your typical, average, normal boyfriend."

"For your information, we have amazing sex!" I replied. "And it's fiance, not boyfriend."

She laughed. "Like that'll last. You know, it's too bad that you're so boring. Because you and I could have had a lot of fun..." She started to walk toward me, and I backed against the door nervously. She kept looking at me like she wanted to eat me alive, and I crossed my arms over my chest self-consciously.

"Melanie..." I warned. "What the hell are you doing?"

"We could have some fun now," she replied. "You, me, and Emily. You'd like that, wouldn't you, Em?"

"I dunno, Mel," Emily said. "I'm not really comfortable with the whole three-way thing."

"Oh, you'll love it!" Melanie snapped, glaring at her, and Emily just sat there, silent.

"I guess Sam was right about you constantly having to be in control, Mel," I observed. "But I'm definitely gonna pass."

"You kissed my sister, why not me?"

"That was different," I replied. "It was spin the bottle, and we were only doing it to rile up Brad and Freddie! It's not the same thing. I'm straight."

"You're not curious?" she replied, still walking toward me, and I shook my head.

"I'm curious about what's wrong with your brain, but I am not curious about sleeping with you. You need help, Mel."

"Why, because I'm a lesbian?" she snapped. "How close-minded are you?"

"I don't care who you go to bed with, that's not my business!" I replied. "You need help because you're miserable! And broken! And you're angry because your sister's not like that anymore! But you, trying to make her miserable, by saying things to hurt her? That's fucked up, Mel, and you know it!"

"Yes, I am fucked up! I've had like eight glasses of champagne! I'm trashed!" she replied with a laugh. "I am beyond fixing. Lucky Sam for finding someone who could fix her, but I'm beyond repair. I know that. I'm fucked up, just like my mother. And there's no way that Sam could have escaped that either. It's an act!"

"It's not an act, you spoiled, petulant little child!" I yelled. "Your sister is happy, and healthy! Get over it! Quit being jealous! Go find a shrink! If you want to stay in her life! Because it's not gonna happen otherwise!"

"Why, is big bad Freddie gonna stop me?" she hissed, and I shook my head.

"No. I'm gonna stop you. Because she's my best friend."

"She's my sister," Melanie said with a shrug.

"Only by blood," I replied. "But before Freddie came along? I was the one who bandaged her up! I was the one who let her cry on my shoulder! I was the one who she came to with her problems, not you! I'm closer to her than you'll ever be, Melanie, and it kills you!"

"It wasn't my fault that I got sent away," she replied, her words slurring a bit.

"No, it wasn't!" I agreed. "Not at all! What happened to you wasn't fair, but neither was what happened to Sam! Both of you deserve to be happy, and leave your pasts behind, but just because Sam's already doing it, and you're not, it doesn't give you the right to try and pull her back!"

"You're pretty sexy when you're angry, Carly," Melanie responded, brushing over the issue, and I took a deep breath. My back was against the door, I had no place to go, and I didn't know how much good it would do, me punching a drunk girl, if she came at me. "I like your dress."

"Melanie..." I warned. "Back off."

"It would probably look better on the floor though, don't you think?"

"Melanie, stop!" Emily cried, and Melanie turned around and gave her a death glare.

"Emily, be quiet! I'm tired of hearing your mouth!"

"Is that how you treat your girlfriend?" I asked pointedly. "Seriously?"

"You really wanna see how I treat my girlfriends?" Melanie asked, grinning mischievously. "Lay down and I'll show you."

"You're sick!" I cried. "You are absolutely out of control, Melanie! Just stop it!"

"Just stop what?" she replied. "Why don't you stop being a prude and live a little!"

"If living a little means getting involved with someone as fucked up as you, I'd rather die!" I shouted.

"Oh shut up, just hold still," she replied, lurching forward as she tried to kiss me, and I moved to the side, pushing her away.

"Back the hell off!" I screamed. "I have never beat anyone's ass before, but I will start right now! You need help!"

"No, I don't need help, Carly. You know what I need?"

I rolled my eyes. "What, Melanie? What do you need?"

"I need..." she started off sounding confident and flippant, but then a horrified look crossed her face. "I need a bucket."

"Oh, god!" I cried. "Don't you dare throw up in here, Mel! I swear to god!"

Melanie ignored me, running to the closet and flinging the door open, and I closed my eyes, leaning against the door, as I heard her vomit all over the inside of the closet.

"Oh my god, that's digusting," I whined. "April's parents are gonna kill us." I opened my eyes, looking at Emily. "Get dressed."

She looked over at Melanie, frowning. "But..."

"Emily, come on," I said gently. "I know I don't know you very well, but it's pretty obvious Melanie doesn't treat you the way you should be treated. So get up. Get dressed. Come downstairs."

She nodded. "Okay. I'm pretty buzzed though."

"Can you stand up straight, and not puke?"

"Yeah," she said softly, and I shrugged.

"Good enough. Come on."

I waited for Emily to get dressed, with Melanie still puking in the closet, and I let out an agitated sigh, before allowing Emily to put her arm around me and helping her walk down the hall. I'd go find Spencer and we'd try to sort out this mess.

Freddie was going to be pissed, and Brad was going to be even more pissed that she had tried to move in on me. But I didn't know whether Sam would be hurt or angry.

Even though Angry Sam could be a pain to deal with, Hurt Sam broke my heart, so I hoped to God she'd be angry.

~*Freddie*~

I spotted Carly coming down the staircase with Emily, which was perplexing at best, and worrisome at worst, so I left Sam, Brad, and Spencer where they were standing to meet Carly at the bottom of the stairs.

"What happened?" I asked, and she shook her head.

"Melanie has problems. Emily's a little drunk, she needs to just sleep this off."

"Okay..." I responded slowly. "Where's Mel?"

"She's...uh..." Carly trailed off, looking at the floor. "She's ralphing. In the closet. Of the Gossamers' guest room."

"What?" I exclaimed. "She threw up?"

"After she called me a prude, called Brad boring and average, called you a controlling asshole, and then said that Sam was just as fucked up as she was."

I rolled my eyes. "Well, isn't she sweet? And Sam's supposed to be the mean one?"

"Oh yeah, did I mention she tried to kiss me?" Carly exclaimed. "When were you guys gonna tell me that Melanie had a thing for me?"

"Well, we didn't want you to feel uncomfortable," I offered, and Carly rolled her eyes.

"Yeah, that worked perfectly! Flawless plan, Freddie! Absolutely flawless!" she snapped. "I gotta get Spencer on this before the Gossamers find out. They'll hate me forever!"

"Yeah, and I don't want to be known as the brother-in-law of the girl who threw up at the Christmas Eve party! Bye bye Cisco internship!"

Carly stared at me. "You got an internship with Cisco?"

"Not if we don't get this handled, Carly!" I exclaimed. "This is bad!"

"You think?" she replied. "Oh my god! Okay, I'll get Spencer. Here, take Emily!" She pulled Emily's arm off her shoulder, draping it over mine.

"What?" I replied. "Me? Why? What am I supposed to do?"

"I just wanna go lay down," Emily said softly. "Melanie...I don't like when she hits on other girls in front of me," she mumbled.

"Ohh...kay. Well...you can lay down in my backseat. But do not throw up!"

"I won't," she replied.

Sam walked over, looking at me worriedly. "What's going on? Where's my sister?"

"Sweetheart, just let me and Carly deal with this, okay?"

She shook her head. "No way. Where's my sister?"

"She's upstairs, but trust me, you don't want to deal with her right now."

"She's my sister!" Sam snapped. "I have to deal with her!"

"You don't want to right now," Emily said wistfully, and Sam glared at her.

"What do you know?"

"I know how she is when she drinks. And you don't want to right now."

"Okay, get...do something with her!" Sam snapped, gesturing to Emily. "Before people start noticing!"

"I'm working on it, baby!" I responded. "And Spencer's handling Melanie!"

"Spencer? I don't think so!" Sam responded. "I'm going."

"Sam! After everything she said to you?" I asked as she headed for the stairs. She turned around, shrugging.

"She's family, Freddie. She's the only family I got."

I shook my head. "Not true."

"Then who else is there?"

"Oh I dunno. Carly, Brad. Me! The baby in your stomach right now!" I sighed. "Just let it go, baby! It's Christmas Eve, I don't want you upset!"

"And I don't want her upset either! I'll be right back!"

"Sam!" I yelled.

"I'll be right back!" she said again. I just groaned, watching her walk up the stairs, and a moment later Spencer came rushing up behind her, muttering under his breath.

I just sighed, taking a deep breath, trying to keep it all together. "Come on, Em. Let's get you to the car."

"I'll get her coat," Carly called, and I just nodded. Carly came back a moment later, throwing Emily's coat over her, and we walked her out to the car. Carly opened the door to the backseat, and Emily crawled in, laying down, and I threw her coat over her, before shutting the door, staring at the ground, my jaw twitching back and forth angrily.

"You're pissed," Carly commented.

"I am so outside the realm of pissed right now, Carly," I gruffed. "Let's review! First of all, Sam is upstairs, taking care of her drunk, sick sister, who just hurt her in a million different ways saying that shit to her, you didn't even get to enjoy your first night of being engaged without drama popping up, there is a drunk lesbian passed out in my backseat that I barely even know, and on top of everything, it's CHRISTMAS EVE!" I yelled, pacing back and forth. "This is bullshit!"

"Freddie, calm down! You have to calm down!"

"I can't calm down!" I yelled. "I don't want to deal with this! I knew it was a bad idea, her coming here! I never should've given it the okay!"

"Freddie, you can't control everything!" Carly responded. "You just have to deal with it, and.."

"I don't want to deal with it!" I shouted. "It's easier controlling everything! I hate dealing with shit!"

"I know you hate dealing with shit, trust me!" Carly replied with a roll of her eyes. "But you can't control everything that happens, it's impossible! You gotta get over this control thing! Sam has, why are you holding onto it?"

"Because if I don't, everything will fall apart!" I said frantically. "It's all hanging by a THREAD, Carly! All of it!"

"No, it's not!" she replied. "Freddie!" she put her hands on my shoulders, shaking me. "You can't keep living like this! You're gonna worry yourself into a heart attack!"

"I know, I know!" I responded, trying to calm down. "But fuck, Carly! It's so damn hard! You know how hard it is for me to let go! I can't!"

"I know you can't, Freddie, but you HAVE TO! You have to loosen up, before you just snap one day!" she replied. "Shit happens, man! We can't control everything that happens to us, haven't you figured that out yet? Every time we think we have a handle on something, it has a way of turning around and showing us that we don't! You just have to accept it, grit your teeth, and get through it! It'll be okay!"

I just sighed, leaning against the car. "I am so sick of all of this drama, Carly!"

"Yeah, me too!" she replied. "I hate it! But it's life! Just...Freddie, relax! Think about Sam. And the baby. Good things!"

I shook my head. "Don't you get it? That freaks me out even worse! If I can't control mundane shit like her sister flipping out, how am I gonna be able to handle a kid? Or supporting a family? I'm losing it, Carly! It is slipping the fuck away, and there's nothing I can do to stop it!"

"You can't control what happens, Freddie," she said again. "But you can control this."

I sighed. "Control what?"

"This! You can control how you react! I thought you were getting better about this! But you've just been covering it up! Does Sam know you're freaking out like this?"

"I...no," I admitted. "I mean, a little but...I don't want her to know. I don't want her to worry. I hate when she worries. I hate when she gets upset! It makes me feel like I can't...like...ugh. I just know I'm gonna end up fucking all of this up!"

"You're not gonna fuck anything up, Freddie! If there's one thing I know, it's that! You never fuck up! You're the fucking golden boy, man! You're good!" she responded. "Just relax, okay?"

I took a deep breath, nodding. "Okay. I'll try to relax."

"I'm gonna have to tell Sam about this," she said, and a horrified look crossed my face.

"Carly! I just told you I don't like it when she worries!"

"And she doesn't like it when you have full-blown panic attacks either, Freddie! She's the only one who knows how to calm you down! So let her calm you down!"

I shook my head. "You don't get it. It's my job to take care of her!"

"And it's her job to take care of you! It's a two way street! You guys always tell me that, about me and Brad! Well, practice what you preach! Let Sam take this one! Even if she's pregnant, she's still Sam, tough as nails, and down to handle whatever. So let her handle this, okay?"

"Alright," I replied. "I'll try."

"Good," she responded. "Okay, Brad and I will take Melanie back. You guys have Emily. I think we need to get out of here soon, before we totally turn this place into a circus."

"Yeah," I said. "I guess it was just stupid to think we could go one night without a major issue popping up."

"Probably," she agreed. "Now, I'm gonna go inside, my boobs are freezing!"

I laughed. "Maybe if you covered them up..." I teased, and she rolled her eyes.

"Yeah, yeah. Very funny. You know your wife picked this dress out for me!"

"Why does that not surprise me?" I responded.

"Yeah, she forgets that my cannons aren't the same caliber as hers," Carly said with a laugh.

"Very nice analogy, Shay."

"Why thank you," she replied, doing a little curtsy. "Look, just stay out here with Emily, we'll be back."

"Fine, then grab my coat."

"I'll send Brad out with it, I gotta find out what's going on," she responded, before walking back inside.

I grumbled to myself, leaning against the car. Carly was right, I did have a control issue, and I did need to let it go. But even though Carly was right, Melanie was wrong. I tried controlling situations, not people, but even so, even that was beginning to bite me in the ass, and I had to get over it, and fast.

~*Sam*~

I sighed as I crawled into bed, kicking my shoes off. God, what a horrible night! What a horrible Christmas Eve! From now on, Freddie and I were staying in, parties be damned! Yeah, so we were shutting out the rest of the world, but who cared? The rest of the world was just stupid, as far as I was concerned.

"Worst night ever," Freddie grunted as he laid down next to me.

"Yeah, it was pretty bad," I agreed. "But Mel and Emily are asleep, thank god. You know she gets out of control when she drinks, she'll probably be fine in the morning."

"Spencer was pretty pissed," he commented, and I nodded.

"Forget about all that shit for a second," I replied, and he looked over at me wordlessly. "Carly told me you had a melt down outside?"

"That's a little dramatic," he said with a roll of his eyes, and I just sighed.

"Freddie...do you trust me?"

"Of course I do. Why would I not?"

I shook my head. "You don't act like it. Every time you get like this, you won't talk to me, why?"

"I don't want you to worry."

"Well, I'm gonna worry anyway. And what, you think I can't handle it?"

"I...I don't know, Sam."

"Baby...what am I gonna have to do to make you okay with not being able to control what happens in our lives?"

"I don't know," he said again. "I just worry so much when things go wrong. And even when things aren't going wrong, I worry that they may go wrong anyway! I...god, I wish I knew what to do!"

"Talk to me!" I replied. "Tell me when you get like this! Please! I don't want you stressed out like this, baby! It's not healthy!" I crawled over to him. "Sit up." He did, and I scooted in behind him, rubbing his shoulders. "Baby," I said, kissing his neck. "I love you so much. And I think you're brilliant. And you're so strong, and capable, and amazing." He groaned, enjoying the feel of my hands massaging his muscles, finally relaxing a bit. "But no matter how brilliant, how strong, and how amazing you are, there is no way on earth you could possibly control everything. Shit happens. Life happens. Just let go, baby."

"I'm trying," he whispered. "I really am."

"I know," I responded. "You're trying really hard, aren't you?"

He nodded, and I kissed the side of his neck again.

"Try just a little bit harder, okay?"

"Okay. For you."

I shook my head. "No, do it for you. So you can actually have fun for a change. Remember fun?"

"I have fun," he responded indignantly, and I laughed.

"When? Balancing the checkbook? Shooting for iCarly? School?"

"I like doing those things!" he argued, making me roll my eyes.

"You may like doing them, but it doesn't make it fun, baby!"

"Uh, we have plenty of fun," he said pointedly, and I flicked his earlobe.

"Fun with our clothes ON, nub!"

"Alright, fine, you have a point. So...fun. How do we go about that?"

"Give me some time to think about it, I'll figure it out. But hey, we're hanging out at Spencer and April's all day, there's bound to be some fun there!"

"True," he said with a nod. "But with Spencer...fun is always kinda ominous..."

"Yeah, you're right," I responded. "But it's worth a shot."

"Yeah," he said.

"Hey, baby?" I asked.

"What?" he turned to look at me, and I kissed him softly.

"Merry Christmas."

He rolled his eyes. "So far, not so merry, baby."

I shook my head. "Nope. I have you. As long as I have that, all my Christmases are good. I love you."

He just gave me a smile, kissing me again. "I love you too, Sam. More than anything."


	19. Chapter 19: Consequence

**Chapter Nineteen:  
><strong>**Consequence**

~*Sam*~

This was not how I wanted to start off my Christmas first thing in the morning, I noted to myself as I trudged up the stairs to the studio, but it had to be done. Freddie was still asleep, and that's how I wanted it. He'd had a pretty rough night. Carly hadn't gone into descriptive detail of how he'd flipped out outside of April's parents' house, but she'd told me enough to alarm me. I'd always known he'd had a little bit of an issue with not being able to control things that happened, but I hadn't known he'd been keeping this much buried inside. That was why he was always so rigorous about studying, the business, everything. He had to maintain control of something, or he'd just go crazy. And I'd let him, for a long time, because I thought it helped the matter, but it was beginning to occur to me that maybe that was the wrong way to go about things. Giving him free reign to flip out was not going to help him, so I was going to have to force him to back off a little.

Just not in the bedroom, I thought with a wry grin. We both enjoyed that way, way too much for that to ever happen, but I was going to have a long talk with Brad and Carly about taking some of the business strain off his back. Maybe not handling the taxes, because if those slipped up we'd all be screwed, but the rest of it? We could definitely take some more responsibility for ourselves, and not let Freddie run everything, because it was going to end up driving the poor boy insane.

But that wasn't my concern right now, at least not while Freddie was still unconscious. Right now I was worried about my sister. I was really concerned about her, the way she behaved last night. I'd always thought she held things together pretty well, but bits and pieces of the truth had begun to slip out, especially the way she acted towards Brad, Carly, and Freddie...and then with the drinking. They say the truth comes out when you're drunk, and it had definitely come out last night.

I didn't even bother to knock, I just flung the studio door open, plopping down on the inflatable mattress next to my sister.

"Merry Christmas!" I hollered, and Melanie jumped a little, her hands flying to her head.

"Oh god, not so loud!" she said, giving me an evil look. "What is wrong with you?"

"Hung over?" I asked with a smile. "Probably because you drank like two bottles worth of champagne last night!"

She glared at me. "What? No I didn't."

"Melanie!" I scolded her. "You completely lost your shit last night!"

"I did?" she asked softly, and I nodded.

"You must have blacked out."

"Must have," she grumbled. "What happened?"

I sighed. "A lot. Wanna get up and talk about it?"

"Not really," she responded. "But I guess I don't have a choice, do I?"

"Nope," I replied. "You said some really hurtful shit to me last night, you know that?"

"Whatever I said, I didn't mean it. You know that, Sam. I was just drunk."

I shook my head. "See, that's the thing. I think you did mean it. So we're gonna have a talk. Most of what you said was completely off base, but there was one thing you've said a few times since you've been here that got me thinking."

"And what's that?"

"I HAVE lost my edge," I replied. "But that's going to change from now on. The days of soft Sam are over. I'm going back to running shit around here, starting with you."

"Oh god," she groaned, laying back. "I didn't mean it. I really, really didn't mean it."

"Yeah, you did," I replied. "Now get your ass out of bed, let your girlfriend sleep, and follow me downstairs. I'll make you some coffee. I'll even wake Brad up to make the patented hangover cure."

Her eyes widened. "The hangover cure? No way. I've heard horror stories about it, and knowing how much Brad hates me, he'll probably throw something in there to make it worse!"

"No he won't, because I'll beat his ass. And he wouldn't hate you so much if you weren't such a bitch to him!"

"I can't help it," she stated with a roll of her eyes.

"Yes you can. And I'll help you help it!" I responded. "Freddie and Brad and Carly are the three most important people in my life right now, if you can't handle that, then I can't have you in my life, Mel. Take that how you want it. It doesn't change how I feel about you. But they're here...you're...everywhere else."

Melanie just sighed, and I put my hand on her shoulder. "Get up, Mel. We gotta talk about this."

"There's nothing to talk about."

"Oh, there's TONS to talk about. Now get up!" I replied.

She groaned, before finally rising to her feet, and I stood up too, both of us heading downstairs.

"Where's your hubby?"

"He's asleep," I replied. "You know, he made some really important contacts last night, with really important people. If he plays his cards right, he's not going to have much difficulty finding a job after he gets done with school. But the way you behaved, if people would have figured out that he was connected to you, that could have really messed shit up!"

"So this is about Freddie?" she replied. "Like everything else in your life?"

I rolled my eyes. "No, Melanie, this is about you. If you keep acting like you're acting, you're going to alienate EVERYONE around you. The same way I did. I'm surprised that Carly put up with me for as long as she did, not to mention Freddie...I treated him like absolute shit back in the day, you know that?"

"I'm aware."

"So maybe you're not going around hitting people, but the getting wasted, saying little snide comments, hitting people where their weaknesses are concerned...you're pushing people away. Why?"

"I'm not pushing people away! And I'm not hitting people where they're weak!"

"Really?" I asked with a raise of my eyebrows. "Because you called Brad an alcoholic, though thankfully not to his face, Freddie a control freak, Carly a prude, and you told me I could never be a mother, or a wife!"

An shocked expression planted itself on Mel's face. "I did?"

"Yeah! You really fucking hurt me, Melanie!" I responded. "I mean...you know how I worry about...well, turning into Mom!"

"You're not gonna turn into Mom," Melanie said softly. "I was wrong, okay?"

I nodded. "Yeah, you were. I'm a lot of things, Mel, but a bad wife isn't one of them, and I will do everything in my power to make sure I'm not a bad mother!"

"I know," she replied. "I guess I'm just jealous...that you have all these people that care about you, and your future's set."

"You can have that too, Melanie," I replied. "What about your career in fashion? You're never gonna get there if you keep acting like the way you did last night! Does it happen a lot?"

"Does what happen a lot?" she replied, and I rolled my eyes.

"You drinking until you black out!"

"No...I mean...not really...yeah...I mean, I don't black out all the time, but it does happen frequently."

My eyes widened. "Mel..."

"What?"

"You call BRAD an alcoholic, but he doesn't black out! In the three years I've known the kid, I've only seen him get black out drunk a handful of times, and you're telling me that you get that way...frequently? Seriously? With our family history, you can't DO that! You're headed for a problem, and you know it!"

I sighed. Well this was some bullshit. My sister and the guy I thought of like a brother, both of them had drinking problems. But now that Mel's had come to light, Brad's didn't seem so bad! But, now that I thought about it, there could be an up side to this. For one thing, maybe if both of them realized they had the same problem, maybe they'd stop being at each other's throats every time they saw each other. Brilliant, Sam! Absolutely brilliant!

I walked over to the coffee pot and quickly got a fresh pot brewing, before turning back to my sister. "I'm gonna get Brad up so he can pull out that patented hangover cure for you."

Melanie groaned. "Thanks, but I'd rather not deal with Brad this early."

"Yeah, well, maybe you should, Mel! I know you hate the guy, but he's dealing with his...fondness for the bottle...pretty well. Maybe you should listen to what he says."

Melanie crossed her arms over her chest and smirked at me. "You really think he's going to respond well to you jerking him out of bed at nine AM, away from his fiance, to give ME advice? Doubtful. Very doubtful."

I shook my head. "Don't care. Like I said, tough Sam is back in action. This place has gone to shit, and I'm gonna pick up the slack."

"We are ALL doomed then," Melanie moaned, and I just grinned at her.

"You're right about that. So I'm gonna go get your arch-nemesis, force him to create the elixir of power, and then I'm going back to my fortress of doom to reconvene with my sexy sidekick."

Melanie rolled her eyes. "Nice comic book references."

~*Brad*~

"Just because Sam forced you down here doesn't mean I want to talk to you," Melanie snapped, and I rolled my eyes.

"Likewise," I responded. "You know, I really don't know what's gotten into your sister this morning, but I have to say I'm a little afraid, so I'm not gonna cross her today. So you're gonna sit there, you're gonna shut up, and you're gonna listen to what I have to say! Oh yeah, and you're gonna drink this."

Melanie peered at the glass I'd sat in front of her carefully, as if it were a bug. "What the hell is that?"

"The miracle hangover cure all," I replied. "Drink it."

"It looks like mud," Melanie said with a grimace, and I shrugged.

"Yeah, that's the secret ingredient."

"WHAT?"

"I'm kidding, you moron. Just drink it. As much as I do like to see you in pain, I promise this will actually make you feel better."

Melanie gave me a withering stare, her arms crossed over her chest. "How do I know you're telling the truth?"

"Because Sam wants me to talk to you, and that'll be awful hard to do if you're throwing up all over the place! If I don't do what she says, she'll kill me, and probably tell Freddie what really happened to his extended edition of Galaxy Wars!"

"What happened to his extended edition of Galaxy Wars?" she asked.

"It uh...was...commandeered. By...rebels. But that is utterly beside the point, Melanie! Drink that shit!"

"I would if it didn't look like shit!" she responded.

I rolled my eyes. "Alright, that's it. I'm gonna go bang on Sam's door and tell her that you refused my hangover cure, after I painstakingly dragged myself out of bed to make it for you, and in case you forgot, I hate you! This is actually pretty decent on my part, not to mention a damn Christmas miracle, now DRINK IT!"

"Ugh, fine!" she replied with a roll of her eyes, picking up the glass and tentatively lifting it to your lips.

"It's easier if you hold your nose," I offered, and she stared at me in disbelief for a second, before rolling her eyes, grabbing her nose, and chugging the whole thing, slamming the glass on the counter and making a disgusted sigh.

"Oh my god, that is absolutely HORRIBLE!" she gasped, gagging a bit.

"Yeah, well, give it a few minutes, I promise you'll feel better," I said with a wave of my hand. "Now, I wanna get this whole conversation out of the way as quickly as humanly possible, and then go back to bed, so sit there and shut up!"

Melanie glared at me wordlessly, so I continued speaking.

"I know all about how your mom is. She's white trash, mean-spirited, abusive, and hopelessly addicted to every substance known to man."

"Hey!" Melanie cried, offended, and I shrugged.

"Do you deny it?"

Melanie rolled her eyes, sulking.

"Exactly. So, knowing all of that, why the hell would you pick up something that has obviously done her in? With the drinking? Seriously, Melanie? Do you want to end up white trash like her?"

"I might ask you the same question," Melanie replied with a raise of her eyebrows. "You drink, like your family, you're getting married young, like your parents, and if I were to guess correctly, I'd say you want a whole bunch of kids too, right?"

"I..." I stumbled over my words, slightly taken aback by Melanie's comments. "We're not talking about me!"

"Touche?"

"Yeah, touche," I grumbled. "Look, I'm making an effort to chill on the whole drinking bit, Melanie! Because it bothers Carly. And Sam and Freddie too! It bothers them because they care about me! And while frankly, I really don't give a shit about you, because I think you're a hoity-toity brat, for some inexplicable reason they care about you too, so you need to knock it the hell off. Hold your shit together, Melanie! Especially while you're here in our damn apartment!"

"People who live in glass houses..." she said, smirking, and I just scowled.

"Stop doing that! We're not talking about me, dammit! I swear to god, how can Sam be so freakin' cool, and you're...you?"

"Gee, thanks," she replied with a roll of her eyes. "You only say that because you secretly have a thing for Sam."

I couldn't help but laugh. "Really? We're gonna go beat that horse again? Let me explain something to you, Melanie." I leaned across the counter to glare at her. "If I wanted your sister, I would have tapped that years ago. I know it's a hard concept for you to grasp, you know, that I'm not a total prick, but I actually care about Sam, and not in a romantic way! She's one of my best friends! We get each other."

"What do you mean you get each other?"

"Well, we're both card-carrying members of the Fucked Up Family Society, for starters!" I replied. "Why do you keep changing the subject back to me? To deflect off your short-comings?"

"I don't have short-comings!" she responded indignantly, and I just harrumphed.

"Melanie, everybody has short-comings. I have them. Carly has them. Sam and Freddie have them."

"Really, like what?" she asked.

"Well..." I trailed off, frowning. "Knock it off! We are talking about YOU! You know, I think this is how you managed to convince everyone you were perfect for so damn long. You're an expert at taking the focus off yourself while still being in the spotlight. That's a tough thing to do."

"What, so you think you know me now?" she snapped, and I nodded.

"I think we're a lot more alike than you think," I observed. "Probably why we hate each other so much."

"That, and..."

"And I'm with Carly?" I responded with a grin, and she just leered at me. "So how long have you had a thing for my fiance?"

"Ugh, the f word," she said with a grimace. "And I dunno. Awhile."

"Don't take it personally, Melanie," I replied with a smile. "You're just missing the necessary parts."

"What, like your...parts are a lot better?" she replied.

"My parts are fucking phenomenal, thank you very much," I stated with a grin. "But enough about that. Okay, extreme Cliffs notes version. You plus alcohol equals bad equals you embarrass everyone equals your sister hates you. Got it?"

Melanie just rolled her eyes, and I sighed. "Not to mention you'll end up fucking your whole life up, and I'm sure you don't want that. You don't want to fry your organs before you get into fashion and start banging the supermodels, do you?"

"Well...no," she said with a smile. "I'm kind of looking forward to that."

"Can't say I blame you," I replied. "Alright, I'm out of things to say. It's too early. I'm going back to bed. Think you can try to cool it on the passive-aggressive bullshit while you're here? And the drinky-drinky?"

"I'll try," she replied. "But that doesn't mean I'm gonna be nice to you. Just because you talked to me."

I laughed. "You think just because your sister threatened me with certain death to offer a few pearls of wisdom means I'm not gonna lord my super hot fiance over your head and make fun of you every chance I get? Fat chance!"

She rolled her eyes. "Pleasure doing business with you, Brad. Thanks for the hangover concoction."

"And with you," I replied, grabbing the two coffee cups I'd filled off the counter. "It's not a big deal. It's pretty simple. Most people don't realize how much good raw eggs can do..."

"RAW EGG?" she exclaimed, and I just saluted her with one of the cups.

"Feliz navidad!"

~*Freddie*~

"Baby, wake up," I heard Sam whisper in my ear, and then I became aware of her running her hand up and down my chest. I rolled over to face her, my eyes still closed, and I still managed to find her mouth, kissing her softly, one hand tangling through her long blonde hair.

"Please tell me last night was just a nightmare," I muttered after I stopped kissing her.

"Sorry, baby. It happened. But don't worry, I'm dealing with it."

My eyes popped open at that, giving her an incredulous look.

"It's Christmas morning, you shouldn't be dealing with drama."

She shrugged. "So? It doesn't matter. I dealt with Melanie, and I even woke Brad up and made him fix her one of his hangover concoctions."

"You what?" I exclaimed. "What kind of witchcraft did you pull to convince him to do that? Please don't tell me you sacrificed an animal or something."

"Nah, just Gibby," she cracked, and I smirked.

"Okay. Hope you cleaned up the mess. I'm going back to sleep."

"No!" she cried, rolling me onto my back and straddling me. "It's Christmas, you weenie!"

"Wow, really?" I asked, looking up at her, amused, and she just nodded, smiling a bit, before leaning down to kiss me.

"I love you. I hope you know that."

"Oh, I do, baby," I replied. "And I hope you know how much I love you."

"Mmhmm," she responded. "I can feel it. Right now."

I rolled my eyes. "As much as you want to take credit for that, first thing in the morning, I have no control over it, and you know that."

She laughed, before leaning down to kiss me again, grinding down on me, and I groaned a little, my hands going to her hips.

"Doesn't mean I can't take advantage of it, right?" she responded, and I nodded.

"I would love for you to take advantage of me," I growled, and she kissed me fiercely, pressing against me, and I automatically went for the hem of her shirt, moving to pull it over her head, running my hands over the soft skin of her back after she'd pulled it off. I tried to roll us over, but she just pushed me back down.

"Not so fast, nub," she responded, before devouring my mouth with hers. "Gonna be awful hard for me to take advantage of you if you're the one in control."

"Thought you liked it when I was in control," I responded, lifting my head to kiss and lick at her beautiful breasts. She whimpered a bit, desperately trying to regain her bearings, but I could tell she was having a difficult time with it. She always did when my mouth was on her skin.

"I do. But not today. Now shut up, lay back, and don't move until I'm done with you," she growled, her hands going to the back of my head and kissing me roughly, before getting off me to yank my pajama pants down, taking me into her mouth.

"Damn, baby," I hissed, "What's got you so worked up today?"

"Lots of things," she responded. "Now shut up."

I could only moan in response as my sexy wife continued to have her way with me.

~*Carly*~

Despite everything that had happened last night, I was actually in a pretty good mood. That probably had a lot to do with the way Brad had woken me up, involving his mouth, but also, it was Christmas, so I guess that helped too.

The plan for the day was to open presents, then go over to Spencer and April's and hang out for a few hours. I was pretty sure Freddie and Sam had to make an appearance over at Freddie's mom's at some point, but that was their deal, not mine. As much as Marissa had managed to calm down over the years, she still got on my nerves sometimes.

The one thing I was not looking forward to dealing with was Melanie. It was going to be incredibly awkward now between us, after last night's incident, and honestly, I really didn't want much to do with her, not because she had tried to pull a move on me, just because her overall behavior absolutely disgusted me. Sam had been through just as much as she had, and she didn't behave like that. I just didn't think Melanie had much of an excuse.

But I had to put all of that out of my mind right now. I was pretty excited to see what Brad had gotten me, and I was excited to give him my presents too. Sam and I had our little photoshoot session, and it was a little bit awkward at first, but I'd loosened up, the photos had turned out great, and I was really look forward to seeing Brad's reaction. Okay, so I hadn't exactly gotten the nerve together to do a "video" like Sam had done for Freddie, but I figured this would be good enough, and I may change my mind later, who knows?

"Are Sam and Freddie planning on joining us any time soon?" I asked Brad, who shrugged.

"Eh, give it a few minutes. Sounds like they're enjoying themselves," he replied, and I rolled my eyes. "Ahem, Carly. A half hour ago, you sounded like you were enjoying yourself a lot." He nudged me, giving me a teasing smile, and I blushed a little.

"Shut up, you know I was," I responded, kissing him. "So you wanna see what I got you?"

"Uh, yeah!" he replied. "Make with the presents, woman!"

"You too!" I replied.

"Uh, I didn't get you anything, just the ring," he said stoically, bursting into laughter when he saw the disappointed look on my face. "Aw, babe, I'm just joking, of course I got you more stuff."

"Oh," I said with a smile. "Okay. Well, before Freddie and Sam get out here, where's your laptop?"

"Upstairs," he responded quizzically. "Why?"

"Go get it," I replied. "Hurry up."

"Okayyy," he replied. "Be right back."

With that, he headed upstairs, and I quickly pulled out the little box that held the CD I'd burned of my pictures, waiting impatiently on the couch for him to get back. He did, a few moments later, laptop in hand.

"So why do I need my laptop?"

"Here," I replied, thrusting the CD into his hands. "Open it."

He tore the paper off and opened the box. "It's a CD..." he trailed off.

"Yeah. Don't you want to see what's on it?"

"Uh, sure," he replied, sliding the disc into the CD drive and waiting for to load. It did a moment later, and he clicked on the file, his jaw dropping. "Holy...hell..."

"You like?" I asked, kissing his neck.

"Oh my god, babydoll..." he groaned as he looked over the photos. "Oh my god."

I giggled. "So that's a yes?"

"That's a hell yes," he responded. "You're so sexy...Carly...wow." He grinned. "I like that thing you're wearing."

"Keep clicking," I replied, and he did, going through them, and his jaw dropped.

"So what do you like better, me wearing the thing, or not wearing the thing?"

"Uh...duh!" he laughed. "Holy shit." His eyes narrowed, and he turned to look at me. "Who took these photos?"

"Sam," I said simply, and his eyes widened.

"Oh god, that's hot," he replied. I just laughed.

"I thought, since you deleted your entire stash for me, I'd give you a new one."

"This is so much better," he responded, shaking his head. "Oh my god."

"A man of few words," I teased, and he gave me a mischievous smile.

"When I get done with you later, you won't have any words. Other than 'Oh my god, Brad!' and variations of that."

"I look forward to it, baby."

Right then, the door to Freddie and Sam's room opened, and Sam came bounding out, happy and full of energy. Freddie was a little bit slow to follow, but he had a goofy look on his face like he was worn out, and damn happy about it.

"Merry fucking Christmas, people!" Sam crowed.

"Emphasis on the middle part?" I teased, and she just nodded.

"Nice bite mark, dude," Brad observed. "You may wanna cover that up."

"Eh, later," Freddie replied, flopping down into a chair, Sam sitting in his lap.

"Did you show him?" Sam asked me, and I nodded.

"He likes."

"He loves," Brad responded with a growl.

"Loves what?" Freddie replied.

"His new porn collection."

"What?" Freddie asked, his brow furrowing. "I'm confused."

"Don't worry about it, dude," Brad replied with a wave of his hand. "By the way, Sam, nice job with the photography."

"Photography?" Freddie asked Sam, and she just shrugged, grinning a bit. "Oh. Damn. That's kinda hot."

"It's incredibly hot!" Brad responded, and I just smiled, happy that the photos went over well.

"Hey nub, where's my presents?" Sam asked Freddie suddenly, poking him, and he just shook his head, laughing a bit.

"Get off me and I'll show you."

"Ugh, always so demanding," Sam fake-grumbled, standing up, allowing Freddie to go retrieve the stuff he'd gotten her, Sam following suit to get his gifts.

"Okay, open this one first," Sam replied, handing him a package, and he tore the paper off, his eyes lighting up.

"Hey, the new remastered Galaxy Wars!" he exclaimed. "Awesome."

"Aw, man," Brad groaned, but Freddie ignored him, turning the DVD over to examine it further.

"Well, I figured since your other copy MYSTERIOUSLY DISAPPEARED," Sam stated, shooting a look over at Brad. "You might like this edition better."

"It's got four hours of interviews with the cast and director!"

"Aw, MAN!" Brad said, his head hanging in defeat. "Why?"

"You know, for such a serious filmmaker, I don't understand how you can't like Galaxy Wars. It's only the greatest movie of all time."

"Uh, no," Brad replied. "Full Metal Jacket."

"That's your military blood talking."

"Yeah, talking to your nerd genes," Brad shot back.

"Moving on!" Sam hollered. "Gimme something to open!"

"Alright, since you asked so nicely," Freddie said sarcastically. Sam just gave him a smile as he handed her an envelope, but then she shot him a look.

"A gift card? Real creative, Fredward."

"Bite your tongue, Mrs. Benson, and just open the damn thing!"

"Fine," she sighed, tearing open the envelope, and her jaw dropped. "Holy shit."

"What?" I asked. "What is it?"

"Oh my god! A YEAR'S membership to the Kansas City Steaks?"

"Yeah, see?" Freddie replied. "You're gonna bitch at me over a year's supply of meat?"

"I take it back," she replied, kissing him. "Oh my god! Not just a year's supply, but a variety pack? T-bones, rib-eyes, sirloin...yeaahhhhh! No iron deficiency for me!"

"Like that could ever happen," Brad said with a laugh, before looking over at me. "Okay, so I know you've been wanting one of these for awhile, and honestly, I'm getting really sick of being serenaded with the ukelele, so..." He sat a large box in front of me, and my eyes widened.

"Is this what I think it is?"

"It is NOT a pony, Carly," he replied, and I rolled my eyes, tearing the paper off and opening the box.

"AAAAAHHHHH!"

"I think she likes it," Freddie said with a laugh.

"Yeah, she always makes that noise when she really, really likes something. Usually happens between the hours of ten and midnight," Brad said with a wiggle of his eyebrows. I ignored them both, continuing to fangirl over the gorgeous guitar laying in front of me.

"Oh my god! Violet sunburst, mother of pearl inlay...and it's Fender! Brad! This is the most beautiful thing I've ever seen!"

He frowned. "I thought my eyes were the most beautiful thing you'd ever seen."

"Well, besides those!" I cried, hugging him. "Oh my gosh! Thank you, baby! I love it!"

"Is that how you're gonna start waking us up in the morning?" Sam asked, and I nodded.

"Arm your ears, children."

Sam rolled her eyes, laughing. "Okay, so, Freddie?"

"Yeah?"

"You need something to watch Galaxy Wars on, right? That's a blu-ray disc, and we just have a regular DVD player."

"Oh," he frowned suddenly. "Well, it's okay. My laptop has a blue-ray reader. It'll work until I can get something else."

"Why bother?" she replied with a shrug, thrusting a package into his hands. "Use this."

"Did you get me the new blu-ray player?" he exclaimed, and she nodded, grinning a little. "Aw, baby!" he said, his hands going to her face and kissing her. "You're the best."

"Hello?" we heard a nervous-sounding voice from upstairs, and we all shot looks at each other.

"Hey, Mel!" Sam called. "Come down!"

"Uh...okay," Melanie replied nervously, walking downstairs. "How's it going, you guys?"

"Great," Freddie responded.

"Super," I added, slumping back a little. Freddie obviously didn't feel like dealing with Melanie, and neither did I, but Brad appeared unaffected, and Sam was just normal towards her sister, like nothing had happened the night before. In fact, Brad was acting the same way! I wondered what that was about, but I'd just have to ask him later.

"Look, Freddie got me a year's supply of steak!" Sam exclaimed. "Does this boy know me or what?"

"That's great, Sam," Melanie agreed.

"Where's Emily?" Brad asked, and Melanie shrugged.

"Asleep. She's a little...out of sorts."

"Gee, I wonder why," I commented, yelping when Sam threw balled up wrapping paper at me.

"Knock it off," she said with a raise of her eyebrows. "It's Christmas. Drama is taking the day off."

"Oh, fine," I replied. "Brad, here."

"Ooh, a cloud drive! Sweet!" he said after he'd tore the paper off. "Thanks, babe."

"There's more," I replied, handing him a box, smiling a little when a big grin went across his face.

"New editing software!"

"Please tell me it's Cutting Room Flo 8!" Freddie hollered, and Brad nodded happily.

"Kick ass! Well played, Carly!"

"Yeah, I try," I replied with a grin.

"Okay, you," Freddie said, looking at Sam. "Open this."

"Baby, I have enough jewelry," Sam said softly, opening the tiny box he'd handed her, and she gasped, her hand covering her mouth. "Aww! Baby!" It wasn't lost on me how she started to tear up. Sam rarely got weepy over jewelry, other than her ring of course, so I was really curious what Freddie had gotten her.

"Let me see!" I said, standing up and walking over to her, looking over her shoulder. "Awww!"

Freddie had definitely outdone himself with that one. It was a beautiful white gold necklace, and it was this incredible pendant, an abstract figure that looked like a pregnant woman, with a diamond right in the center of the stomach. It was so incredibly sweet, and I knew Sam loved it. She just got up, sitting back down in Freddie's lap and wrapping her arms around him.

"This is so beautiful. Thank you, baby."

"I thought you might like it," he replied.

"I love it," she said softly, kissing him. "You are so perfect, you know that? Oh my god. I love you so much."

I made a face when I saw Melanie roll her eyes. "Problems, Melanie?"

"Sorry, all the mushiness is affecting my gag reflex."

"Gag reflex, really?" I responded annoyed.

"Guess you're not completely identical to your sister then," Freddie said under his breath, and Brad and I stared at him. "I mean...never mind."

"Ew, Freddie!" I replied.

"Oh shut up, Carly," Sam said with a wave of her hand. "It's an acquired skill. I can teach you if you want," she teased.

"Merry Christmas to Brad!" Brad said, dancing in his seat a little bit, and I couldn't help but laugh, shaking my head. Melanie could try to be a buzzkill all she wanted, but it wasn't going to work, because we were just...not right in the head sometimes.

"Okay, so...I know you've been wanting a new phone," Sam said to Freddie, changing the subject. "So I took the liberty. The new PearPhone."

"Awesome!" Freddie exclaimed as he pulled the phone out of the box. "Man...would you look at this thing? It's totally cutting edge, and so sleek, and..."

"Are you gonna cheat on me with your damn phone, nub?" Sam teased.

"I might."

"Okay, well, before you do that. Check out the photos. They're really cool."

"What, did Pear amp up their stock photos or something?" he replied.

"Uh, something like that," she replied, smirking when he leafed through the phone and his jaw dropped. I laughed. I'd just seen that same expression on Brad's face not half an hour ago, I guess Sam had decided to load hers onto Freddie's phone instead of a CD. Clever girl.

"Holy hell!" he exclaimed. "Baby...wow. I...oh lord. That is a really hot picture..."

"Yeah? Wait until you see what I left in your new blu-ray player," she said casually, and his head jerked up to look at her.

"You mean..."

"Used your editing software and everything."

"Hey, I didn't get a video!" Brad hollered, poking me. "No fair, Carly."

"We can make videos later," I responded, and his eyes widened.

"Works for me," he said softly.

We all ended up making out pretty good as far as presents were concerned, probably going way over budget, but at least Freddie had promised Sam he wouldn't look at the account until after Christmas was over, so we'd still have twenty four hours of peace. Even Melanie had done well, though if I had it to do over, I wouldn't have bought her ANYTHING! I was still super-angry with her, even if I was trying my hardest not to act like I was. I was hoping she'd feel so awkward about last night she wouldn't want to go to Spencer and April's with us.

"What time is it?" Freddie asked, looking at his new watch that Sam had bought him. "Oh, shit. Okay, we're running wayyy behind schedule."

"We wouldn't have been if you guys hadn't killed an hour in your room," Brad said pointedly, and Freddie just rolled his eyes.

"I'm sure you guys killed time before we did," he shot back, and Brad just shrugged, grinning a bit.

"Alright, well, Freddie does have a point, we should go get dressed," Sam put in. "I'm gonna wear my new coat! It doesn't squish my boobs!"

"Awesome. For your boobs, I mean," I said, standing up.

"Mel, you're coming, right?" Sam asked. "It'll be fun."

"I...uh...no," she replied.

"What?" Sam exclaimed. "Why?"

"I...uh...I was gonna go see Megan. She's in town," Melanie said flatly. "You guys have fun though!"

"But Mel!" Sam said as Melanie stood up and started walking up the stairs.

"Merry Christmas!" Melanie called down the stairs, and Sam sighed, flopping back down on the couch.

"Thank god," I said under my breath, and Sam looked at me, surprised.

"She has one bad night and you're at that?"

"One bad night? Sam! That was like a year's worth of bad nights! Spencer is PISSED! Things could have gotten really bad if April's parents would have been made aware of her behavior."

"She has problems, Carly!" Sam replied, and I shrugged.

"We ALL have problems, Sam! It doesn't give her the right to act like that!"

"Yeah, well, like it or not, she's still my sister, so chill," she replied. She shook her head, sighing. "I don't want to do this. Not on Christmas. Can we just...put this issue on hold?"

"Yeah," I replied. "Sorry."

"It's cool," she responded. "Let's just go get dressed, and go. I'm starving."

"I think there'll be ham!" I offered, and her eyes lit up.

"Christmas HAM? Oh yeah!" she replied, doing a little dance. "I'm there! Come on Freddie, time to get dressed!" She grabbed his arm, yanking him toward the bedroom, and I laughed suddenly as I heard Sam sing one of her Christmas songs.

"Patty melt, patty melt, patty melt on rye!" to the tune of "Jingle Bells". I looked over at Brad, and he just gave me a grin.

"Come on. Regardless of Melanie drama, you KNOW today's gonna be a good day."

"It better be," I replied with a sigh.

"It will. Come on, Sam's rewriting Christmas songs to include food products. She only does that when she's epic happy. And it's contagious."

"You're right. What's the other one she does? To Rudolph the Red Nosed Reindeer?"

"French Fry the Brown Skinned Vegetable?" Brad replied.

"That's the one," I laughed. "Come on, let's go."

With that, we headed upstairs, and I just hoped that the rest of the day would prove to be drama-free.


	20. Chapter 20: Black Heart Inertia

**A/N: Only one chapter for you guys right now, have to clean the other ones up first, but I gotta go to work (blech) so it's gonna have to wait. The internet situation is still a little bit uneven right now, sorry. Anywho, lemon alert!**

**Chapter Twenty:  
><strong>**Black Heart Inertia**

~*Sam*~

"I'm just saying, we should have forced her to come!" I exclaimed as I looked across the car at Freddie, who just rolled his eyes.

"If there's one thing I've learned, trying to force a Puckett to do anything usually ends in blood, tears, or both," he replied.

"Freddie, come on!" I responded. "She's obviously dealing with a lot of shit right now, and we should try to help her..."

"We?" he interrupted with a shake of his head. "No way, Sam. I don't know if you've noticed, but my hands are a little bit full right now. I've got enough on my plate without worrying about your crazy sister."

"You had plenty on your plate when I showed up on your doorstep with all my problems," I replied pointedly.

"That's different."

"How? How is it different, Freddie?"

"Because I love you!" he replied. "I loved you then, and I love you now. But Melanie..." he frowned. "Look, baby, I know she's your sister and all, but you have to let her deal with her problems. We have enough going on."

"That doesn't matter! What if I would have been left to my own devices? I'd be dead right now!"

"Your sister is NOT going to die, Sam! She goes to Meredith, it's a good school, she's not around your mom, or any crazy boyfriends of your mom, she'll be fine! She's dealing with something a LOT of college students deal with...partying and drinking too damn much!"

"It's not just that!" I replied. "She's been through a lot, and it's resurfacing! I have to help her!"

"How, Sam?" he responded, shooting a look over at me. "She's not going to be here much longer, and then it's back to the East Coast. You honestly think you're gonna fix ten years of damage in only a few days?"

"No, despite what you think, I'm not that stupid, Fredward," I replied with a roll of my eyes.

"What?" he exclaimed. "Where the hell did that come from? I don't think you're stupid! I've been beating it into your head for the last three years that you're not! Quit attacking me, Sam! This isn't my fault!"

I slumped down in my seat, arms crossed over my chest, grumbling to myself, and stared out the window. I knew it wasn't my problem, but it didn't change the fact that I still wanted to fix it. And I knew this whole thing wasn't Freddie's fault, but it still didn't change the fact that I was irritated he wasn't backing me up on this, and he needed to know I was pissed about it! My head snapped to the side, glaring at him.

"You're supposed to back me up on this! You're my husband!"

"And as your husband, I'm supposed to tell you when something's outside of the realm of possibilities, Sam! You are not going to fix your sister! It can't be done!"

"Don't you DARE tell me it can't be done, Freddie!" I shouted. "It's nice to know I've got your support!"

"You know what?" he shouted back, his head turning to look at me, and he just took a deep breath, gripping the steering wheel tightly, before trying a different approach. "Baby, I don't want to do this right now."

"Too bad, because we are!"

"Sam, give me a fucking break!" he yelled. "Last night was bad, really bad! I cannot handle any more stress or pressure right now! Can we just have one day without a bunch of drama and bullshit?"

"Our life is nothing but drama and bullshit, Freddie!" I responded. "Have you not figured that out yet? It's one disaster after another!"

"Yeah, that makes me feel a lot better about bringing a child into this," he grumbled, and my eyes widened, staring at him.

"So having a kid with me is a disaster now!"

"You're the one who said it was one disaster after another, Sam!" he barked. "Don't do that! Don't put words in my mouth! You're being completely unreasonable!"

"Gee, thanks, Captain Condescending!"

"Captain Condescending?" he replied. "Seriously? Well that's fitting, considering you've been nothing but Major Pain in my Ass the last couple of days!"

"You wanna see what major pain is? Keep pushing my buttons, and you will find out!" I threatened, and he just rolled his eyes.

"I see some things never change."

"I honestly can't stand you sometimes," I growled. "You're such an asshole!"

"Why? Because I don't feel like putting up with your family's bullshit all the time? Because I want there to be less drama? You say I'm a fucking control freak, but more and more drama keeps dropping into my lap, and lately, it's all stemmed from your damn sister! No wonder I'm freaking out all the time! I told you her staying with us was a BAD idea!"

"Oh, I see, so it's my fault!" I replied.

"I didn't say that!"

"Yeah, well, you didn't have to, Freddie. You're constantly stressed out because I'm pregnant and you feel pressure to take care of me and the baby, and now my sister shows up and stresses you out even more, it's OBVIOUSLY my fault! You wanna just end this and get it over with now? So I don't stress you out?"

I gasped as the car screeched to a halt, before Freddie pulled it over and shut the engine off, but I turned away, looking out the window, trying to keep my emotions in check.

"Look at me," Freddie said in a low voice, but I didn't budge. "Fucking look at me, dammit!" he roared, and I jumped a little, finally meeting his eyes, gasping a little as he grabbed my chin to prevent me from looking away.

"Don't EVER say that shit to me again. You are worth all the stress and pain in the world to me."

"Then why do you complain about it?" I asked softly. He dropped his hand from my chin, pulling away from me and resting his head on the steering wheel.

"I can't win with you," he remarked. "If I hold it in, it's bad. If I talk about it, that's bad too." He lifted his head to look at me. "Cut me some fucking slack for one second, Sam! I don't know what to do!"

"I don't know either!" I cried. "I don't know anything anymore! You're stressed out, I'm scared shitless over the idea I'm gonna fuck everything up, I'm getting bigger by the second, my sister needs to be in a twelve step program, my last semester before I have to leave school to push a human being out of my loins is a week away...I am fucking LOST, do you not get that?"

"So am I," he replied.

"And how are we supposed to fix that, Freddie?" I said, and he just shrugged.

"I don't know."

"Do you regret marrying me?" I asked, and he shook his head.

"Not for a second."

"Do you regret me getting pregnant?"

"No," he replied stoically. "I just wish I knew how to handle it. I wish we both knew how to handle it."

"So do I," I said. "So what do we do?"

He sighed, biting his lip, before finally speaking. "Suck it up. Deal with it. What else can we do?"

I shook my head. "I can't do that."

"You have to. Because I can't handle this shit by myself, Sam."

"I'm not asking you to," I said softly. "I just...I don't know."

"Yes, you do," he responded. "What do you need from me?"

"I need you to be on my side with this whole situation with my sister."

He shook his head. "I can't do that, Sam. I'm sorry."

"Why not?" I replied.

"She is an absolute MESS, Sam! You're not going to be able to help her, she's just going to end up hurting you! Just like your mom! Or worse, Melanie's just gonna rub off on you!"

"Rub off on me?" I asked, and he sighed.

"I know what Melanie thinks of me, Sam. I...I'm worried that one day you'll start listening to her. And then that'll be it for us."

I shook my head. "That's not true! I love you! Nothing anybody says is going to change that! How can you even think that?"

"I just do, okay? And if I lose you..." he trailed off, shaking his head. "It wouldn't be good, that's for sure."

"You're not going to lose me, Freddie," I replied. "But I have to help Melanie on this."

"She's just gonna hurt you, Sam," Freddie responded, and I shrugged.

"So? Like no one's ever hurt me before?"

"I don't want that for you anymore. I don't want her pulling you back! Her comments have already gotten to you! She's planting seeds in your head! You were all excited about having the baby, and not even twenty four hours have passed since she told you that you wouldn't be a good mother, and look at you! Now you're all worried and confused!"

"It's...it's normal doubts, Freddie!" I said, shaking my head. "She's not planting seeds in my head!"

"She's a Puckett, Sam. Mental warfare is kind of a family trait. No offense, but it's in the bloodline. You only grew out of it because you escaped, but if you throw yourself back into it..." He stopped, taking a deep breath. "If you go back into that frame of mind, I'm afraid I won't be able to pull you back this time."

"Stop worrying about me," I replied. "I'm strong, remember?"

"I will never stop worrying about you, Sam. I love you," he said. "And I know you want to help your sister, but...I don't think you can."

"You're wrong," I replied indignantly. "I know she can change."

"Maybe you're right, but you're not the one who can do it."

"How the hell do you know?"

He shrugged. "Because you would have done it already."

I was silent for a few moments, staring at the floorboards, before looking back up. "We should probably go. We're gonna be even later than we already are."

"Sam..."

"I said let's just go, okay?"

Freddie groaned, starting the car back up and pulling back onto the road. "So I suppose you're gonna be pissed off at me the rest of the day?"

I didn't respond, just stared out the window.

"Great, the silent treatment. Excellent. Like I really deserve-"

He was cut off when I reached across the car and grabbed his hand, holding it tightly, but still not looking at him, and he sighed in resignation.

"You're not mad at me?"

I shook my head no.

"But you don't want to talk?"

Another shake of my head.

"Fine," he replied. "We won't talk." He paused for a second. "You know I love you, right?"

I nodded, still not meeting his eyes.

"Do you love me?"

I nodded once more, squeezing his hand a little, and he seemed satisfied by that. This tended to happen a lot, when we got into shouting matches that couldn't be solved by words. Sometimes the only thing we could do was just shut the hell up, and try to remember that no matter how crazy we drove each other, we still loved the hell out of each other. And despite the fact that Freddie and I were obviously not going to see eye to eye about my sister, at that moment, at least I knew he loved me, and he knew I loved him.

For now, that was enough.

~*Carly*~

"Where's Sam and Freddie?" Spencer asked.

"I don't know, they were right behind us," I replied, peering out the window.

"Maybe they pulled over for a little...vehicular love?" Brad suggested, and I rolled my eyes.

"That is very...Sam and Freddie, so I don't doubt it," I said with a sigh. "But you'd think those two could cool it for a few hours! Oh wait!" I exclaimed, pointing. "There's the car."

I moved away from the window to sit down on Spencer's couch, leaning down to grin at Maggie, poking her in the tummy and laughing as she squealed happily before toddling off, hiding behind the coffee table. She was so cute. I loved being an aunt, but the jury was still out about being a mother, and I had no idea how I was going to tell Brad that. Today was definitely not the day for it though. It was Christmas, besides, I'd promised Sam no drama today.

I guess the promise didn't go both ways, because a few moments later, Freddie and Sam walked in, both of them looking extremely irritated with each other.

"What took so long, you guys?" Brad asked, but Sam just shoved past him.

"I have to throw up, 'scuse me," she said, heading for the bathroom.

I looked over at Freddie in surprise. "What's going on? Morning sickness strike again? I thought we were past that."

"She's barely into her second month, Carly. It still comes and goes," he replied, flopping down on the couch with a heavy sigh. I eyed him suspiciously, raising my eyebrows. He didn't look in my direction, just let out another sigh. "What?"

"That's not all that happened, is it?"

"What makes you say that?"

"Because if it was just morning sickness, you'd be in there doing whatever it is you do to make her feel better when she gets sick. You guys were happy when we left, what happened?"

"Had a fight," he said simply. "I don't wanna talk about it."

"Fine, I'll just get Sam to talk about it."

"Fat chance," he said with a laugh. "She's doing that silent thing again."

"She's giving you the silent treatment?" Brad asked. "That bad, huh?"

"No," Freddie said with a roll of his eyes. "Not the silent treatment."

"Oh, the thing where you both pretend to have laryngitis so you don't keep arguing?" I surmised, and he nodded.

"It's better than getting into another shouting match with her."

"So what were you guys shouting about?"

"Melanie."

"Ugh," I said with a grimace. "I can understand that. I'm so pissed at her after last night."

"Eh," Brad said with a wave of his hand, and Freddie and I both looked at him in surprise.

"What do you mean, eh?" I demanded. "She acted like a class-A bitch last night, and a drunken one at that!"

"Well, for starters, I'd keep your voice down, because Sam's likely to go postal if she hears you call her sister a bitch. Secondly, it's pretty damn obvious Melanie has some issues, and people with issues who drink...it doesn't always come out in the best way. You know that. You've seen it. With me."

"Uh, no offense, Brad, but Melanie last night made the drunk version of you look like Mister Rogers!" I replied. "And since when do you defend Melanie? I thought you hated her!"

He shrugged. "I do hate her. But I'm just saying. I've been where she's at. Maybe not that bad, but...I've been there. Recently. I'm still dealing with it."

Freddie and I exchanged worried looks. It was never good when Brad and Sam agreed on something and Freddie and I disagreed. We hadn't worried for years over Sam and Brad getting together or anything, and it was definitely unlikely to happen now that Sam was pregnant, but still. Anytime there was a divide in the house, it was bad. It was a bit more manageable when it was guys vs. girls, but the one thing we frantically tried to avoid was a disagreement between a couple that bled onto the other couple. It was always disastrous. It had happened once during freshman year, over a simple misunderstanding, and Brad and Freddie had almost come to blows over it. Ever since then, we'd been very careful not to let it happen again. Unfortunately, it seemed like it was going to happen again.

I looked over at Freddie again, and he just nodded. He knew EXACTLY what I was thinking.

Melanie would be gone in a week, but we really couldn't wait that long, could we? We were going to have to try move things along, as quickly as possible. Just had to figure out how to do it without tipping Sam off, which could be troublesome. The girl was so well-versed in scheming, she could smell someone else's plot a mile away. How could we figure this out?

Sam came back out, sitting down next to Freddie. He put his arm around her, and she laid her head on his shoulder, but they still didn't speak. Freddie kissed her on the top of her head, and as he did, he shot another look over at me, which I instantly got. It meant, I can't put up with this. It meant, we have to do something.

It meant game on.

~*Freddie*~

"Well that had to be the most awkward Christmas ever," Carly commented as everyone walked into the apartment.

"Yeah, no kidding," I grunted. I looked around for signs of Melanie and Emily. They weren't downstairs, but that didn't mean they weren't in the apartment. I guess that was the trouble with having three floors. You never could tell whether or not you were alone without searching every nook and cranny of the place.

I looked over at Sam, who was hanging her coat up. She'd been awfully quiet today, a disturbing fact considering it was Christmas and she was usually super happy. She wasn't exactly giving me the silent treatment, when she did that she wouldn't go anywhere near me, and she'd been very attached to me today, moreso than usual, but...she just wasn't herself. I knew she was holding her tongue because she didn't want to get into another fight. I was done with fighting with her, at least for the time being. I just wanted her to stop being so sullen.

"Do you like the coat I bought you?" I asked her, trying to get her to talk. She just nodded. I sighed, slightly aggravated. Not aggravated with Sam, but at Melanie, for giving us something else to fight over. I didn't care how badly Sam wanted to help her; while I understood, it didn't mean I was okay with it. I knew how easy it was for Melanie to bring my sweet girl down, and I didn't want to stand by and watch it happen, especially not while Sam was just trying to help her. There was no way around it, the only way I could keep Sam from being hurt was to keep her sister away.

Carly was tired of it too, I could tell. She'd already been through the ringer with Brad and his drinking issue, and she was unwilling to put up with it from someone else. Neither one of us were. We had enough drama going on with the four of us, drama from an outside source was NOT welcome in this house, and we had to put a stop to it.

But right now, all I wanted was to get my wife talking again, that was my main focus. The plotting and scheming could wait. Sam let out an irritated sigh as the coat fell to the ground, and I couldn't help but smirk a bit. Sam had given up wearing heels for the time being, because she was getting leg cramps a lot, so the coat rack was just a little bit out of her reach. I bent down to grab the coat for her.

"Let me do that," I said softly, kissing her on top of her head before reaching over her to hang the coat up. I put my arms around her from behind, pulling her to me. "Baby...stop being mad at me."

"I'm not mad."

"Liar," I said softly.

"I'm not."

"Then why are you being like this?" I replied.

She didn't respond, but her eyes skidded over to Brad and Carly, and I could tell she didn't want to get into it in front of them, so I bent down, my mouth inches from her ear. "Will you talk if we go in our room?"

She just nodded, and I kissed the side of her neck. "Come on." I looked over at Brad and Carly. "We'll be back."

"Yep," Brad responded with a nod, plopping down on the couch, Carly sitting down next to him. I took Sam's hand and led her into our room, shutting the door behind us.

"Lay down," I said softly, and she did, without putting up a fight. I locked the door and then walked toward the bed, sitting down and pulling her legs into my lap, yanking her boots off and tossing them down on the floor, and began rubbing her feet, trying to put her mind at ease. "So..."

"I'm sorry," she whispered, and I shook my head.

"It's okay. We both got a little out of hand. But do you understand where I'm coming from? I don't want you to get hurt, baby. And I just worry..."

"She's not gonna hurt me, Freddie," Sam interrupted, and I shook my head.

"She already has. You're just acting like she hasn't, but she got to you."

"How do you figure?"

"I know what she said about you getting soft bothered you, because you've been trying to be tough all day. You don't have to be tough with me, you know that."

"Yes, I do," she replied. "If I don't...you're gonna keep freaking out."

"Sam, how long have you known me?"

She laughed a little. "Too long."

"Gee, thanks," I said with a roll of my eyes. "But as long as you've known me, have you ever known me not to freak out? It's what I do." She nodded a little. "But I always get over it. You know me, a little ten minute meltdown, and then I'm back to normal."

"But I wish you didn't have meltdowns like you do," she remarked, and I shrugged.

"Yeah, me too. But I don't think it will be going away any time soon. It's not like I'm having panic attacks or anything. I just...lose my cool sometimes, you know?"

"Yeah, I know."

"I hate to sound like you're some sort of project or something, but you know how much work went into fixing all the damage your family caused. I don't want it all to be unmade just because your sister has trouble dealing with her issues and letting it rub off on you."

"But she doesn't have anyone, Freddie," she replied. "Just me."

"But that's not your fault, Sam. A lot of it's self-inflicted. She's self-centered, condescending...you know, she used to just be annoying, but she's morphed into someone nobody wants to be around. I hate to say it, but she's..."

"Turning into my mother?" Sam filled in, and I nodded. "That's what scares me. She's hurting herself more than anything. It's really scary to watch."

"Look, she still has a lot of time to grow up, baby. And maybe she'll come around in her own time, but...there's nothing you can do to speed up the process."

"But...you helped me speed up the process," she replied, and I gave her a smile.

"I'm glad. But...I just think, coming from you, it's not going to do much good."

"What is that supposed to mean?" she barked, sitting up, and I put my hand on her shoulder, pushing her back down.

"Chill. I didn't mean it as you being incapable. But we've already established she's incredibly jealous of you, your life, the person you've become. Coming from you, it might just seem...like you think you're better than her."

"I don't think that," she replied.

"That doesn't mean she won't take it that way," I replied. I stopped rubbing her feet and laid down next to her, pulling her into my arms. "Baby, I love you. I'm not trying to tell you what to do. I just don't want you to get hurt."

"I know," she whispered. "But I can't give up on her, Freddie. She's my sister."

"I know, sweetheart. I don't expect you to. But going into meddle mode isn't going to work this time."

"It worked on Brad," she stated, and I rolled my eyes.

"Brad's not out of the woodwork yet. And plus, Carly took on a lot of the burden. You'd be tackling your sister's issues on your own. If anything, she needs professional help. I know you mean well, but..." I shook my head. "I just don't see it working, especially not in the few days she'll be here."

"I just hate this for her," Sam replied, and I kissed her softly.

"I know, baby. But...you can't mother her. You're not supposed to. And now," I began, my hand drifting down to her stomach. "You have someone else to mother. Someone else to think about."

"I am so damn scared," Sam whispered. "What if I just screw this kid up?"

"You won't," I reassured her. "You'll be an amazing mother."

"How do you know that?" she replied.

"Because you have a really big heart. Whether you want to admit it or not. And you won't treat your child the same way your mom treated you. You know how it feels to be neglected and abused. You'll be able to empathize."

She nodded slowly, before looking up at me. "I love you so much. I hate when we fight."

"I know. That's why you've been biting your tongue all day."

"Yep," she responded, her hand going to the back of my head and pulling it down to hers, kissing me sweetly. I pulled her against me closer, deepening the kiss, and she moaned softly, one leg wrapping around my back. One of my hands tangled into her beautiful hair, the other trailed down to her waist, going for the hem of her sweater, pulling away long enough to pull it over her head, and she did the same to me before going back to kissing me, her hands gripping my shoulders tightly. I quickly unhooked her bra, my mouth trailing down over her jaw, her neck, licking over her collarbone, enjoying the way she moaned and arched into me. I quickly unbuttoned her jeans as my mouth busied itself with licking and sucking at her breasts, and she continued to moan, one hand going to the back of my head.

"Baby, you feel so good," she sighed, and I lifted my head to smile at her.

"Just getting started, my sweet sweet baby. I love you."

"I love you too," she responded, gasping as my tongue ran over a sensitive spot. I kissed lower down her body while pulling her jeans down over her hips, followed quickly by her underwear, and I put her legs on my shoulders, taking my time licking over her, making her moan and buck her hips, growling against her a little as I felt her hands go into my hair and tug a little bit.

"God, baby, don't stop..." she begged. I didn't even take the time to respond, just kept up my task of pleasing her, not trying to tease her at all, sliding a finger into her and moving it in and out slowly. "Oh...Freddie...baby..." she panted. "Oh my god. That feels so good..."

God, I loved doing this. I loved making her feel good, loved driving her to the edge. It turned me on so much, I didn't know why, but it did. It was just so sexy, being able to run my hands all over her beautiful body, explore every inch of it with my mouth. I loved her more than anything, I'd be damned if I let anyone ever hurt her. I never wanted her to hurt.

Of course, she wasn't hurting right now, the only thing she was feeling right now was euphoria, moving against me, moaning, arching her back. I could feel her leg muscles flexing repeatedly, feel her trembling, her thighs quivering. She was almost there. Over the years, I'd become very good at reading the signals her body threw at me in the heat of the moment. I knew exactly which tricks to pull out. I could get her off like a switch, or draw it out, make her beg me to keep doing it, or overload her senses so much I could make her beg me to stop. And right now, I just wanted her brain to shut down, push out all those negative thoughts, make her feel nothing but pure pleasure. I heard her moans pick up in frequency and volume, and I knew she was almost there. A final flick of my tongue, and her resolve crumbled, her entire body seizing up and then shaking.

"Freddie! Oh god! Baby...yesss! Oh...yes, yes, yes! Oh my god..." she cried out, her hips moving on their own, her head going back and eyes rolling back, biting her bottom lip. Ugh, she looked so sexy like that, she was completely gone. I pulled away, kissing up her body and pressing against her, my hips grinding into hers.

"Feel good, baby?" I asked, kissing her neck, and she nodded, still trying to catch her breath.

"I need you inside me," she murmured, her arms going around my neck and kissing me. "Please."

I sat up, unbuckling my belt and making quick work of my jeans and boxers before coming over her again, kissing her passionately.

"I love you, Sam."

"I love you so much, Freddie," she replied, her arms going around me again. "You have no idea."

But I did, because I loved her as much as she loved me. We were both really lucky in that regard. A lot of people went their entire lives without feeling this way, without finding their perfect match, and we'd been lucky enough to find it at sixteen. No matter what happened, I would never stop loving her. It wasn't possible. I just didn't have it in me, and I prayed she didn't have it in her either. I kissed her again, slowly sliding into her, and she gasped against my mouth, pulling away to bury her face in my neck.

"Baby," she murmured against my skin, kissing the side of my neck and shoulders. "Oh god."

"You feel so good," I groaned, moving against her slowly, but not slow enough to frustrate her. The last thing I wanted to do right now was tease my sweet sweet baby. That wasn't what she needed right now. "God...Sam..."

"Oh, Freddie...don't stop...please don't stop..."

"I can't stop," I replied, kissing her again. "I love you. And I will never stop."

"Say it again," she begged, her legs going around my waist.

"I love you," I said, and she just moaned in response, grinding against me, nails digging in my shoulder slightly. Not because she was in a rough mood right now, just because she couldn't control herself. And man, I loved when she got like that. It was so sexy, so passionate, so amazing. I couldn't get enough of this. Nearly three years, and I still couldn't get enough. It was absolutely incredible. She was incredible.

It was getting harder and harder to hold back, to keep moving in and out of her slowly. I picked up my pace almost without realizing it, and she just moaned even louder, her legs tightening around me more.

"Oh god, Freddie...I'm...oh...god this feels good...I..."

"Come on, sweetheart," I encouraged her. "Let me feel it."

"Ohhhh...Freddie...Freddie...oh god...AAAH! Freddie!" she cried out, and I groaned as I felt her walls shudder around me, pushing me to the edge even more. She hadn't even came back down all the way before I gave in to my own climax, pressing my lips to hers and kissing her fiercely as I exploded inside her.

"God, Sam!" I grunted, shaking and feeling my world spin out of control. "Damn, baby!"

I collapsed on top of her, not wanting to move, wanting to stay inside her. It was the closest I could possibly get to her, and I loved it. It was more than just sex. It was how we stay connected, and not just literally. We'd gotten better over the years at expressing our feelings, but we were still working on it. In the bedroom though, it was a different story. Whatever we were feeling, it came out when we made love. Anger, frustration, sadness, playfulness. And love. Always love. It was always there. It would never go away.

I finally pulled away long enough to lay down next to her, and then she was in my arms again, laying her head on my chest, listening to my heart thumping away inside my chest, her fingertips trailing up and down over my skin, and I played with her hair, twirling it around my fingers, both of us still trying to catch our breath.

"Freddie?"

"Yeah, baby?"

"You're amazing," Sam said softly. "You're a saint for putting up with me, you know that? I know what a pain I can be sometimes, and..."

"Hush," I replied, my finger going to her perfect lips. "I don't put up with you. You put up with things you don't want to deal with. And that's not how I feel about you. Even when you're being difficult, I love you."

"I love you so much," she sighed happily. "How did we get so damn lucky?"

I shrugged. "I don't know, baby. Just worked out that way. But I'm glad it did."

"Me too," she responded. She was quiet for a moment. "I just wish my sister was lucky too. She deserves to be happy just as much as I do."

"She'll find it eventually, honey," I responded, kissing the top of her head, and she nodded against my chest.

"I hope so."


	21. Chapter 21: Leech

**A/N: Here you go! The drama is a-brewing, just wait for it. Sidenote: Telling me to update 2,000 Lightyears on a daily basis will not allow the ideas to come to me faster, if anything it makes it even more difficult. When I think of how I want to progress the story, it will come to me. That's all. Thanks!**

**Chapter Twenty One:**  
><strong>Leech<strong>

~*Brad*~

"So how come you didn't go with Freddie to his physical?" Carly asked Sam as we sat around the studio.

"Told him I was feeling nauseous," she responded, running around the studio frantically, looking in boxes, file cabinets, the closet. After watching her rifle around for a full five minutes, I started to get annoyed.

"Dude, what the hell are you looking for?" I asked, but she ignored me, continuing to paw through boxes.

"A-ha!" she yelled victoriously. "Found it!"

"Found what?" I replied. She just wordlessly picked up a huge filing box, carrying it over and dropping it on the floor in front of us, hitting the wood with a thud.

"Sam!" Carly scolded. "I told you to stop doing that! You're gonna scratch the wood!"

"Oh, it's fine!" Sam said with a wave of her hand.

"What's in the box?" Carly responded after she'd taken a moment to roll her eyes at Sam's flippancy. Sam pulled the top off the box, and I saw it was filled to the brim with folders. Sam pulled a few out, handing them to us.

"Whoa," I said as I leafed through one of them, my eyes growing wide. "This is...wow."

"Is this what I think it is?" Carly asked, and Sam nodded, perusing over one of the files herself.

"This is a printed record of every show we've ever done since we incorporated iCarly."

"These are some pretty damn intricate records," I gruffed. "Your husband sure has an eye for detail." I picked up the CD that had slid out. "And he keeps a hard copy of all our shows?"

"Yeah, so he can rewatch them to see if he's missed anything. Anyway if you look at the files, they're all labeled with the date, the time we actually went on, how many people watched the live cast, technical issues, props we used, expenses on props, how many affiliate clicks went through per episode, and little sidenotes he scribbled in about the show."

"Tell Carly to stop wearing so much eye makeup on camera?" Carly read aloud, sounding irritated. "Hey! I don't wear that much eye makeup!"

"Well, not anymore, but...you did go through a three month period of it..." I offered, quieting down when she gave me a death glare. "Okay, so, why are we looking at these right now?"

"Because everyone needs to familiarize themselves with Freddie's system!" Sam replied. "I mean, to the letter, because if one thing's out of place he'll flip!"

"Yeah, but Freddie handles it himself, so he's not gonna let anything get out of place, right?" Carly asked.

"Au contraire, madame," Sam replied with a roll of her eyes. "I didn't take the time to hunt this stuff down to show off my man's organizational skills. Time to pick up some slack."

"Wait, so we're supposed to start doing this?" I replied, and Sam nodded.

"I think if everyone just took a little part of doing the record, it wouldn't be so hard, you know? And it would definitely give Freddie a break."

"You do realize you are going to have one hell of a time making him back down on this, right?" Carly asked, and Sam nodded.

"You just let me handle Freddie," she responded. "Okay, so it would probably be best if we let Freddie continue to handle the money stuff, affiliate stuff, logistics, etcetera, but...Brad, you can keep a log of the technical issues for him. Carly, you can handle the list of props, and you can do these," Sam said, handing her a bunch of folders.

"What...did he separate every running bit we've ever done into individual files?"

"Yep. He's got a record of every single time we've done each bit."

"Wow," she said, her eyes growing big. "No wonder he's so damn stressed out all the time."

"I'm amazed he's kept it together as long as he has," Sam replied. "It's gotta stop. He can't handle everything."

"So what are you going to do?" I asked.

"Fan feedback, social media, and doing production notes."

I nodded. "Alright, sounds good. I think this is manageable if we break it down that way."

"It is. And yeah, it's gonna be extra work, but you guys will feel more involved and more in the loop, and I won't have to worry about keeping the coroner on speed-dial for when Freddie drops dead of a heart attack!" Sam exclaimed.

"But, Sam...we have registration this week, and school starts back NEXT week!" Carly pointed out. "Do you really want us to get bogged down right at the beginning of school?"

Sam gave Carly a look that was so mean Carly looked like she wanted to disappear.

"Are you serious, Carly? It's maybe an hour a week of extra work for you! Maybe! Freddie stays up until at least three in the morning after every webcast trying to get all this shit done! You're worried about you getting bogged down? I hate to say it, but Freddie's classes are a lot harder than yours!"

Carly frowned. "That's not really fair, Sam. My classes are pretty hard."

"Uh, Broadcast Journalism versus Electrical Engineering? Yeah, I think Freddie wins on that. He's really worried about his Probability class this semester!"

"Wait, isn't that a third year class?" I asked, and Sam rolled her eyes.

"You know Freddie. Total over-achiever. If he tries taking summer classes this year I'm gonna break his arm!" She looked over at Carly. "Carly, I am asking you in the nicest way possible, do your part! You're gonna have to get used to doing this anyway if you end up going into Broadcasting as a career, you know that! Get some practice!"

"Ugh, fine!" she groaned. "It just seems like a lot of work."

"You're the one who came to me over Freddie freaking out," she replied. "This," she held up a folder. "Is part of the reason why he freaks out. Because if he doesn't do it, it's not gonna get done! Well, times they are a-changing, dollface!"

"Alright!" Carly snapped. "God! Why are you suddenly back in dictator mode all of a sudden?"

"Well, I did miss my throne," Sam shot back. "And Freddie and I have been at each other's throats all week because he's so stressed out. I'm tired of it. We need to do our part."

"Anyone up here?" we heard Freddie yell, and a moment later the studio door opened. "What's up?"

"Not much, man. Just being amazed at your epic record-keeping skills," I replied.

Freddie made a face. "Why are you going through my records?"

"Uh, our records, nub?" Sam replied with an irritated sigh. "And I'm just trying to show Brad and Carly how you like things organized, so we can pick up some of the slack for you."

An expression crossed Freddie's face like he'd been hit over the head with something, looking totally stunned. "Seriously?"

"Yes, baby, seriously. I'm really worried about you, you have too much on your plate."

He nodded, looking like he was thinking it over. "So...you guys are going to actually do it, and keep up with it?" he asked, shooting a Look at me and Carly. "Because if I have to stay on your asses, it's gonna be even more work for me, and I'd honestly rather do it myself than constantly be on everyone's case, and..."

"Dude!" I yelled. "Chill! We're gonna do it, okay? It's fine! Carly and I can handle it. Sam's right, you have too much going on."

"Yeah, but..."

"Freddie," Sam warned, giving him a Look. "Chill. It's gonna get handled, it'll turn out fine. Just relax, okay? How was the doctor?"

"It was fine," he said flatly, still a little caught off-guard by the announcement that the records were now officially a group effort instead of his own personal project.

"Everything normal?"

"Yeah, I guess..." he trailed off, making a face, and Sam looked at him suspiciously.

"What's wrong, baby?"

"Nothing," he replied, leaning against the desk and looking down.

"Freddie, I know that look," Sam replied. "Look, the records aren't that big of a deal, I know if you just let us handle some of it, you'll feel less stressed, and..."

"It's not about the records, okay?" he snapped, before taking a deep breath. "Sorry."

Carly and I exchanged worried glances, before I looked over at Freddie, cautiously speaking.

"Dude, what's up with you? Something's amiss. Are they making you up your insulin dosage or something?"

"My insulin is fine," he grunted, before pulling a slip of paper out of his pocket, crumbling it up, and tossing it to the floor. It landed at Carly's feet, and she leaned forward to pick it up, uncrumpling it. My eyes widened as I realized it was a prescription for something.

"What's Xanax?" I asked, and Freddie groaned.

"It's anti-anxiety medication."

"Oh wow," Carly said, her eyes big. "Um...well...you know, it's not that big of a..."

"It's a huge deal!" he shouted. "I don't wanna be on meds! I don't need anti-anxiety medication! I mean, do I strike you guys as the kind of person who needs to be on medication?" We all looked at the floor uncomfortably, and Freddie rolled his eyes. "Never mind, DON'T answer that. Anyway, just because the doctor wrote me a prescription doesn't mean I have to take it!"

"Freddie!" Sam exclaimed, walking around behind him to roll his shoulders. "You said that about the insulin, and look what happened when you tried to go without that!"

"But it's not a life-or-death medication! It's for anxiety! I'm not anxious, I'm irritated!"

"You're irritated because you're anxious," Sam responded.

"Look, I'm not gonna -" Freddie began, stepping forward and turning around to glare at her, only to be cut off by Sam yelling back.

"You're taking the damn medication! Now either go to the pharmacy and get this thing filled, or I'm gonna do it for you!"

"No! I'm not doing it! Forget it, Sam! I don't need to be on meds!"

"Well, we need you to be on meds, because you're driving us crazy, and then we'll ALL be on meds!" Sam replied. "Just try it!"

"No!"

Sam rolled her eyes, growling a little. "Carly, gimme the prescription."

"Carly, sit your ass down," Freddie stated. Carly looked back and forth between them nervously, not sure what to do.

"Carly, give it to me!"

"Carly, don't move!"

"I...I..." she stammered, but I just jerked it out of her hand, rolling my eyes and standing up.

"Alright, that's it! You guys are gonna drive me straight back to drinking!" I yelled. "Come on Sam, let's go."

"Great," she replied, grinning at Freddie victoriously. "We'll be back."

"Dude!" Freddie yelled, glaring at me. "What the hell?"

"You need this shit, man!" I replied. "And I'm not putting up with your panic attacks every other day anymore! If you won't go, Sam and I will. And if I gotta cram it down your throat, I'll do that too!"

"Aw come on!" Freddie responded. "Et tu, brute?"

I paused. "I...I don't know what that even means, but I'm sure it's something dick-ish. Which proves my point even more about you needing this shit!"

"This is bullshit!" Freddie yelled, flopping down into a beanbag, his arms crossed over his chest. I gave Sam an incredulous look.

"He is POUTING! Do you see that shit?"

"Yeah, I see it," she replied with a roll of her eyes. "Let's hope this..." she looked down at the paper and made a face. "What...why not just use common letters? This is a retarded name for a pill! I'm getting anxiety trying to just read the name! Ugh, let's go!"

"I am super pissed about this!" Freddie hollered, and Sam just walked over to him, kissing him on the forehead.

"Well, that's why we're getting you the meds, sweetheart. Now just sit there, we'll be back."

Freddie grumbled something that was unintelligible, and Sam just gave me an amused look, before we headed out of the studio and began walking downstairs.

"I'm starting to think if that kid ever broke his leg or something, he STILL wouldn't want to have it looked at," I commented, and Sam grunted in agreement.

"He's so weird about it!" she said. "Probably because his mom used to quarantine him every time he so much as sniffled. And don't even use the word 'anti-bacterial' around him..."

"Well, let's hope he can handle you being in the hospital to have the baby," I replied, and she rolled her eyes.

"Different story entirely. If I'm sick...I suddenly become an invalid. But Freddie? No, nothing's ever wrong with him..." she rolled her eyes. "It's incredibly annoying."

"Sounds like he's a lot more like his mom than he realizes."

"Please don't say that to him. Let me go grab my shoes, and then we'll go. You got the prescription?"

"It's in my pocket. But you're gonna have to do it. Being the wifey and all."

"Don't call me that," she growled. "Besides, you're gonna have a wifey of your own pretty soon." She frowned suddenly. "Somebody's gotta teach Carly how to cook without burning it."

"Speaking of that, hurry up, I'm starving!" I responded. She nodded in agreement, but before she could head into her room, we were interrupted by a knock at the door.

"I'll get that," I said. "Go get your shoes, woman."

"Answer the door, MAN!"

"Shoes!" I replied, walking over the door and unlocking it, pulling it open. My jaw dropped and I took a step back. "Dad?"

"Bradley," he replied with a nod. Out of the corner of my eye I saw Sam stop in her tracks, walking backwards to get a good look at what was going on. I tried to shoo her away, but she didn't budge. Sighing, I turned back to my dad.

"What are you doing here?"

"You really can't trust a nine year old to keep secrets. You should know that by now," he stated, and my eyes widened. Uh oh.

"Secrets?" I replied.

"I made it perfectly clear that no son of mine would ditch his patriotic duty to run around and play with cameras, didn't I?"

Oh god, not this again! I had half-hoped when I saw my dad standing there that he would have a change of heart, but I guess I was stupid for believing that! I figured Bry had probably let it slip to Austin or one of the other cousins over the holidays, that or Heather had ratted me out. She was still pretty angry with me. Oh my god, I could NOT let this happen, I had just gotten my little brother back in my life, I loved that kid to death, I couldn't let my Dad throw another wedge between us! It wasn't fair!

"Dad..." I started.

"No, Bradley, you made your decision! You had a choice, your family, your duty, or this. The least you can do is stick with your choice and PRETEND to be a man."

"Hey!" Sam shouted, stepping toward the door, but my arm went out in front of her.

"Back off, Sam."

She just grunted, before stepping back, arms crossed over her chest, and I focused my attention back on my father.

"Look, I'm sorry for everything that happened. But I miss Bryson. And Leah. And Heather. It's not fair that you're keeping me from seeing them!"

"And it's not fair that you embarrassed me by living the way you're living!" he shouted.

"Dad, please -"

"Stay away from Bryson!" he shouted. "I mean it! I am not going to let your lifestyle and your behavior poison the rest of the family!"

"Yeah, because you've already managed to poison them on your own!" I shot back. An angry expression crossed my dad's face, and he shook his head.

"You're just not cut out for the family."

"What?" I replied. "Because I don't want to be EXACTLY like you? Newsflash, neither does Bryson, and neither does Heather!"

"They got it from you!" he shot back. "I mean it, stay AWAY from your brother and sister!"

"Fine!" I replied. "Stay the hell away from me!" Before he could even respond, I slammed the door in his face, storming over to the couch and flopping down on it, sighing.

Sam approached me cautiously, perching on the edge of the coffee table, staring at me intently.

"Brad?" she finally said, and I growled a little, finally meeting her eyes.

"What?"

"Are you okay?"

"Do I LOOK okay, Sam?"

She shook her head slowly. "No."

"Man, fuck him!" I yelled. "I give up. This is bullshit!"

"Brad, don't give up. Not yet," Sam replied. "It's too early to give up."

"How do you figure?" I replied, and she shrugged.

"I barely talked to Mel for six years. And now we talk..."

"But your sister's a basket case," I replied, and she nodded, shrugging a bit.

"But a basket case I talk to. He'll come around, I promise. You just have to be patient."

I gave her a Look. "Sam Benson is telling me to be patient?" I scoffed. "How does that work?"

She just smirked, her hand going down to her stomach. "I'm trying all sorts of new things these days. For the baby."

I nodded, and she cleared her throat.

"You still want to go to the pharmacy with me?" she asked, and I nodded, sighing a little.

"Probably a good idea. At least if I'm out I won't be tempted to dive into the emergency booze."

Sam gave me a Look. "Why do you still have that? If you're serious about not drinking, you don't need emergency booze."

"I don't know!" I replied. "I guess...throwing it out just seems so final, you know? And it's like...as long as it's in the apartment, I'm not drinking by choice, not because I'm being forced to give up drinking. That's important to me. I don't like being forced into doing shit, you know that. You've seen what it can lead to." I looked towards the door pointedly.

"True," she responded. "But...different monster entirely. Giving up drinking's a good thing, continuing to be your father's bitch boy is not." She paused, before changing the subject. "Shall we go? I'm absolutely starving, and the pharmacy's gonna close soon."

"Yeah, I guess you're right," I replied, standing up, and with that, I grabbed my keys and followed Sam out the door.

~*Carly*~

"I don't need to be on freaking medication, this is such bullshit!" Freddie yelled, and I rolled my eyes.

"That is not the sound of someone who doesn't need to be on meds, Freddie," I started, and Freddie glared at me. I brushed it off, not in the mood to put up with it anymore. "Look, as long as we're here, alone, and Sam and Brad are off to the pharmacy, we can at least get back down to business."

"Melanie?"

"Yes!" I responded. "I want her out, Freddie! They came back last night drunk again! You and Sam were already in your room for the night, but Brad and I had to put up with them banging around the studio until four AM. I don't know how such a small person can be so heavy-footed, but I'm not cool with having a Minotaur upstairs! Every time Brad or I would start to drift off, we'd get woken up by her stomping all over the place!"

Freddie sighed, running a hand through his hair. "Okay. But you do realize if we do this, and it gets back to Sam, she's gonna have my ass. And the way Brad's been acting lately, I'm not so sure he would be pleased by it either."

I rolled my eyes. "I don't get it. I have Spencer, and you have...your mom. But nothing compares to the family drama those two deal with."

"Nope," Freddie replied. "So how are we gonna do this? We can't be flat-out rude to her, because Sam will just get pissed off."

"Ugh!" I responded. "I don't know. I'm not used to scheming without Sam involved. It feels unnatural."

"Alright, I think I have an idea," Freddie replied. "What if..." he trailed off, shaking his head. "Forget it, that's too fucked up."

"No, what? We're at def-con five Freddie, fucked up is the only option we have here!"

"Well...it's pretty obvious that things are not so good between Emily and Melanie. We could just give things a push in the right direction."

"I am NOT pretending to flirt with Melanie, Freddie!"

He rolled his eyes. "You wouldn't have to, Carly."

I looked at him curiously. "So what then?"

"We...well, we really wouldn't have to deal with Melanie at all in this scenario. Just Emily. If we can get Emily to realize that Melanie treats her like shit..."

"Which she does," I added, and he nodded.

"Which she does, maybe Emily will just end it, take off early, and Melanie will be so upset that she'll just take off too!"

I sat there for a moment, Freddie's words sinking in, and I gave him a grin.

"That's perfect. And it's not like we're doing anything bad. Melanie really does treat her badly, and Emily could find someone who treats her better!"

"And then Melanie will realize that acting like a drunken bitch all the time isn't working too..."

"Yeah!" I exclaimed. "We're helping!"

Freddie laughed, shaking his head. "I wouldn't go right to that. I mean, we're basically helping ourselves at this point. But I have a feeling, get her out, and now that you guys are gonna help me keep track of the business a little bit more...maybe I won't need those pills."

I rolled my eyes. "I'm gonna let Sam tackle that problem."

"I'm serious, Carly! I already have to take the damn insulin, I don't want to be jacked up on all sorts of meds!"

"Whatever, Freddie. Look, I just have a feeling with registration in four days..."

"Wait, four days?" he asked, a panicked look on his face. "What's the date?"

"Um..." I looked down at my phone. "The 30th, why?"

"Shit!" Freddie sprang to his feet. "Oh god, I'm so fucking behind..." he began rushing around the studio, looking through files and paperwork, and I gave him a concerned look.

"Freddie, what's going on?"

"The freakin' taxes, Carly! I completely spaced out! Shit!"

"What?" I replied. "When are they due?"

"TWO DAYS!" he yelled. "Oh fuck!"

"Oh no..." I groaned. I pulled my phone out of my pocket to text Sam.

'Where r u guys? Freddie's having a meltdown. A tax meltdown. Get back here with those pills!'

I put my phone on vibrate so Freddie wouldn't know what was going on, and in a few seconds, I felt my phone vibrate, signaling she'd texted me back.

Sam: Give us thirty minutes. Had a wrench thrown in the gears. PS. Be extra nice to Brad...his dad stopped by before we left.

I sighed. Great, more drama. I looked up from my phone to see Freddie frantically going through records.

"Freddie, calm the hell down!" I shouted. "You'll get it done!"

"I am NOT getting audited," he growled.

"We've never gotten an audit!" I replied. "It'll be fine!"

"Easy for you to say, you're not the one that has to do it!" he growled, and I rolled my eyes.

"Alright, look, how long is it gonna take you?"

"About six hours," he replied.

"So spend three hours tonight, three hours tomorrow, and bam! Done! And that'll even give you enough time to go out tomorrow night for New Year's Eve! You and Sam ARE coming, right?"

"If this gets done," he grunted.

"It'll get done!" I replied. "Can we please get back to the task of getting Melanie out of here? Or else you're gonna be sharing Xanax with me!"

"Ugh, fine," he grumbled, leaning against the desk, his arms crossed over his chest. He took a deep breath, thinking for a second, and then looked up at me. "Okay, here's what we're gonna do..."

~*Sam*~

"Freddie, are you okay?" I asked him as I stared at him. "You look a little...off."

"I feel awesome!" he responded, giving me a grin. "What are these things called again?"

"Xanax?"

"Yeah. They're awesome! I'm awesome. It's just...awesome!"

I gave Brad a death glare as he started to laugh. "What?" he asked. "You heard the man, he's awesome!"

"Uh, toss me that bottle, Carly," I said, catching it effortlessly as she flung it in my direction. "Okay...I think starting tomorrow, we'll just give you a half dose of this, until you're used to it, okay?"

"Whatever," Freddie replied, laying back, his head in my lap. He looked up at me, playing with my hair. "You're pretty."

"Oh my god!" Carly cried. "I have NEVER seen Freddie like this before! He's so...laid back."

"Yeah...it's a little disconcerning, honestly..." I replied, making a face.

"What, you want him to be stressed out all the time?" Brad asked.

"Well, no...but...look!" I said, poking Freddie in the ribs. "Did you feel that?"

"Feel what?"

"See!" I yelled. "This isn't working! He's too...he's just..." I looked over at Brad. "He's too much like you right now, honestly."

"Wait, what?" Brad asked, and I shrugged.

"He's all laid back and not...he's not Freddie right now, and I don't like it! I'm telling you, half dose."

"I think he just has to get used to it, Sam," Carly offered, and I sighed.

"Maybe, but a week before school and two days before he has to file taxes is NOT a good time to get used to it!"

"True," Brad said with a nod. "But come on, look at him. Just give him a night off, Sam."

"I am," I replied, bending down to kiss Freddie. "But I don't want him to lose his edge. It's very reminiscent of..." I shook my head. "Nevermind," I responded, not wanting to get too much in detail. I didn't like the way he was just laying around, his eyes half shut. It reminded me of my mom, and that was the last thing I wanted to be reminded of right now, especially not with Melanie still walking around. This was going to bother me in a big way. I felt like I was over a barrel. I didn't want Freddie to be stressed out all the time, but I also didn't want him to be drugged up! I didn't like this one bit! I should have just listened to him when he said he didn't want to take them, because now...well...look! There was a big pile of jello sitting where my husband should be!

The front door swung open, and Melanie walked in, followed by Emily, who was looking more and more morose by the day. Ugh, great. Just what I needed right now.

"Hey party people!" Melanie called. "What's- whoa," she stopped in her tracks, observing Freddie. "What up with him? He looks like he's on something."

"I don't like you," Freddie blurted out, and my eyes widened in shock.

"Freddie!" I cried, smacking his forehead, and he just grinned up at me.

"I didn't even feel that," he stated, and I rolled my eyes, lifting my head to look at my sister.

"He is on something, Melanie. It's called Xanax."

"Zannies? Really?" Melanie asked, her eyes lighting up. "No way! Where'd he get those from?"

"Uh, the pharmacy?" Carly put in, giving her a quizzical look. "Why do you sound so excited about anti-anxiety meds?"

"Because they're awesome!" Melanie replied. "Come on, you've never tried them?"

"Melanie!" I scolded. "Are you kidding me? First you're a lush, now you're a pill-popper too?"

"So?" Melanie replied. "Maybe I have anxiety too. Let me have one. If he has a prescription, then he has plenty!"

"No!" I cried. "Have you lost your mind? I'm not giving you drugs, you idiot!"

"You are unbelievable, Mel," Carly added with a shake of her head.

"Says the goody two shoes," Melanie shot back, and an angry look plastered itself on Carly's face. She didn't speak, just crossed her arms over her chest. Brad sighed, standing up.

"Melanie, chill out."

"No! And you stay out of it! This is family issues, something you obviously know nothing about."

"Melanie!" I shouted, absolutely mortified that she would bring that up, especially considering what had transpired a few hours before. Brad was holding together really, really well, but one comment could send him running for the bottle, and I didn't want that to happen again. Brad leered at Melanie, both of them ignoring me.

"What the hell is that supposed to mean?" Brad snapped, and Melanie shrugged.

"Just that your own family didn't want you, you have no business poking around in someone else's family business."

"Are you serious?" Carly yelled. "Have you been drinking again?"

"It's none of your business, Carly!" Melanie shouted.

"You know what? Fuck you, Melanie! I can't believe I made the mistake of trying to help you!" Brad yelled. "You are beyond help! Go to hell!" With that, he turned, stomping up the stairs.

"Brad!" Carly yelled. "Wait!" She turned to look at Melanie. "You are SUCH a bitch!" With that, she scrambled up the stairs after Brad. I decided to let the bitch comment go, because this time Melanie deserved it, and the latest admission that she recreationally took Xanax had really caught me off-guard. Who knows what else she did?

"Ugh, overly sensitive people, I swear," Melanie responded, flipping her hair over her shoulder. "Sam?"

"What?" I grunted, not wanting to deal with her.

"Give me a Xanax. Please?"

"No!" I shouted. "God, you're turning out just like Mom! What is wrong with you, Melanie?"

"We've been over this, I AM like Mom! Now give me a zanny!"

"No!" I replied, shoving the pill bottle into my pocket. Oh god, I wish Freddie hadn't taken these things, because if he hadn't he would've jumped down Melanie's throat already, something I wasn't willing to do, but right now he was half asleep! These things were WAY too strong!

"You're such a buzzkill now!" she snapped. "Whatever, I'm going back out!"

"But, Melanie...I'm tired," Emily stated, and Melanie just rolled her eyes.

"I see the buzzkill's rubbing off," she stated. "Fine, then stay here, I'm leaving."

"But, Mel!" Emily cried, only to be shoved to the side as Melanie trudged to the door and opened it, slamming it behind her and leaving me and Emily staring at each other.

"How much did she drink, Em?" I asked softly, and Emily shrugged.

"Three, maybe four..." she sighed. "Sam?"

"Yeah?"

"I know she's your sister and all, but..." she trailed off, sighing. "I think when we get back to Raleigh, I'm gonna break it off."

"I think you should," I said quietly, and she looked at me, surprised.

"Really?"

"Yeah. She's not gonna change unless her behavior costs her something."

Emily sighed. "I don't know if I'm important enough to make her change."

"No, but you should respect yourself enough to not let anyone treat you like shit."

Emily shrugged. "It's tough to find a good girlfriend."

"I wouldn't really know much about that," I replied with a shrug. "But you deserve better."

"But, she's your sister."

"I know. She's got the Puckett blood in her, and...well, let's just say the genes are not the best," I said with a sigh. "I got the violent streak. Looks like she got the affinity for mind altering substances."

"That's an understatement," Emily said with a sigh. "I'm gonna go upstairs."

"Okay," I replied. "Just...if you need anything, let me know."

"I'm sorry we've been so much trouble, Sam."

"It's cool," I replied softly. "It's not your fault."

"Yeah, but...I know it's stressing your husband out. Your sister, I mean."

"She's stressing everyone out," I replied, and Emily nodded.

"Well," she said awkwardly. "Good night."

"Night, Em," I replied. Emily headed up the stairs, leaving me alone with Freddie, who still had his head in my lap, sleeping. I looked down at him, stroking his hair, bending down to kiss his forehead.

I had a lot of thinking to do. Melanie had been keeping a lot of stuff from me while she was on the other side of the country, and it was all beginning to come out. I loved her to death, and she needed help, but I had to think long and hard about the damage she was causing in my own life right now. She was upsetting my two best friends, and had been one of the contributing factors of Freddie being on anti-anxiety meds. Okay, so that wasn't entirely her fault, it was also the show, the baby, me, school. But he'd been even more wound up since she arrived. That wasn't good.

Plus, I had to think long and hard about having Melanie around my child, if she was going to continue to be like this. I'd promised myself that anything I had to deal with growing up, the baby would never even be aware of. No abuse, no unstable home environment, and certainly not living with a bunch of liquored and drugged up adults. It was a terrible, frightening way to live, and I'd made a vow that it would never happen to my old children.

If Melanie couldn't handle that, then I'd just have to let her go.


	22. Chapter 22: Nice to Know You

**A/N: This could quite possibly be the most dramatic chapter in the story YET. Enjoy!**

**Chapter Twenty Two:  
><strong>**Nice to Know You**

~*Carly*~

"Brad, what are you doing?" I asked as he rifled through the closet. He didn't answer me, just grunted a little, continuing to dig through the closet, clothes flying this way and that. "Brad?"

Still no answer.

"Brad, baby, talk to me!" I cried, getting off the bed. His back was turned, and he wouldn't even look at me.

"Not right now, Carly," he finally said.

My eyes narrowed as I finally realized what he was up to, and I walked around to the other side of the bed, opening the bedside table drawer.

"Looking for this?" I asked, holding up his emergency bottle of Jack Daniels. He turned to look at me, taking a deep breath.

"Give it to me," he said, and I shook my head.

"No."

"Carly..."

"I said no!" I cried. "You've done so good, you're gonna let one mentally unstable girl, who you HATE by the way, throw you off? You've gotta be kidding me!"

"I need a fucking drink, Carly!" he shouted. "First my dad, and now..."

"And now what? More stupid people saying stupid shit? Brad!" I cried, taking a few steps backward as he walked around the bed. "Forget it! You can't control what other people do, but you can control yourself!"

"Give me the fucking bottle, Carly!"

"No!" I yelled, jerking it out of his grasp. "I can't believe you're acting like this!"

"If Spencer came to you right now and told you he never wanted to see you again, what would you do, Carly? And...and fucking Melanie! I need a drink right now, okay? Just ONE!"

"She said some messed up stuff to me too, baby!" I replied. "And forget about your dad! He's an asshole, we know this!"

"But..." he trailed off, shaking his head. "Just give it to me, Carly."

"No!" I yelled, leaping onto the bed as he dove for the bottle. "You are NOT drinking tonight!"

"Carly, I swear to god..." he shook his head. "Don't do this. Don't push me. You know I'm stronger than you."

"Are you THREATENING me?" I yelled, slightly shocked, but more pissed off than anything. He didn't say anything, just glared at me.

"Give me the bottle," he said in a low voice. I stared at him for a second, before taking a deep breath, throwing the bottle to the floor, the shattering sound of glass ringing through the room. "What the fuck, Carly?" he shouted. "Have you lost your mind?"

"Yes, I have!" I screamed. "Because of you! Because of her! Look at you! You've LOST it, Brad! You have fucking LOST IT!"

"And I'd be a lot more pulled together if I had a drink, but you obviously don't want that to happen! I'm not gonna let you tell me what to do, Carly!"

"Well guess what?" I shouted. "If you drink, I'm not gonna marry you! How about that?"

He mentally stepped away from his rage, staring at me in surprise. "What?"

"You..." I took a deep breath, trying to keep my strength. "You heard me. It's either me, or the alcohol. You choose. If you choose wrong, then you can get the hell out of here right now, and never come back!"

Brad's shoulders slumped, and he turned around, walking to the loveseat, before falling back onto it, leaning forward, head in his hands, mumbling.

"What did you say?" I asked, my arms crossed over my chest.

"I said I'm a fucking mess, Carly," he replied. "I can't keep doing this."

"You can't keep doing what?" I asked softly, and he shrugged.

"Putting you through this," he replied. "I love you. And...and I don't want to hurt you."

I sighed, walking over to the loveseat and sitting down next to him. "Then don't drink."

"It's so hard."

I was silent for a second, and my hand went to his, holding it in my lap, before kissing him on the side of his head. "Do you need to go to a meeting, baby?"

He shrugged. "I don't want to."

"That's not what I asked," I responded. "Do you need to?"

He was silent.

"Brad?"

"I think so," he said softly. "I just...I fought for so hard, you know? Hating my parents, wishing they were out of my life, resenting having to take care of my siblings...and now? I would give anything to get it back. I just...I'm a failure, Carly." He stopped for a second, taking a shaky breath, and I could tell he was holding back tears. "I'm a failure."

"No, you're not," I replied. "You're still a good person. And your dad's gonna be singing a different tune when you sell that screenplay you've been working on. What he did today was out of line. And Melanie...well...yeah, I kinda want to strangle her."

"Don't do that," he said flatly, and I shook my head.

"Don't worry, I'm not going to," I responded. I didn't add that I had other ways of dealing with Melanie. I was sick of the way she acted, and her comments to Brad had gotten to him so much that we'd had our worst argument to date, and now I had alcohol sinking into my floor and broken glass everywhere. I wasn't a vindictive person; I wasn't even a sneaky person, but this was different.

This was war.

I looked over at Brad, still shaken up, and my hand went to his chin, pulling it toward me, my lips brushing across his, before standing up.

"I love you," I said. "I'm gonna go get a broom and a mop, to clean this up. You're not gonna start licking the floor while I'm gone, are you?"

He laughed, shaking his head. "No, babe. I'm not that desperate. I'm sorry. I just...I lost it for a second."

I nodded. "I know. But can you do something for me, before I get back?"

"What's that?"

"Be naked," I replied with a smile. "Because after I clean this up, I gotta clear your head."

"That's not really necessary," he started, and I gave him a shocked look.

"Are you turning down sex?" I cried, and Brad made a face.

"Oh, god, what am I saying?" he replied. "Jeez, I AM messed up! Never mind, I'll be naked when you get back!"

I gave him a grin, leaning down to kiss his forehead. "Good boy. Don't get started without me."

"If I'm looking at your pictures, does it count as starting without you?"

I laughed, walking to the door. "Just wait, you pervert!"

With that, I headed downstairs, pulling the broom and mop out of the closet. It was all dark downstairs. I guess Sam had finally managed to get Freddie up and drag him to their room. Freddie on his anti-anxiety medication was an amazing thing to behold. In the seven or eight years I'd known him, I'd never seen him like that, and Sam was right, it WAS a little disturbing. I figured he'd need a few days to get used it, that was all. Still, I just hoped it wouldn't affect his schoolwork, or all the stuff involving Sam he needed to get done. Sam didn't like it one bit. I guess she was used to Freddie always being on top of things, and seeing him that way had really thrown her for a loop. It probably reminded her of her mom...or Melanie.

God, I didn't know what had happened to Melanie, but I knew I didn't like it, not one bit. She'd always been pretty out there, even compared to Sam, but this was just ridiculous. She was out of control, and it was bleeding onto the rest of us. And I just couldn't let that happen.

~*Sam*~

I rolled over, groaning a bit as I felt the sun shining in my eyes, and turned my head back, burying my face in Freddie's shoulder, smiling when I felt his arms go around me. He lifted his head to kiss my neck, and I sighed happily. Guess the meds had worn off.

"Morning," he whispered in my ear, kissing a trail up my neck to my mouth, kissing me slowly, sweetly, intensely. I wrapped my arms around his neck, pressing against him, continuing to kiss him. I wondered if we would ever care about morning breath, because it hadn't happened yet. One of my hands went through his hair, tugging slightly, and he groaned against my mouth, grabbing my leg and pulling it over his side, grinding into me.

Ugh, I loved waking up like this. It happened more often than not, making love before we were even fully conscious, and after last night, I needed a little bit of reconnecting with the REAL Freddie. I didn't like what Xanax did to him. I wanted him to stop being so stressed out, but not at the expense of taking away from his personality and everything that made him...well, Freddie.

His hands went to the t-shirt I was wearing...his shirt, technically, and pulled it over my head, his mouth finding my breasts, and I moaned a little, my back arching and head going back. Oh, this felt so good...

He kissed lower, pulling my underwear off before yanking off his boxers, and moved back up to kiss me, grabbing both my legs and wrapping them around me, grinding against me, and I gasped a little as I felt him slide into me.

"Oh, baby!" I moaned. "You feel so good..."

"I love you," he murmured, kissing me again as he moved against me in a slow grind. In no time at all he had me bucking against him, back arching, head going back, moaning, my nails digging into his shoulder as he kissed all over my neck, his tongue sliding over my collarbone, then finding my mouth again. He hadn't even opened his eyes yet! It was almost funny, even without seeing me, he knew exactly what to do. He was THAT good at reading my mind, my body, my heart. God, I loved him, and I'd be damned if anyone tried to come in between us. Even my own sister.

Those thoughts were quickly pushed out of my head as he brought me closer and closer to the edge, my legs shaking, body quivering, as I convulsed against him, crying out his name as I felt my whole world collapse around me.

"Oh god, BABY! Freddie...oh god...yes..."

"Sam..." he groaned against my neck. "You feel amazing...oh god...I...FUCK!" he hissed as I felt him explode inside me. He laid there for a moment, trying to catch his breath, shivering a little as I ran my fingertips lightly up and down his back. He finally pulled away, laying back down, before looking over at me.

"Did I say anything stupid last night?" he asked, and I shrugged.

"Not nearly as stupid as my sister," I responded, and his eyebrows went up.

"What the hell did I miss? And what...what happened? I don't remember ANYTHING!"

"You were pretty gone, baby," I replied, and he groaned, his arm going over his eyes.

"I do NOT like being out of control like that," he moaned, and I just pulled his arm off his face, kissing him.

"I know. But I mean, you just kinda laid there. You said a few things, but..."

"I didn't say anything bad, did I?"

"Well, you told Melanie you didn't like her..."

"That is a very true statement," he replied, and I rolled my eyes.

"And you told me I was pretty."

"Also a very true statement," he said. "So, what else happened?"

"Well, Melanie walked in, drunk..."

"Again?"

"Again. And then she saw you laid out on the couch, found out you were on Xanax, and...god, Freddie, it was so bad," I whined. "She does them like...recreationally!"

"What?" he replied. "Why? I don't like it! It's horrible!"

"Well, that's not what you said last night. Last night you kept saying everything was awesome."

"Oh god," he moaned. "I turned into Brad?"

I laughed a little, remembering the comment I'd made about Freddie turning into Brad last night. It was funny, Freddie and I had very different personalities, but we tended to think alike a lot of the time.

"Anyway, so Melanie starts demanding Xanax...and you know how Brad's dad came by yesterday and told him to stay away from Bryson? Well, she just had to attack Brad on his family shit, the DAY it happened!"

"Are you serious?" Freddie responded, his eyes wide. "What a bitch!"

"Freddie!" I hollered, smacking his chest. "She might be unstable, but she's still my sister, so DON'T call her that!"

"Sorry," he said sheepishly. "Alright, well, I don't know what to tell you about the Melanie situation, but one thing's for sure, I am NOT taking that shit again! I don't like it! I mean, I spaced out to the point I don't remember anything, Sam! I'm pretty sure I didn't finish the taxes, did I?"

"Well, you made some progress..." I offered, and he gave me a Look. "Okay, fine, you're behind. But you can get it done today, I'm pretty sure."

"What time is it?"

I looked over at the clock. "Ten-ish. Take your shot, and I think you should just try half a pill. Just to see if it makes a difference."

He sighed, rolling his eyes. "Forget it, Sam!"

"Freddie, come on! I mean, at least you weren't stressed out..."

"I was drugged, Sam! I don't like that shit!"

"Baby, please? Half? For me?" I gave him a puppy dog look, and he sighed in resignation.

"Okay, fine! Half! But that's it, for the entire day!"

"Great," I responded, kissing him, before throwing my shirt back on and getting up, heading to the bathroom. "Be right back," I called over my shoulder, and he just grunted, laying back on the bed and turning the TV on. After I used the bathroom, I opened the medicine cabinet, pulling out the disgusting prenatal vitamins and folic acid Freddie forced me to take, along with one of his insulin pens, but then I frowned suddenly.

I KNEW for a fact I had put those anti-anxiety pills in the medicine cabinet before I went to sleep, second shelf, and now I was staring at NOTHING. What the hell? I scooted around a few things, wondering if I'd just put it somewhere else and not realized it. I was beginning to develop what people called "baby brain" and so I was forgetting things sometimes, but the pills were NOT in the medicine cabinet. Oh my god. I rifled around the bathroom frantically, coming up empty handed.

"What are you doing in there?" Freddie called, and I huffed, aggravated, before storming back into the bedroom.

"Okay, Freddie, what the hell?" I asked, crossing my arms over my chest, and he looked at me quizzically.

"What?"

"Look, it's one thing if you don't want to take them, but you didn't have to hide them!"

"What are you talking about?" he responded, looking at me like I'd lost my mind. "Sam, come on! I didn't even have the strength to move last night! And you said while I was on them, I loved them, so why would I hide them? Think about what you're saying, baby! I don't hide things from you!"

I frowned. "God, you're right."

He sat up. "So...wait, they're gone?"

I nodded. "Yeah. I know I left them in the medicine cabinet." I walked back into the bathroom, grabbing his insulin pen and tossing it at him. "Take this."

"Are you sure you didn't misplace them? I mean, you know you're being forgetful, and...oh god, please don't kill me," he said, holding his hands up when he noticed the death glare I was giving him. I just rolled my eyes.

"Pills don't get up and walk off by themselves, baby."

"I just told you I didn't take them, Sam! Come on!"

I shook my head. "I know you didn't. But someone else did. I'll be right back." I went to the door, pulling it open.

"Sam, wait!" I whirled around to glare at him.

"Freddie, if you start in on me about not getting into confrontations because I'm pregnant, I swear to god..."

"I'm not!" he interrupted. "Put your robe on. That shirt's too short."

I looked down, frowning, before letting out a heavy sigh and grabbing my robe, slamming the door behind me as I headed up the stairs. I knew exactly where I was going. I was DONE with my sister.

~*Brad*~

I stretched a little bit as I opened my eyes, rolling over to look at Carly, who was still asleep. Even when she was sleeping, with no makeup on, hair wild, I thought she was the most beautiful thing I'd ever seen. I loved that girl to death, and I felt like such an ass with the way I'd behaved last night. I'd treated her like absolute shit, all over alcohol. Not only did I feel terrible about it, but I felt embarrassed. Embarrassed that I'd let a substance take control of me, embarrassed that I'd let one dumb girl's comments get to me. Of course, my dad had gotten to me too, but I'd taken it out on Carly, and she didn't need that. I had to get myself under control. I'd been doing really well, but it was only until I'd gotten upset. Then I'd tried to start it up again. If Carly hadn't stepped in, I would have been right back to where I started from, and that wasn't what I wanted.

Plus, the girl had given me an ultimatum. Under normal circumstances, I HATED ultimatums, but this was different. Carly was worth it. She was worth giving up the drinking for, without a doubt. And even though I hated to admit it, I probably did need to be in Alcoholics Anonymous or something. I wanted to get it under control BEFORE I went back to school and started up with all kinds of new stress. I had to. I couldn't lose Carly over this.

I leaned forward, kissing her forehead, and her eyes fluttered open, giving me a small smile.

"Hi," she murmured, her voice still thick and groggy from sleep.

"Hey," I replied, pushing her hair off her face. "Sorry about last night."

She shrugged. "I'm sorry for what Melanie said to you. And it's okay. I mean, the making up part was fun," she said with a grin, and I laughed a little, kissing her. "Did you mean what you said?"

I nodded furtively. "I did. I'm gonna look into some stuff today, Carly. I...I can't lose you. Especially over something stupid like alcohol."

"You know your dad's gonna come around, right?" she asked, and I shrugged.

"I hope so. But even if he doesn't...I can't let him control me, right?" I asked, and she nodded. "I mean, he's still controlling me, just in a different way."

"Exactly," she responded, leaning forward to kiss me. "And I'll help you with whatever you need, we just-" she frowned suddenly as we both looked up at the ceiling, distracted by the sound of yelling.

"What is that?" I asked, sitting up.

"It sounds like Sam," Carly stated, her eyes widening. "Should we..."

"Yep," I replied, getting up and pulling on a shirt and pants. "Get dressed. Let's get up there, now, and find out what's going on."

Carly quickly got dressed, and we both headed up to the studio. The door was standing wide open, and Sam was standing there in her bathrobe, screaming her head off at Melanie, who looked absolutely stunned.

"I didn't take them, Sam! I swear to god!" she cried.

"Liar!" Sam shrieked. "Are you fucking kidding me, you junkie?"

"Sam!"

"I HATE YOU, Melanie! I tried to help you, this is how you repay me?"

"Whoa!" I hollered, stepping in front of Sam. "What is going on?"

"She took them, Brad!"

My brow furrowed. "Took what?"

"I got up this morning, the anti-anxiety meds were GONE! She stole them, OUT OF THE MEDICINE CABINET!"

I whirled around to look at Melanie, my eyes wide, completely in shock.

"This is a new low, even for you, Melanie!"

"I didn't steal Freddie's meds, you guys!" Melanie cried, looking upset. "Please! You have to believe me!"

"You are a liar and a thief, Melanie!" Sam screamed, looking around for Melanie's duffel bag. Her eyes settled on it, and she quickly walked over and grabbed it. "Where did you stash them?"

"I didn't take them!" Melanie yelled, rushing over to her. "Get out of my stuff!"

"If you didn't take them, you wouldn't care if I looked!"

"Get out of my bag, you nosy bitch!" Melanie cried, and Sam's eyes flared with anger. She pulled her fist back, and I rushed over to her, grabbing her arm and yanking her back before she could make contact with Melanie's face.

"Sam!" I yelled. "Come on! Don't go down that road again! You're better than this shit, come on!"

"Let go of me!" she screamed. "I'm gonna kill her!"

"Sam!" Carly yelled. "Calm down!"

"Why? Why should I calm down?" Sam responded, jerking out of my arms. "Get off me, Brad!"

"Then don't hit her!" I replied, grabbing her shoulders and shaking them. "Where's Freddie?"

"He's taking his shot," she replied, before glaring at Melanie. "If insulin got you high, would you have taken that too?"

"I didn't take his pills!" Melanie responded.

"You begged me for them last night, and I wouldn't give you any, is it so hard to believe that you'd steal them?"

"I'm not a thief!"

"Just a druggie! Just like Mom!" Sam yelled.

I heard the sound of somebody stomping up the stairs, and I breathed a sigh of relief, knowing Freddie was on the way up, and he was the only one who could calm Sam down.

"Sam?" Freddie asked, walking into the room. "Baby, calm down."

"I can't calm down!" Sam yelled. "She stole them!"

"I didn't steal his pills!" Melanie yelled. "He probably hid them!"

"What?" Sam cried. "Are you retarded?"

"He wants me out!"

"Oh, give me a fucking break!" Freddie yelled. "I was unconscious most of the night! And I'm not an immature little brat like you, Melanie!"

"Fuck you, Freddie!" Melanie spat.

"Do not talk to him like that!" Sam yelled, shoving her sister, moving to hit her again, before Freddie grabbed her, locking his arms around her.

"Calm down," he said into her ear in a low voice. "Baby. Calm down. She's not worth it."

Sam took a deep breath, so upset she was shaking, before glaring at Melanie. "I want you out of my house, and out of my life."

Melanie gave her sister a pained look. "Sam, please, I didn't..."

"Enough!" Sam yelled. "You stole my husband's medication, you insulted my friends, you embarrassed me in public, I'm DONE! Everyone else is right, you can't be helped! You are beyond help!"

"Sam, please don't do this," Melanie begged, and Sam shook her head.

"I want you gone."

Melanie just shook her head slowly. "You're the only person left, Sam..."

Sam shook her head again. "I WAS the only person left, until you fucked me over. We're done."

"But..."

"I said, we're done!" Sam responded. "You have an hour to pack up all your shit and get out! I don't give a fuck where you go, just get OUT of my life, Melanie! You're DEAD to me!"

"Fine, fuck you too!" Melanie snapped. "You stupid bitch!"

"What the..." Sam jerked out of Freddie's arms, moving toward her sister again, and Freddie grabbed her quickly as I stepped in front of her.

"Freddie, get her downstairs!" I said. "Before she has a breakdown. Sam, you don't need to be this riled up. The baby, remember?"

Sam took a series of deep meditative breaths, nodding slowly. "Just get her out of here, Brad. I never want to see her again." She looked up at Freddie, and he nodded, letting her go, before grabbing her hand and pulling her out the door.

"I...I have to check on Sam," Carly muttered, heading for the door. I nodded, before turning to look at Melanie, who was crying.

"I didn't take his pills, Brad! I swear! You have to talk to her!"

I just shook my head slowly. "I don't believe you. It's better if you leave." I looked over at Emily. "Emily, you can stay here as long as you need."

She shrugged. "I should probably go with Melanie."

Melanie gave her a shocked look. "Probably? So you're on their side too?" Emily just looked down at the floor, and Melanie turned back to look at me. "Brad, please."

"I told you. It was a mistake trying to help you. I knew it, Carly knew it, Freddie knew it. And now Sam knows it. You just pushed away the last person who cared about you with your bullshit."

"But..."

"Guess I'm not the only one who's family gave up on them. Maybe now you'll get it." With that, I gave her one last glare, before turning around and walking out the door.

~*Freddie*~

"Man..." Brad trailed off as we all sat downstairs. "I cannot believe this. I mean..."

Sam grunted, continuing to shuffle around the kitchen, slamming and banging cabinets shut.

"Baby, why don't you let me do that?"

"I've got it," she said flatly.

"But, baby..."

"I said, I'VE GOT IT!" she snapped, glaring at me, and I sighed, leaning back against the couch. I decided not to chastise her for needlessly snapping at me, she was upset and couldn't really help the way she was acting right now. She walked over to where I was sitting, setting a cup of coffee in front of me, and I looked up at her in surprise.

"Um, thanks?"

She shrugged. "I could be on a massive killing spree and I'd still take care of you," she grunted, before turning around and walking back into the kitchen.

I was still in shock by what had happened. I knew Melanie had a problem, but I didn't know that her problems were so bad she'd actually resort to stealing other people's medication. It didn't matter though, whether she had problems or not. I'd had it awhile ago, and now Sam had had enough as well. She was so incredibly hurt, and I suspected it was not just because of what her sister had done, but because she'd made Sam so angry she'd resorted to trying to hit her, something she hadn't done in years, and had made a massive effort to change. I just had to let Sam work all the anger and frustration out of her system, and then the sadness would take over, and I'd help her through it. Like always. A thought occurred to me, and I leaned in toward Brad conspiratorially.

"On the plus side, since we can't find the meds, I guess I don't have to take them now."

"Nice try, Fredward!" Sam yelled, glaring at me, and I winced as I realized she'd heard me. I just groaned.

"Sam, come on."

"We just have to report them missing, they'll issue you another prescription. You're not getting off the hook!"

"Fine," I replied, not wanting to get into a fight.

Brad and Carly just sat there awkwardly, not sure of what to say, and I was kind of in the same boat. I'm sure as soon as Sam left the room we'd all start going off about what a bitch Melanie was, but for now it would just upset my wife even more, and we all knew that.

I heard the thump thump thump of Melanie's luggage rolling down the stairs, and rolled my eyes, standing up.

"For your sake, I hope you didn't mess with anything in the studio," I growled, and she just sighed, shaking her head.

"I'm not that kind of person."

"I don't really know what kind of person you are, Melanie. I thought I did, but..." I shrugged. "Guess I was wrong."

Melanie just shook her head. "I didn't steal those pills."

"We don't believe you," Brad stated, standing up. "Time for you to go."

"Sam, please!" Melanie called toward the kitchen, but Sam didn't respond, pretending to be busy.

"Get her out of here!" Sam yelled, opening the fridge and sticking her head in, similar to an Ostrich sticking its head in the sand.

Melanie sighed in resignation, and Emily walked down the steps a little bit later.

"Sorry," she said weakly, and I just gave her a small smile.

"It's okay, Em. Have a great life, okay? You deserve better than what you're getting."

She just shrugged. "I'm still gonna watch iCarly."

I laughed a little. "Sounds good."

Emily tossed one final look at Melanie before walking out the door, leaving it standing wide open, and Melanie just looked over at Sam longingly, before a single tear slid down her face, her shoulders slumping. With that, she picked up her bags and walked out, shutting the door behind her.

Sam looked over at the door, leaning against the fridge, before straightening up and walking in the direction of the bathroom. "I'm gonna get a shower," she said, sounding oddly nonchalant, considering she'd just kicked her sister out of her life.

"Baby, are you okay?" I asked, and she nodded.

"Yeah, I'm fine. So...the taxes?"

I groaned, running a hand through my hair. "I should probably get started. Are we still gonna go out tonight?"

"Do you want to?" she asked, and I nodded.

"I guess. It'd be good after all the stress, right?"

"Yeah," she replied softly, walking toward me and giving me a quick kiss. "I love you."

"Love you too, baby. Go get a shower, I'll be out here."

"Okay," she replied, before walking into the bathroom and shutting the door behind her.

I sighed, flopping down on the couch next to Brad.

"I can't believe this shit," I stated, and Brad nodded.

"I thought she was just a drunken bitch, but it's worse. She's a druggie bitch."

"Well, she's gone now," I said. "And hey, Carly, we didn't even have to do anything."

Carly just nodded, sighing a bit, and Brad poked her.

"Do anything?"

"We were gonna try to force her out early," she replied, and Brad frowned.

"You know, I'm not super cool with that, but in light of the situation..." he trailed off, shrugging. "Whatever. What's done is done."

"Yeah. What's done is done," she responded softly, staring at the ground.

I frowned, looking at Carly strangely. She seemed a little bit too sad by all this, when not twenty four hours ago she was ranting about getting rid of her. "What's up with you, Carly? You should be way more happy than you are right now."

"I feel guilty," she replied, and I stared at her, confused.

"What do you mean, you feel guilty. We didn't do anything!"

"You're right," she replied. "We didn't."

"So why the guilt?"

She just sighed. "I don't know. Look, it's still a little early. I'm gonna go try and get some sleep."

"Okay," I responded.

Carly leaned forward to give Brad a kiss. "Wake me up in two hours?" she asked, and he nodded.

"You got it," he replied. With that, Carly headed up the stairs, leaving me and Brad alone. We sat there quietly for a moment, and Brad cleared his throat.

"What?" I asked, and he shrugged.

"I almost caved last night."

I stared at him, shocked. "What do you mean, you almost caved?"

"Well, you were a little bit out of it..."

"That's an understatement," I scoffed, and Brad rolled his eyes.

"Anyway, after my dad stopped by, and Sam and Melanie got into it, I tried to step in...Melanie said some pretty rank shit...I literally RAN for the damn bottle, man."

"Holy shit!" I exclaimed. "So what happened?"

"Carly got ahold of it, and smashed it all over the floor. And then she threatened to leave me if I drank anymore."

"Wow," I said, completely at a loss for words. "So what now?"

Brad shrugged. "So now, I'm twelve steppin' it," he responded, and I nodded.

"That'll be good for you," I noted, and he just sighed.

"I hope so. I can't lose Carly."

"Well, look on the bright side. Melanie's gone. That should cut down on the drama."

"Let's hope so," he replied with an annoyed sigh. "Man, I can't take any more."

"Hell of a way to end a year, right?" I asked, and he just groaned.

"Just think, a whole new year of drama to look forward to."

"Ugh, please stop," I grunted, before standing up. "Alright, time for some good old fashioned sadism. Kill me now."

"Thought you were into that," he said with a grin, and I just laughed, tossing a pillow at him.

"Only when Sam's doing it. UNCLE Sam, on the other hand? Forget it." I trudged toward the stairs, coffee in hand. "On that note, I'll be upstairs. Yell if Sam has a meltdown, okay?"

"Sure thing," he replied, turning on the TV. I rolled my eyes. Lucky bastard he was, but still, I'd rather suffer through it than risk Brad handling the taxes and make a mistake.

I had six hours to finish the tax return, bring Sam back down to earth, and get ready to go out.

So much for not being stressed!


	23. Chapter 23: Sink Beneath the Line

**A/N: Short chapter, hopefully more coming soon!**

**Chapter Twenty Three:  
><strong>**Sink Beneath the Line**

~*Sam*~

"You've gotta be kidding me!" I exclaimed as I perused over Freddie's schedule. "Are you trying to give yourself a heart attack?"

Freddie shrugged, grunting a little. "It's not that bad, Sam."

"Not that bad?" I exclaimed. "Freddie! Sixteen credit hours a week? I only have twelve! And I'm Pre-Law! You're insane!"

"Well, since SOMEBODY won't let me take classes this summer," he said pointedly. "And I'm planning on taking a lighter course load in the fall...I just thought I'd push it a little harder this semester. Come on, you know I can handle it."

"I know," I replied with a sigh. "I just worry about you." I fell back onto the bed, laying my head on his shoulder, and he kissed my forehead softly.

"Well, thanks for worrying, baby. But I'm good," he responded. "Let me see yours."

I handed him my schedule, and he looked over it. "Wow."

"What?"

"You're gonna be writing a lot of papers this term, baby."

I shrugged. "I know. But papers aren't that hard for me. Math, on the other hand..."

"You know I'll help you," he replied.

"You seem oddly calm today," I noted, and he groaned.

"Don't start in on me about those damn meds, Sam..."

"What?" I replied. "I'm just saying, it's working!"

"Yeah, since they cut the dose in half!" he replied with a frown. "But I guess you're right..." he trailed off, trying to change the subject. "How's my little baby Benson doing today?"

"Good," I responded, my hand rubbing my stomach. "Not making me pukey or anything."

"Thank God," he sighed, kissing me. "I love you, Sam."

"I love you too, baby."

"Has Melanie tried calling you today?"

"Not today," I responded. "I guess she got the hint after the twelve ignored calls and a half dozen texts that I didn't want to talk to her."

"Probably," he agreed. "I'm sorry things worked out the way they did, baby."

I nodded solemnly. "Me too. But...whatever, you know? It's done. I couldn't have someone like that around my child."

"Sounds oddly like Mommy talk," he said with a grin, and I poked him, laughing a little.

"So...what do you want to do tonight? Brad and Carly are gonna be at that meeting..."

"Wanna go out?" he asked, and I looked up at him, surprised.

"Really? We never really go out anymore."

"Only because it takes massive effort to drag you out of the house," he pointed out, and I grumbled a bit.

"Well, until fancy restaurants start allowing sweats, it's out of my hands," I replied. "All my pants are really starting to bug me."

"How so?" Freddie asked, and I shrugged.

"It...it's weird, I'm not showing yet, but I can feel the pressure on my stomach when I wear jeans and stuff...it's really uncomfortable."

"Baby!" he exclaimed, exasperated. "Why didn't you say something?"

I shrugged. "We had enough to deal with..."

"So?" he replied. "That doesn't mean I want you uncomfortable! You wanna go get some new clothes?"

"Ugh, like...maternity clothes?" I replied. I wasn't quite ready to deal with that yet. I mean, I'd accepted that I was going to get bigger, but the idea of specialized clothes for it...it did NOT put my mind at ease one bit.

"Yes, maternity clothes, baby," he responded with a roll of his eyes. "Look, I don't want to worry you, but...I don't think wearing pants with buttons or tight skirts is gonna be all that good for the baby's development."

"You think?" I asked worriedly, and he nodded.

"Come on, if anything, let's just go look, okay?"

"Alright," I said with a sigh, sitting up. Freddie sat up too, his hands rubbing my shoulders, and I sighed, my head going back. "You're too damn sweet, you know that?" I asked, and he just smirked, kissing my neck.

"I try," he replied.

"You succeed," I responded, before getting off the bed, opening the bedroom door. Freddie followed me out, and we found Carly sitting on the couch, perusing her schedule.

"Hey!" I called, and Carly jumped about two feet in the air. "Sorry, did I scare you?"

"Scare's a strong word. Startled maybe," she replied. "What's up?"

"Nothing. Did you get your schedule all worked out? Where's Brad?"

"Doing battle with a professor about getting into a specific class that he's missing a prerequisite over," she responded. "He'll be back soon, I'm sure. And...ugh...so I get World History out of the way, and you know what's waiting for me? US History! College hates me!"

I looked over at Freddie, raising my eyebrows, and he shrugged.

"Freddie's forcing me to buy maternity clothes," I stated, and Carly turned to look at me, her eyes traveling over my body.

"Why? You're not showing yet!"

"Her jeans are getting a little tight on her stomach," Freddie filled in, plopping down next to her. "Wanna come? Be the fashion coordinator?"

"Well..."

"Come on, Carly!" I said, shaking her shoulders from behind. "It'll be fun! Please? You know Freddie has no sense of style..."

"Sitting right here, honey," Freddie said with a roll of his eyes. I just waved him off, focusing my attention on Carly.

"Come on, Carly!" I exclaimed. "Help me help me help me!"

"Oh my god!" she laughed. "Okay, fine! I'll go!"

"Good," I responded, standing up and giving her a grin. "You need to lighten up, kid. You've been acting weird the last few days."

Carly frowned. "No I haven't," she responded lamely, and Freddie and I gave each other Looks.

"Enough with the silent communication!" Carly exclaimed. "It's creepy!"

"Can't help it. It's what we do, you know that. But what's up with you?" I responded. "You've been acting out of sorts the last few days. Why?"

"I haven't!" she replied, and Freddie rolled his eyes.

"You totally have, Carly," he replied. "Are you just worried about school? Brad?"

"Yeah, I am," she sighed. "A lot."

"Well, you'll be fine!" I responded. "And Brad too. I mean, he's already gone to three meetings, he's doing really good!"

"Yeah, I know," she said softly. "I still worry though."

"Well, stop it!" I responded, swiping at her hair. "Now get up! These big belly baby jeans aren't gonna buy themselves!"

She rolled her eyes, laughing a little. "Fine, just let me text Brad real quick, okay?"

"Hurry," I responded, going into my room to grab my bag and shoes. With that, I followed Freddie and Carly out of the apartment, Freddie quickly grabbing my hand and interlacing our fingers together.

I was so glad I had him in my life. The Melanie situation was terrible. I was so incredibly hurt over the entire thing, trying to keep it together for the sake of my health and the baby's health, but I wouldn't have been able to do it without Freddie's help. Normally I was used to Carly's support as well, but she was just being odd lately. I know she was stressed, but she was abnormally stressed, and it was beginning to really throw me off. I didn't like seeing my best friend upset, and I didn't know what to do to make her feel better.

But still, I had to try, right?

~*Freddie*~

I rolled my eyes as I heard the girls giggling through the dressing room door, banging on it.

"What are you two up to?" I asked, only to be met with more giggling. "Sam! What are you doing?"

Sam flung the door open, and I rolled my eyes again as I took in the sight of those two. At maternity stores, they had these little strap on baby bumps so women could see how they looked in maternity clothes full-term before they actually started to show, but Carly and Sam had strapped them onto their backs.

"What the hell?"

"Look, we're turtles!" Sam said, laughing hysterically, and I grunted.

"What about the jeans?"

Sam stopped laughing and looked at me. "What jeans?"

"The ones you were supposed to be trying on, baby! They're gonna kick us out of here if you two keep goofing off!"

"Well, I NEVER!" Carly said with a gasp, rolling her eyes. "Time for another pill?" she asked, and I glared at her, pointing.

"Don't bring that up, Carly. Especially not in public. Sam, the jeans?"

"Fine, I'll try them on," she said with a sigh. "What's got you so worked up, baby?"

"It's almost six!" I responded tapping my watch. "We have somewhere to be, and so does Carly!"

"Oh my gosh!" Carly gasped, her eyes wide. "I gotta call Brad and get him to pick me up!"

"Yeah, I think you should," I replied with a roll of my eyes. "You don't want to bail on him right now, trust me."

"I know that, Freddie!" she snapped, stepping out of the dressing room and pulling her phone out of her bag, walking away from me. I gave Sam a Look, and she just rolled her eyes, shutting the door.

"Well?" I asked after a moment.

"They fit funny!" she hollered. "I don't like them!"

"Baby, come on! Put that thing on, and then try them on!"

"I am not putting on the camel hump!"

"It's not a camel hump!" I shouted. "It's...just do it, okay?"

"Ugh, fine!" she responded. I just sighed, leaning against the wall, staring up at the ceiling.

Truthfully, it wasn't Sam who was getting on my nerves, but Carly. She claimed to be worried about Brad, but she was taking this thing way too lightly, especially for someone who'd given him an ultimatum, and Brad had told me at the gym yesterday they hadn't talked about the wedding AT ALL. I wondered if Carly was treating the entire thing as some sort of status symbol, like, "Look at me, I'm engaged!", which just didn't sit right with me. I loved Carly like a sister, but she needed to take this thing seriously if she was going to go through with it. Brad had enough to deal with, he didn't need to worry about whether or not Carly was serious about this whole thing.

Something else was off about her too, I just couldn't put my finger on it, but the girl was just being weird...a little bit stand-offish, except to Sam, and just...not herself. I couldn't tell if it was worry over school, if she was having seconds thoughts about Brad, or what, but...something was off.

But right now I didn't want to think about that. School was about to start back, and I was going to have my work cut out for me, and I was taking the night off drama to spend time with Sam before we got thrown back into all of it. Drama downtime was a rarity for the two of us, and with school starting, and Sam continuing to progress into her pregnancy, we didn't have a lot of time left just the two of us.

"Well?" Sam asked, opening the door, and I studied her carefully for a moment.

"Looks good," I said, and she shook her head.

"I look lumpy!" she replied.

"Baby!" I laughed. "Come on, they'll shrink! And I mean...like I said, you will grow into them. Remember? Incoming baby?"

"Ugh," she whined. "I don't want to get bigger. I wish people could just lay eggs. Like platypi."

"Wait, what?" I responded. "The platypus is a mammal."

"A mammal that lays eggs," she shot back, and I shook my head.

"Not possible. Mammals don't lay eggs, Sam."

Sam glared at me, her arms crossed over her chest.

"Would you like to make this disagreement a little bit more interesting?" she asked, and I smirked at her.

"Whaddya have in mind, sweetheart?"

"Well," she responded, taking a step toward me, her hand running down my chest. "If I'm right...I want a massage. A good massage. A LONG massage. With a very, very happy ending."

Mmm, the idea of running my hands all over my wife's naked body for an extended period of time sounded like a reward, not a punishment. I just smiled at her, nodding.

"Sounds good," I responded, kissing her. "And if I'm right?"

"Well, you're not," she replied, laughing when I frowned. "But if you are, I'll do the same for you."

"Deal," I replied, taking her hand and shaking it. "Go get your regular clothes on...did you find what you wanted?"

"Well, I guess..."

"You guess?"

"I can't decide between a few things," she replied. "And this place is expensive, so..."

I cut her off with a wave of my hand. "It's fine. We'll get all of it."

"All of it?" she exclaimed. "But...Freddie..." she trailed off, her eyes flicking this way and that, and I could tell she was trying to do math in her head, which wasn't her strong suit, but she'd managed to get better at it over the last year or so. She finally looked at me, her eyes wide. "It'll be like five hundred dollars, baby!"

I shook my head. "It's fine. We're gonna have to spend it eventually anyway, best to get it out of the way now, right?"

Sam stared at me for a second, looking surprised, before slowly shaking her head. "You know, maybe those pills aren't such a bad idea after all," she stated, and I glared at her.

"Very funny, sweetheart. Now go get dressed. I'm gonna look up this platypus business on my phone real quick. Prepare to lose!"

Sam rolled her eyes, walking back into the dressing room. "There you go, mixing us up again!" she shut the door, and I flipped through my phone, pulling up a search engine in my browser, and quickly typing in, 'does the platypus lay eggs?'

"Well, Sam, the results are in, and unfortunately, mother nature has to remind you of common sense, because I..." I trailed off, frowning, as I stared at the screen in shock. "LOSE? Oh you've gotta be kidding me!"

"Told you!" Sam shouted victoriously as she emerged from the dressing room. "Ha! The platypus is an egg laying mammal!"

"There's no way in hell!" I shouted. "It doesn't make sense!"

"Have you ever SEEN a platypus, Freddie? The whole animal doesn't make sense...it's like half duck half beaver!"

"Yeah, but..." I couldn't believe this. I was sure the girl had baited me, but then again, I'd walked right into it, so it was my own fault.

"So...where are you taking me for dinner? Before my massage?" she asked with a smile, her arms going around my neck. I pretended to look angry, but just staring at her beautiful blue eyes made me melt. I couldn't stay mad at her, even if it was pretending.

"What do you want? Chinese? Thai? Steak?"

"Ooh, meat!" Sam replied with a laugh. "Steak steak steak!"

"Okay, baby," I replied with a laugh, before kissing her. "You're lucky I love you, you know that?"

She nodded, giving me a sweet smile. "I am definitely lucky."

~*Brad*~

"So..." Carly asked me as she sat at the counter, watching me rustle around the kitchen. I turned to look at her, sighing a little.

"So what?" I asked, and she shrugged.

"So what'd you think about tonight?"

"Ugh, I gotta be honest, I really don't like these damn meetings, Carly...they're so damn cheesy."

"Yeah, but cheese works for some people," she offered, and I just grunted.

"The only place I want cheese is on my nachos," I responded, turning my back to her and going back to chopping up vegetables. I heard Carly make a disgusted noise, but I didn't bother to turn around and look at her.

"Real mature, Brad! I thought you were taking this seriously!"

"I AM, Carly! But that doesn't mean I can't think some of it's cheesy, because it is! And I'm not nearly as bad off as some of those people...not to mention Melanie."

"God, can we just forget about Melanie?" she hollered. "I am sick to death of talking about her!"

I gave her a quizzical look. "What's with you? You fly off the handle every time someone mentions her. I mean, I'm sorry, Carly, but...what she said to you was mild compared to what she said to me...or did...to Sam and Freddie. Why are you still so bent out of shape? It happened, let it go!"

"Number one, she hit on me, Brad, and number two, she almost drove you back to the bottle! That is a big problem in my book, something not to be taken lightly! But I don't want to talk about her! I just want to forget she exists, okay?"

I shook my head. "Something else is going on with you. You've been acting weird lately."

"How have I been acting weird?"

"A little removed, honestly," I responded.

"I've been going to the meetings with you," she replied softly.

"Yeah, I know you have, babe, and I honestly appreciate it, but that doesn't leave you off the hook from everything else in our life. You're pulling away again. Are you still upset about the way I acted the other night?"

"No!" she replied. "I just...I dunno. I'm stressed. Thinking about school and all."

I nodded. "I understand, babydoll. But remember what we said? If you don't tell me there's a problem, I can't fix it. Right?"

"Right," she agreed. "I'm sorry, Brad. I'm sure once school starts back up and I get back into the swing of things, I'll adjust."

"I hope so," I replied.

I went back to chopping up vegetables, and a few minutes later, the front door swung open, Sam storming in, followed by Freddie.

"Sam! I'm telling you, you've gotta be sick!"

"I'm not sick, Freddie!" she said, whirling around to glare at him. "I wasn't hungry!"

"I took you to a damn steakhouse, around MEAT, Sam! There is no way on earth you can turn it down, even when you're not hungry!"

"Look, I just...I didn't want it!" she replied.

"Uh, hi!" I said, waving a little. "Guess the date didn't go off as you planned?"

"No!" Sam responded, flopping down on the couch and crossing her arms. "Everything was fine until...oh, never mind."

"What's going on, Sam?" Carly asked, frowning. Freddie plopped down next to Sam, who just leered at him.

"Come on, baby, don't be mad at me. I'm just concerned, that's all. The thought of you turning down steak worries me a little bit."

"Wait, what?" Carly and I cried.

"She turned down MEAT? From a cow?" Carly exclaimed. "Sam! Are you sure you're not sick? The morning sickness isn't flaring up?"

"I'm fine, okay?" Sam shouted. "I just..."

"You just what?" I replied, and she huffed.

"I didn't like the way it smelled!"

Carly gasped, completely shocked by Sam's latest admission. Sometimes the only way to get Sam to do anything was to bribe her with meat products, and the fact that she was willingly turning it down, well...something was off.

"I see that Kansas City Steak membership was money well-spent," Freddie grumbled, and Sam gave him a hurt, surprised look.

"I'm sorry, okay?" she cried. "I...dammit, Freddie!"

"Ah, shit, baby, don't cry, I'm sorry," he responded, his arm going around her. "I didn't mean it. Don't cry."

"These freaking hormones!" she exclaimed, wiping her face. "I swear, this has gotta be some epic conspiracy against women to..." she paused, sniffing the air. "What is that?"

"What's what?" Carly asked.

"That smell," Sam replied, standing up, leaving Freddie sitting there, looking confused.

"I don't smell anything, Sam," he said, and Sam rolled her eyes.

"You guys are just messing with me now! Whatever it is, it smells amazing, and I want to eat it!"

I froze, looking over at her suspiciously. "What?" I replied.

"You're cooking something. What are you cooking?"

"Uh, I'm not, Sam," I responded, looking at her like she was nuts.

"You are so full of shit!" she shot back, walking into the kitchen where I was standing. "You have food, I want it, and...oh no!" she moaned as her eyes settled on what I was messing with.

"See, I'm not cooking, Sam!" I stated, rolling my eyes. "It's just vegetables. Just raw vegetables. You're imagining things."

"No! I smelled something, and..." she leaned forward, taking a whiff of raw vegetables, and her eyes widened. "You've gotta be kidding me. I hate vegetables!"

"Then back off!" I replied, and she shook her head.

"Give them."

"NO!"

"I wanna eat it, Brad!"

"Sam!" I hollered as she grabbed the entire chopping board of vegetables and ran towards the bedroom with it. "Give me my damn veggies!"

"No! Get your own!" she shouted.

"Those were my own, you crazy nutbag!" I replied, looking over at Carly and Freddie. "Dude," I said to Freddie. "Something is definitely wrong with Sam. She's turning down meat and eating vegetables. You'd better consult your preggo library on this."

Freddie glared at me, shaking his head. "It's not a preggo library. It's a few books!"

"Thirteen is not a few, Freddie," Carly stated with a roll of her eyes. "I'm sure this is somewhere on the spectrum of normal, but...Sam...with veggies? Yeah. Twilight Zone. Totally."

"No kidding," Freddie replied, standing up. "I'm gonna go check on her, I'll be back, maybe."

"Maybe?" I replied, and he just grunted.

"Damn platypusses."

"You mean platypi?" Carly asked, a confused expression on her face.

"Damn them too!" Freddie shouted, before walking into the bedroom and shutting the door. I looked over at Carly in amazement.

"Is it just me or are those two getting weirder and weirder by the day?"

"Well, in Sam's defense she's pregnant," Carly started, and I shook my head.

"And Freddie's defense?"

"He's married to Sam," she said flatly.

"Good point," I replied, before trudging over to the refrigerator, sighing as I bent down to paw through the vegetable drawer.

"Do you want some help?" she asked, standing up, and I shrugged.

"I guess."

"Okay, where's the other cutting board?"

"In the bottom cabinet."

Carly grabbed the cutting board and the vegetables I'd just pulled out, trying to chop them up, but failing miserably. I had to laugh. She tried so hard when it came to cooking, but it just didn't work for her.

"Carly, be careful, don't..."

"OW!" Carly shrieked.

"Cut yourself," I said with a sigh. "Damn. Let me see." I took Carly's hand in mine, looking over it carefully. It didn't look too bad, but it had caught just right and she was bleeding quite a bit. "Are you okay?"

"It hurts," she whined. "I give up on cooking!"

"You can't give up, Carly!" I said with a laugh, kissing her on the forehead. "You just need practice."

"Not at the expense of losing fingers!" she shot back, and I rolled my eyes, before reaching over and tearing a paper towel off and handing it to her.

"Here, wrap it in this, I'll go upstairs and get you a band-aid. Are they still in your desk drawer?"

"Yeah," she sighed. I walked away from her, heading for the stairs, when she let out an alarmed noise.

"Brad, wait!" she cried. "I'll get it!"

"Nah, babe, it's fine, I don't mind. Just wait there."

"But, Brad!" she stated, rushing over to me. "I said I'll get it."

I gave her a strange look. "What's wrong with you? You don't want me going in your desk? Since when?"

"I...I'm not," she stammered. "I just...I..."

My eyebrows went up when I realized she was bullshitting me, and I glared at her. What could she possibly have hidden in there?

"Stay there," I said in a firm voice, and she shook her head.

"Let me get it."

"Carly, sit your ass down," I growled, before walking upstairs, ignoring Carly's shouts at me. I headed into our room, straight for Carly's desk, and yanked open the drawer, pulling out the band-aids.

For a second I thought I was being paranoid, but as I reached into the back of the drawer, my hand hit something that felt like a pill bottle. I pulled it out, and my jaw dropped when I realized what I was looking at.

You have GOT to be kidding me.


	24. Chapter 24: Quicksand

**A/N: Starts of with a hot little lemon! I think my internet situation may be fixed for the time being, but I don't want to jinx it! Anyway, here you go!**

**Chapter Twenty Four:**

**Quicksand**

~*Freddie*~

"I think you're right, I think there IS something wrong with me!" Sam cried in between mouthfuls of carrot. "I mean...I love...steak...and vegetables, they're just so...damn why does thing taste so good?" she exclaimed. "I can't believe this! This baby hates me!" She flung the carrot down on the floor, crossing her arms over her chest.

I shook my head, laughing a little, quickly shutting up when I noticed the look she was giving me. "Baby, come on. It's not that big of a deal. It's normal to crave weird things when you're pregnant!"

"Yeah, in the third trimester!" she shouted, and my eyebrows went up.

"So you HAVE been reading the books," I observed, and she just grunted.

"Maybe."

I leaned forward to kiss her and wasted no time intensifying the kiss, my hand tangling through her hair and holding her head steady, trying to take her mind off things, smiling against her mouth as I felt her arms go around me, moaning a little. It didn't take much sometimes to get her started, and I loved that about her. It made me feel like a stud, I had to admit it.

"Yeah, forget about the damn carrot," I growled, before going back to kissing her, my hands tangling through her long blonde hair.

"Well, what about my massage?" she replied, and I gave her a smile, my hands going to the bottom of her shirt and pulling it over her head, quickly unhooking her bra.

"Lay back," I stated, my hand going to her shoulder and pushing her back, and she just did what I said, her eyes focused on me the entire time as I unbuttoned her pants, pulling them down. "So...any particular areas you want me to pay special attention to?"

She laughed a little. "I'll give you three guesses, but you're only gonna need one."

"In time, baby," I replied, bending down to kiss her. "You know, I've given you a lot of massages, hundreds probably, but none of it will compare to this."

"Why?" she asked, and I shrugged.

"You'll see," I replied. "Now quit talking, and relax." I pulled the bottle of oil we kept in the bedside table drawer out, brushing her hair off her shoulders, before opening the bottle, slowly dripping it over her chest and over her stomach. She gasped as she felt the droplets hit her.

"That's cold," she muttered, and I just smirked at her.

"I'll warm you up," I responded. I put the bottle down, leaning over her to rub the oil into her shoulders, over her neck, trailing my hands lightly over her collarbone, making little circles with my fingertips, and she sighed a little, closing her eyes. "Does that feel good?"

"Mmhmm," she responded. "I love the way you make me feel."

"Good," I replied. "Just getting started." I rubbed up and down her arms slowly, going back to her collarbone again, trying to tease her, my hands traveling lower. She took in a deep breath in anticipation of my hands on her breasts, her breathing ragged, then letting out a frustrated moan as I skipped over them entirely, running my fingertips over her ribs.

"Baby," she whined. "Don't tease me."

"Just relax," I replied, applying more pressure and traveling down to her hips, toying with the waistband of her underwear, before sliding it off her and then rubbing her thighs, squeezing a little, making her moan. I slid my hands under her suddenly and squeezed her tight little butt, making her yelp in surprise, her eyes popping open. I just gave her a grin.

"Couldn't resist."

She rolled her eyes, shaking her head a little bit, but I could tell she was slightly amused. I went back to rubbing her thighs, back up to her hips, over her ribs, and then back down again. She squirmed a little; I could tell I was turning her on, and she desperately wanted me to touch the one area I refused to give attention to. I moved back up her body, rubbing everywhere except her breasts.

"Freddie..." she whined.

"Shhh..." I responded. "Just be patient. I'll give you what you want, don't worry. Thought you wanted a long massage," I teased her, and she sighed.

"I did, but..." she trailed off, shaking her head. "Please."

"Nope," I responded. "I'm not letting you rush me."

She sat up suddenly, the intent to kiss me plain in her eyes, and I just shoved her back down. "Lay down," I said forcefully. "You act like a bad girl and it's gonna be even worse."

"Oh, god..." she moaned. She LOVED when I talked to her like that, it never failed to rile her up, even when she was angry with me. It was a trick I kept in my arsenal specifically for when she got angry, because it would shut down her fury in a matter of seconds. I went back to my task of rubbing all over her body, before grabbing her hips and rolling her onto her stomach without warning, making her gasp in surprise.

I pushed her hair aside, and she watched me over her shoulder carefully as I pulled my shirt over my head, leaning forward to kiss the back of her neck, and she moaned a little. I dripped more oil over her back, sitting back to rub up and down slowly, and she let out a loud groan as I worked over her muscles. Further down I went, rubbing her lower back, her ass, her legs...man, I loved doing this. I loved touching her, running my hands all over her, and even though it was driving her crazy, I loved doing that too. I slid both hands up her thighs, coming closer and closer to my intended target, and she whimpered a little as she tried to squirm to get my hands closer to where she really wanted them. When my thumbs hit just centimeters away from her sweet sex, she started to do my favorite thing: beg.

"Freddie, please..." she whined. "Oh god, this is killing me..."

"No it's not," I said with a laugh, and I laid over her, sliding my bare chest over her and kissing her neck, grinding against her. "You love this."

"Please..." she said again, and I shook my head.

"Nope. I'm not done with you yet, baby. Not by a long shot."

She could only whimper as I pulled away and flipped her back over.

~*Sam*~

Freddie was going to drive me absolutely insane, and the thing was, the boy knew exactly what he was doing, and he was doing it on purpose!

He loved teasing me, but he was definitely taking it to a different level tonight, probably because I'd proved him wrong on something and that irked him. Or maybe just because he liked teasing me. That was probably it, but oh god, he was REALLY teasing me tonight!

His hands were moving everywhere, except the areas I wanted most, and I was beginning to lose it. It felt good, but not good enough, and I wondered how long he'd keep this up. He kept running his hands down my sides, over my stomach, across my hips. Every single touch felt electric, and the massage oil just made it even more so. Freddie pulled my legs apart, bending them at the knees, running his fingertips lightly up the inside of my thighs, stopping just a few inches short of where I really wanted him to touch, and I growled at him.

"Freddie, quit teasing me!" I gasped. "You're driving me insane!"

"Poor baby," he responded, giving me a grin. "So impatient."

"Ugh!" I whined when I felt his fingers move in slow circles right where my womanhood met my thighs, up and down, up and down...oh my god, this was maddening.

He leaned forward, kissing me, his chest rubbing over mine, but kept his hips far away so he still wasn't touching me there, driving me crazy, one hand going into my hair to pull my head back and licking behind my ear, another sensitive spot. I tried to put my arms around him, but he just pulled away, giving me a mischievous look.

"Freddie!"

"What is it, Sam? Am I driving you crazy?"

I gasped as his hands went back to my thighs. "You know you are!"

"This is what you wanted, right? I've told you a million times, be careful what you wish for..."

"Well I wish you'd stop teasing me and get down to business!" I responded. "What do you think about that?"

He just shook his head. "Not yet. Just relax. I mean, I've only been doing this for..." he paused, looking at the clock, and then grinned at me. "Thirty minutes."

I hadn't been keeping track of time, but I was in absolutely agonizing need, and now I knew why...he rarely dragged it out this long anymore. It reminded me of back when we'd first gotten married and he'd spend literally hours driving me up the wall.

"What would you do if I just attacked you right now, forced you to fuck me?" I growled, and his eyes widened, before regaining his bearings.

"Don't make me tie to you to the bed, Sam," he threatened.

Whoa. We'd only done that once, a long time ago...back then, I was still a little bit uncomfortable with it, because of the Bill situation, but a lot had changed. I knew for a fact my sweet husband could never and would never hurt me, and I was almost curious what he'd do if I pushed his buttons hard enough.

"You don't have the balls," I challenged, and his eyebrows went up.

"Sam..." he warned. "Don't push me."

I sat up and did just that, gave his chest a little shove, and he growled, pushing me back onto the bed and kissing me roughly, holding my hair with one hand, pinning my hips down with the other. I squirmed, trying to get free, but continued to enjoy the way his mouth felt and tasted. I loved when we got like this...battling for dominance, and all the teasing REALLY had me worked up. But I'd have to play this right, or he'd tease me even more. I tore my mouth away from his, sinking my teeth into his shoulder, and he groaned, grinding against me in spite of himself. I moaned, my hips jerking. That was the first contact I'd felt down there since he started this, and god, it felt good. He quickly realized what I was up to and jerked away.

"Be still, dammit!"

"No!" I replied, sitting up and glaring at him, crossing my arms over my chest. He glared at me wordlessly, before shaking his head, an amused expression on his face.

"Bad decision, baby," he growled, before standing up and walking over to the dresser, pulling out one of his ties. "You're fucked."

"Not if you can't catch me," I replied.

"Oh, I think we both know I can," he stated. "You sure you wanna do this?"

I shrugged. "See, I think you're forgetting I'm all oiled up, so getting a good grip on me is gonna be that much harder."

"I'm up for the challenge," he responded, casually twirling the tie around in the air.

"Then bring it on, baby," I said, and he took a step toward the bed, shoving the tie into his jeans pocket. I eyed him carefully, waiting for him to make the first move, but he just stared at me, waiting for me to do the same. It seemed like our eyes were locked on each other forever, when he suddenly dove at me. I quickly rolled away, but his arm caught my waist and dragged me back, his chest against my back. I squirmed, trying to get free, but he just held me steady, his hand going to my chin to turn my head so he could kiss me. I kissed him back passionately for a minute, letting him think he had me, and then I suddenly nipped at his bottom lip.

"Ow!" he yelled, jerking his head back. As soon as I felt his arm relax, I slid away, getting off the bed, and he sat up, glaring at me. "That wasn't very nice, you know."

"I'm not trying to be nice right now," I responded.

"Would have been a lot easier on you if you had, Sam," he responded, standing up. I took a few steps back, but that was a mistake, because he lurched forward, slamming me into the door, his chest pressed against mine, licking over my neck, nibbling, biting a little. I moaned, trying to push him away, but he caught my wrists and lifted my arms over my head, pinning them against the door. When I felt him grab both wrists with one hand, I knew I was fucked.

"You are SUCH a bad little girl," he growled in my ear, before biting it. "You know what happens when you act like a bad girl, don't you Sam?" he stated as he pulled the tie out of his pocket, taking his time wrapping it around my wrists. I didn't respond, I was too busy looking up at my arms. He had me pinned with his hips against the door in a way that I had no chance of escaping, and I have to admit, I was INCREDIBLY turned on right now.

"I asked you a question, sweetheart," he said, leaning down to nip at my neck again. "What happens when you're a bad girl?"

"You treat me like a bad girl," I replied, and he nodded.

"Exactly. And you are being very, very bad right now. Guess I'm gonna have to straighten you out," he said, finishing up tying the knot on the tie. "Can you get out of that?"

I pulled on the tie a little bit, frowning when I realized I couldn't, and just shook my head, sighing in resignation.

"Good," he replied, grabbing the end of the tie and pulling me toward the bed, pushing me down onto my back. As he tied the end of it to the headboard, he looked down at me. "You sure you're okay with this? You trust me?"

"Always," I replied, and he just gave me a smile, leaning down and kissing me softly.

"Good. Because you're in for one hell of a night, baby."

"You've already teased me past the point of no return," I pointed out, and he just smirked, reaching into the bedside table drawer.

"Have I?" he asked, and my eyes widened as I realized what he was holding.

"Oh no," I moaned. "I thought I wore that thing out."

"Yeah, well, I picked up some more batteries. Try not to scream too loud."

Of course, as he turned our little toy on and began running it up and down my thighs, it quickly dawned on him and I both that me not screaming was a literal impossibility, but he just grinned at me, and continued to tease and torment me.

"Let's see how long I can keep THIS going for," he stated, and I groaned helplessly. I should have known better than to rile him up, I was seriously done for this time.

Maybe this time, when he tried teaching me a lesson, maybe it would stick.

But probably not.

~*Carly*~

I really wanted to bite my nails nervously as Brad was upstairs, but I couldn't, because one hand was bleeding, and the other was holding onto the paper towel trying to stave off blood flow. I had really, really fucked up this time.

I don't even know WHY I did it, other than the fact I was furious at the time, and desperate to get Melanie out of the house, so I did it.

I took Freddie's pills and hid them, knowing Sam would blame Melanie and kick her out. But I hadn't expected Sam to kick her out of her life, just the apartment. And now I didn't have the guts to tell anyone the truth. I knew Sam would hate me, probably Freddie too. And Brad was going to be furious.

I steadied myself as I heard Brad stomp down the stairs, giving me a glare.

"Here," he said, walking over and slamming a band-aid down on the table.

"Um, thanks," I said softly, not meeting his eyes.

"Do you have anything to tell me, Carly?" he snapped, and I shrugged.

"Like what?"

Brad sighed, shaking his head, and began to pace. "I told you a million times, don't stick your nose where it doesn't belong! And do you listen? No! Do you ever listen? No! You know, trying to come up with little schemes to aggravate Melanie into leaving, but this?" he tossed the pill bottle at me. "This is absolutely unconscionable! Have you completely lost your mind?"

"But, I was only trying to help!" I said defensively.

"Do you realize that Sam could have called the cops and had her ARRESTED? She'd either have a mark on her record, or when it got out that YOU took them, YOU'D get arrested! For theft and for framing your best friend's SISTER!"

"Brad, it's not that big a deal, it's..."

"It is a HUGE deal, Carly! You have permanently damaged a relationship between two sisters! How could you do that? You know how much hell I've been going through not being able to see my siblings, you see it EVERY DAY, and then you turn around and do it to someone else? Are you just completely heartless, Carly?"

"No!" I yelled. "I'm not! But she was messing things up for everyone! She made us fight! She embarrassed me in front of Spencer and April! She almost sent you back to drinking, Brad!"

"But am I?" he shouted. "Am I drinking? No! And we fight! Big fucking deal! This is a million times worse than some mixed up girl with emotional problems saying things to hurt your fragile feelings! You RUINED Sam's relationship with Melanie! And who knows what Melanie is going through right now!"

"But you hate Melanie!" I replied. "Why are you on her side?"

"Because you fucked up, Carly!" Brad yelled. "I may hate the girl, but she's still a human being, she's still Sam's sister, and you had no right to do that! What you did was wrong on so many levels!"

"I didn't hear you saying it was wrong when we did it to her mother," I shot back, and he glared at me, shaking his head.

"That was different, Carly, and you know that. We were trying to protect Sam, not trying to make our own lives easier! You did this because you wanted Melanie out! You did this because you didn't want Sam to spend all her time trying to help Melanie and no time with you! You've been superglued to her since Melanie left! If Freddie wasn't in there right now banging her senseless, you'd STILL be on her ass!"

"Just shut up, Brad," I grunted. "I was trying to help."

"Yeah, well you've got a really fucked up way of helping, you know that? I never expected anything like this from you, Carly! Forget Melanie for a second, you know Freddie's a damn basket case and needs something for his anxiety. What if he wouldn't have been able to get another prescription?"

I just stared at him, his words sinking in. He was right, I hadn't thought about Freddie, my guilt was centered on Melanie, but still. I didn't want to back down, feel stupid. I may have felt guilty, but I felt guilt over the whole Bill/Pam thing as well, even though I knew what we did was right. I wasn't going to let Brad manipulate me into feeling even worse!

"Well, he did, and he's fine! He didn't like taking them anyway, Brad!"

"Yeah, well, he hates taking insulin too, you gonna take that away from him and let the boy go into a coma so he won't have to do something he doesn't like? Are you that stupid, Carly?"

"Don't call me stupid!" I cried. "I'm not the stupid one! You're the one taking a bird major, my classes are actually hard!"

"History's not hard. War, war, war...new country, war, alliance, war war war. Yeah, really hard."

"Easy for you to say, what are your classes, Point and Shoot 101? I'm not the stupid one, Brad!"

He just shook his head, leering at me. "Real nice, Carly." He walked over to the coat hanger, grabbing his jacket and pulling it on. "I can't even look at you right now. I'm going to the gym. After I throw these in a dumpster."

"Wait, so you're not gonna tell Sam and Freddie?" I asked, confused, and he shook his head.

"No."

"Why not?"

"Because I don't want to lose my friends over this. I'll inevitably get pulled into it somehow, and I don't want that. Plus, I don't want the business to suffer."

"But what about us?"

He shook his head again. "I don't know. But you can deal with your guilt on your own, because I'm not gonna help you with that."

"Oh, so you can't support me, when I support you in your alcoholism?" I shot back, and he turned around, glaring at me.

"That is fucked up to even bring that up, Carly! And I am this close to calling off this entire engagement, not to mention the relationship."

"What?" I asked, shocked, and he just shrugged.

"We both know the only part of this engagement you care about is that damn ring. I'll be back."

"But, Brad..."

"Don't wait up," he replied, slamming the door shut.

I stood there in shock, backing toward the couch until I fell back on it, and started to cry. I'd fucked up so bad, Brad was so angry at me, and if HE was this angry, there was no telling how angry Sam and Freddie would be. I rolled my eyes as I heard the sound of somebody, either Sam or Freddie, get slammed against their bedroom door and then the sound of Sam moaning. I wondered if they would ever calm down, even after the baby was born, but I seriously doubted it.

But right now, all I could think about was Brad, and what kind of mood he'd be in when he got back.

~*Brad*~

I tried to ignore the way Sam and Freddie kept looking back and forth at Carly and I like they were watching a tennis match, but those two obviously knew something was up. Carly and I were barely even speaking right now, and not for Carly's lack of trying. I was so disgusted with her right now, I could barely even look at her, much less look at her. The tension in the room was so thick, you could cut it with a knife. It was a shame I had wasted the last few days of winter break being pissed off at Carly, but any other reaction just WOULDN'T be appropriate. I knew how painful it was to be on bad terms with your family, regardless of how batshit crazy they may be, and the fact that Carly had basically framed Sam's sister in an effort to push things in that direction just DIDN'T sit well with me. Still, I wasn't COMPLETELY ready to call it quits, not yet. I knew people made mistakes, and this was probably the worst one Carly had ever made, but I knew my anger would wear off eventually. But for now? I just wasn't in the mood to talk to her.

"So..." Sam said awkwardly. "Is everyone ready for class?"

"I am SO ready," I responded. "First class of the day, entirely about lighting concepts! How awesome is that?"

"It's great!" Sam responded. "I mean...for you."

"Hopefully you'll put some of this newfound knowledge into the show?" Freddie asked me, and I shrugged.

"Of course. Maybe you'll consider what I said about shooting iCarly in high-def?"

"Maybe you'll look at how much it COSTS to shoot a show in high-def like that?" Freddie shot back. "The bandwidth fees are going to be outrageous, and..."

"And we can afford it, baby!" Sam cut him off. "I mean, we're sitting on a massive cash pile in the business account that nobody touches!"

Freddie made a face. "That reminds me, I kinda wanted to talk to you guys about something."

Carly and I both looked up at him. Freddie being reminded of something involving money usually wasn't a good sign. It either meant we were gonna have to pay out more, or he wanted to cut something, or both.

"Okay, go ahead," I pushed him, and he sighed.

"I was crunching some numbers last night...I'm sure you guys aren't gonna mind one bit, but it suddenly dawned on me that...and I hate to say it, but...five grand a month really isn't enough with everything that's going on. So I'm gonna change up the way I do the bank transfers."

"Do tell," I responded, suddenly way more interested. More money was ALWAYS good.

"Eight grand in ours, four each in you and Carly's. Good?" he responded.

"Uh, great!" Carly put in. "More shopping for me!"

I couldn't help but roll my eyes. Typical Carly. Damn, I knew I loved the girl, but all I could see in her lately were her bad qualities. I really hoped I'd be able to get past that soon, or we'd be in big trouble. I just looked at Freddie and shrugged.

"If you guys need more money, you need more money. I don't need more. I'm good for now. I mean, unless I go on a tech buying spree, but I'll probably be fine until the Spring sets in."

"Yeah but...it's not fair if we're taking more money out of the account than you guys!" Sam put in. "We just want things to be balanced."

"If that's what you want, fine," I replied. "Not a big deal. You guys have a kid coming. You need the money."

"Yeah...and...you guys know what's coming soon, right?" Sam asked, and Carly's brow furrowed.

"Uh, the baby?" Carly stated, and Sam rolled her eyes.

"Thank you Captain Obvious! Yes, the baby, but more than that. Freddie and I are gonna have to start looking for a new place, you know that, right?" Sam said. "Which means..."

"We're gonna have to line up a new roommate," I surmised. "Unless we want to pick up where you guys left off."

"Yep," Freddie responded. "I'm sure you won't have trouble, this is a pretty bangin' apartment, but..."

"Uh, I'm sure we will have trouble, Freddie! Nobody's going to want to pay this much on a room!" Carly responded, and Freddie gave her an incredulous look.

"Carly, you have no idea about the rent in Seattle, do you? This place is rent-controlled. If we decide to move OUT of Bushwell, we're gonna be paying WAY more than what this place costs. Just for a two bedroom."

"I thought we talked about this, Freddie. I want a three bedroom," Sam replied.

"And I told you last night, we don't NEED a three bedroom."

"I don't want all your paperwork and computer crap bleeding all over the rest of the house!" Sam shot back, and Freddie rolled his eyes.

"Sam..."

"Freddie!" Sam replied. "I want a three bedroom!"

"Look, I refuse to pay four grand a month for an extra bedroom that will rarely be used when we can get a two bedroom for just two or three!"

"But..."

"Maybe you guys should have this conversation in private?" I pointed out, and Sam just growled at me.

"I'm hungry," she stated, walking over to the fridge and grabbing the plastic bag in the crisper drawer than had about four oranges in it.

"Those are MY oranges!" I yelled, and she shrugged. "Just take ONE, Sam, not the entire bag!"

"I said I was hungry!" she replied. "One orange is like an appetizer!"

"Yeah, for you! Normal people don't eat like you, Sam!"

"I will EAT NORMAL PEOPLE!" she shouted, and I looked at her like she was crazy.

"Dude, you scare me sometimes."

"Yeah well...your face is scary!" she responded, frowning. "Ugh, dammit. Baby brain strikes again. Freddie?"

"Yes, sweetheart?"

"Get me to class before I approach full-blown retard territory, would ya?" she asked, and he just laughed, kissing her on her forehead.

"Sure, baby. Get your coat."

"Okay," she replied, bounding into the bedroom.

"What time are you done with class today?" Freddie asked me, and I shrugged.

"Last one should be over by three. You?"

"Four-ish. Gym afterwards?"

"Yep," I replied.

"Good," he responded. "Cuz I need to beat some information out of you."

"Information?" Carly asked, sounding worried, and Freddie looked at her, a strange expression on her face.

"Just guy talk, Carls, calm down," he stated. "Why so tense?"

"Uh...just...school," she replied. "I'm fine."

"Uh...okay?" Freddie said. "Well, good luck. We'll see you guys. Sam! Hurry up!"

"I'm coming, don't get your damn knickers in a twist!" she grumbled, emerging from the bedroom, her coat on, dragging her messenger bag behind her. "Bye guys! Don't let the institution get you down!"

"Bye!" I responded. "Don't get institutionalized!"

"Very funny," she responded with a roll of her eyes. With that, Freddie and Sam left the apartment, leaving me alone with Carly.

"If you don't want them to find out, you need to stop acting suspicious," I stated, and she looked at me in surprise.

"I'm not being suspicious."

"Well, you're not being yourself, that's for sure."

"How can I be? You're MAD at me, Brad! I can't be myself right now! You're making me self-conscious!"

"Wow, you mean Carly Shay is actually aware of something outside her own little microcosm for once?" I asked, and she glared at me.

"You know...you can be such a dick sometimes."

"Better than being a thief I guess," I replied with a shrug. "Gotta go to class, later."

"Bye," she responded, not even looking at me, and I didn't look at her as I walked out the door, slamming it behind me.

Man, this was bad. We'd never had a rift between us THIS big, but I just couldn't get past what Carly had done. But I was going to keep my word about not telling Sam and Freddie, because it would spin out of control into all sorts of drama we just didn't need right now. The only thing I could do was put a little pressure on Sam to start talking to her sister again, and tonight at the gym I would tell Freddie the exact same thing.


	25. Chapter 25: Lessons

**A/N: Not much to say about this chapter, just read!**

**Chapter Twenty Five:  
><strong>**Lessons**

~*Carly*~

I was so not looking forward to this.

I could already tell it was going to be a bad day, first with the fight, then being reminded Sam and Freddie would be moving out in a matter of months. I didn't like it one bit, everything had been so good, the four of us living in the loft together, but now it all seemed to be ending. I was excited for Sam and Freddie with the baby and all, but still...I would miss both of them, especially Sam. I was also a little bit worried about how Brad and I would get along by ourselves without our two best friends being there. We were already fighting!

Of course, that was my fault entirely. I'd really screwed up with this whole Melanie thing, and I knew it. I was still afraid to tell Sam, and I didn't know how I was going to make it right without risking my own friendship with her. Sam had been my best friend for so long, since we were nine. The idea of losing her over a major misstep in judgment on my part would absolutely kill me! But somehow, I had to fix it.

But right now, I had to concentrate on surviving US History. I hoped it would be a little bit easier than World History, and I mean, let's face it, if I couldn't pass a class on the history of my own country, I probably needed to be shot.

I walked into class and felt a little bit of relief when my eyes landed on my friend Wendy.

"Wendy!" I called, waving at her, and she waved back.

"Carly!" she said happily. "Come sit with me!"

I trudged up the stairs and grabbed a seat next to her, pleased I would have a friend in a difficult class that was sure to kill me. "I didn't know you were in this class," I said, and she shrugged.

"It was either this or Eastern Religion."

I made a face. "Maybe I should have taken that. I could use a lesson in meditation, you know?"

"Why, what's going on? Is everything alright?" Wendy asked. "I thought you'd be all super happy right now, since you just got engaged and all."

I shrugged. "I mean, Brad and I are kinda having a fight right now."

"Over what?"

"Just...stuff..." I sighed, not wanting to go into it any further.

"How's Sam and Freddie? I haven't talked to them in awhile."

"Oh, they're still nuts about each other, and...just plain nuts." I replied. "But they're really excited about the baby."

"Have they found out what it is yet?"

"I don't think Sam's far enough along for the doctor to tell, but either way, they're waiting, they want it to be a surprise."

Wendy made a face. "What? Why? How are they gonna shop for a kid if they don't know what the sex is?"

"That's what I said!" I replied "I mean, maybe they'll just buy a bunch of purple stuff."

"Wait, what?" Wendy responded, confused. "Why purple?"

"Pink and blue make purple?" I said. "Or...lavender?"

"Yeah, a boy in lavender?" Wendy snorted. "Fat chance."

"True. I don't know, really."

"Well, whatever happens, I'm sure they'll...whoa." Wendy trailed off, her eyes wide, and I looked in the direction she was staring at. "Who is that?"

"I have no idea," I replied, looking at the guy she'd pointed out, who was standing at the front of the class, taking some papers out of his briefcase. "He looks too young to be a Professor."

"Yeah, but too old to be a sophomore," she replied. "And he wouldn't be up there if he was a student. Maybe he's a TA?"

"Maybe," I agreed.

"He's hot," she stated, leaning forward on her elbows to get a closer look.

"Eh, I guess. He kinda looks like a young version of the guy from Weezer. I'm not digging the glasses."

"That's because you're shallow," she replied, and I gasped.

"I am NOT shallow, Wendy! I'm just saying, first impressions are important, and if he rocked those glasses in high school, it'd be swirly city for him!"

"Have you ever actually met anyone who's gotten a swirly?" she asked, and I nodded.

"Uh, remember eighth grade? Sam was the undisputed swirly champ."

"It was a bad year for the cheerleading squad, huh?" she replied.

"And the Glee Club."

"And the interpretive dance kids," Wendy added with a laugh. "But who cares about that? Look at him! He's a total fox! I want him!"

"Wendy, be quiet!" I laughed. "He'll hear you!"

"Maybe I want him too," she replied. "Come on, glasses aside, you don't think he's hot?"

"I mean, I guess?" I replied.

I had to admit, whoever he was, he was pretty good looking, tall, thin, with dark hair and dark eyes, wearing a plaid shirt, jeans, and Chuck Taylors, but I just wasn't feeling the glasses.

Everyone started to quiet down when the professor walked in, an older woman named Professor Montgomery. She had a reputation for being pretty tough, and I SO wasn't ready for this!

"Take your seats, please!" She shouted. "We have a lot of ground to cover, and only limited time to do it! My name is Professor Montgomery, as I'm sure you're all aware, and I'm sure you're also all aware that I do not tolerate goofing off, laziness, or American students NOT knowing their American History! This is not, as you say, a bird course! There WILL be a test on Friday!"

I groaned a little to myself, and crossed my fingers that Sam was as well versed in US History as she was in World History, because I'd really need her help this semester.

"Now, before we begin, I'd like to introduce my TA Matthew. If you need any help, I'd suggest you go to him, or hire a tutor, because I don't have the time or the patience to help you! Now we're going to start off with none other than the American Revolution. You!" she shouted, pointing, and I froze in my seat, my eyes widening, as I realized she was pointing at ME. Oh god!

"What is your name?" she asked.

"Uh, Carly. Carly Shay."

"Ms. Shay, can you tell me what started the American Revolution?" she asked, staring me down, and I swear I could feel my entire face turn bright red.

"I...I..." I sighed. "I don't know, really."

"You graduated high school, didn't you?"

"Uh, well, yes..."

"And you're an American citizen?"

"Yeah...but...I..."

"But you don't know anything about how this nation started?"

"No, Miss Montgomery," I started. "I-"

"Professor Montgomery, thank you very much. And just to give you the push you need, why don't you write me a twelve page paper, due on Friday, about how the end of the French and Indian War led to the series of events that prompted the colonies to sever ties from Great Britain?"

Oh my GOD! I stared at her in disbelief. "A twelve page paper?"

"Single spaced. 10 point type, Arial font, if you're feeling particularly verbose you can use Calibri. But no Courier New, got it?"

I took a deep breath, trying to maintain my cool. God, this was just great! Not even five minutes into my first class, and already my professor hated me! Why was this my life?

"Yes ma'am," I said softly, looking down at my book.

"Good," she replied, before turning her back and beginning to write on the white board. "Now, who can tell me the guaranteed natural rights of the first ten constitutional amendments?"

Wendy nudged me, and I looked over at her, my face feeling hot.

"Maybe you should ask the sexy TA for help, and then introduce me?" she whispered, and I rolled my eyes.

"Just be quiet, Wendy."

The lecture seemed to go on forever, and as tough as this professor was, I should have been paying attention, but I was too mortified to do so. I was so relieved when class ended; I wanted to pick up my books, run home, and throw myself in my bed and cry. I also wanted Brad to make me feel better, but with the way he'd been acting lately, it wasn't going to happen. Was this impossible professor punishment from the universe for framing Melanie? I still had one class to get through today, but luckily it was something I enjoyed, screenwriting. Unfortunately, Brad was in that class too, and initially I'd been thrilled, but he was SO mad at me, I was dreading it! I bet he wouldn't even sit next to me.

"Good luck on that paper," Wendy said, patting my arm encouragingly, and I just groaned. "I gotta haul ass, my next class is on the other side of campus. Hey, you wanna hang out this weekend? I'm sure you'll need it after you write that damn paper."

I shrugged. "Maybe. I'll let you know."

"Okay. Text me. Bye girl!" With that, Wendy hurried down the steps and out the door. I collected my books, shoving them into my backpack, and trudged down the stairs, only to be stopped by the TA, Matthew.

"Hey!" he said. "Professor Montgomery really took a liking to you, I see."

I paused. "Is that supposed to be funny?"

"Uh, yeah...but apparently I failed," he replied with a laugh.

"Yeah, apparently," I replied. "So you're the TA? Any advice on dealing with the Prof?"

"Keep your head down and your mouth shut," he replied. "Hey, you do that show iCarly, right?"

"Yeah," I responded. "You've seen it?"

"A few times. Pretty funny stuff. So...you may need my help with the paper, I guess?"

I shrugged. "Sam's pretty good at History, so..."

"Sam?"

"Yeah, my co-host on iCarly? And my best friend?"

"Oh, right. I think I've seen her around campus, bossing some guy around."

I laughed. "That's Freddie. He's our tech producer, and her husband."

"Husband? Poor guy," he stated, shaking his head.

"Yeah, well, they're pretty in love," I replied, slightly irritated that he'd just insulted my best friend. "And Freddie's really happy. He'd never admit it, but he loves it when Sam bosses him around."

"To each their own, I guess..." he replied. "So...you don't need my help?"

"Um, I guess I'll let you know if I do, but I'm gonna ask Sam first."

"Okay," he replied with a shrug. "Just thought you might want to get to know some new people, is all."

"I have a fiance, you know," I responded, sticking my hand out to show him my ring. He nodded, shrugging a little.

"Pity. Well, I'd better go. It was very nice to meet you, iCarly."

"It's just Carly," I replied. "And...nice meeting you too, sort of." With a final nod, I headed out of the classroom, a little annoyed. What a pompous ass! I was pretty sure he'd just tried to hit on me, and he'd insulted Sam and Freddie, which I wasn't cool with! The nerve! I could tell already that US History was going to be absolutely MISERABLE for me!

This was going to be the worst semester EVER!

~*Sam*~

Even though I was having MAJOR baby brain right now, I was extremely pleased with how I'd just handled myself in my Theories of Communication class. I'd absolutely smoked some narrow minded idiot in a very heated but spontaneous debate, and I felt like the instructor was really impressed with me! As I gathered up my stuff, all I could think about was tracking down Freddie and bragging, because I knew he'd be happy for me too. I wanted to make my last semester before I had the baby my best yet, and it seemed like I was off to a great start.

I started to exit the classroom, when the professor shouted at me.

"Hold it!" he exclaimed, and I froze, turning to look at him.

"Yes, Professor Higgins?" I asked, approaching him cautiously.

"What's your name?" he asked.

"Samantha Benson," I responded. "Is there a problem?"

"I've taught Patrick three semesters in a row in various legal classes, and he's always been my best student, do you know that?" he asked, and I groaned. Oh crap, I'd just insulted the Professor's star student. Nice move, Sam!

"No, I didn't know that," I replied, and Professor Higgins continued.

"And you...Professor Kennedy warned me about you. She said, watch out for the little blonde bulldog."

Oh god, bulldog? I stared at Professor Higgins with baited breath, waiting for him to continue, and he just shook his head.

"Samantha, I don't think you're cut out for this class."

"What?" I exclaimed. "How am I not cut out for it? I am a good student, Professor Higgins! I'm dedicated, and I'm smart, and I will go up against anybody! I am absolutely fearless, and I retain information well, and not only that, but I can argue my way out of anything! I am absolutely cut out for this class!"

He laughed suddenly, LAUGHED! You have GOT to be kidding me.

"I'm going to speak with Professor McKinney about placing you in Communication Law," he responded simply, and my eyes widened.

"But...but that's a senior level class!" I argued, completely stunned. "I'm just a sophomore!"

"So?" he responded. "You're smart, Samantha, and ahead of the curve, and I'm pretty sure you just gave my golden boy over there an inferiority complex. So if you can test out, you need to be in Communication Law. You'll still get credit for this class, of course, so you won't be short, but maybe you'll be able to graduate early and get directly into Law School. You shouldn't have any trouble getting plenty of recommendations."

"Well, thanks! I mean, I definitely WANT to take Communication Law early, but...I don't think I'll be able to graduate early..."

"Oh come on, Samantha! You're a smart girl, you could definitely plow through it!"

I laughed, shaking my head. "It's not that, it's...I'm taking next semester off."

"Really? Why?"

I patted my stomach. "Bun in the oven. But after I pop this baby out, I'm going right back into it. My husband and I are really excited."

"Husband?" he replied, sounding surprised. "How old are you?"

"Nineteen," I replied with a shrug. "We got married really early. But I mean, we're happy, and we're doing good. He's an Electrical Engineering major here."

"Hmm, power couple?"

I laughed. "Something like that. So...in light of me taking a semester off, are you still going to recommend me for Communication Law?"

"Absolutely. Otherwise, Patrick may spend every class curled into a ball sobbing."

"Oh, I wasn't that hard on him!"

"You made him stutter!" Professor Higgins responded with a laugh. "It's fine though, we should know by Monday or so whether or not you can move up."

I nodded, trying not to bounce with excitement, or hug the man. "Okay! Great! Thanks so much, Professor Higgins!" I flashed him a big smile, before bounding out of the classroom, pulling my phone out to text Freddie.

I couldn't wait to tell him that I was getting moved up! Guess my nerd of a husband was really going to have some fierce competition on grades this semester! We always tried to turn it into a contest, just to keep things interesting, and this semester, it would DEFINITELY be interesting!

This was going to be the best semester EVER!

~*Brad*~

"So Sam's really getting jacked up to a senior level class?" I asked in amazement as I ducked one of Freddie's hits. "Too slow!"

"If she passes the exam, she will," Freddie replied, swinging at me again and missing. "Dude! Stop bouncing around, you're not Ali!"

"Float like a butterfly, sting like a bee, bitch!" I responded, taking a swing and letting out a surprised yell as Freddie ducked and hit me in the chest, knocking me off balance and sending me down on my ass.

"But clumsier than a hippo," he replied, an amused look on his face. "Get up, butterfly."

"I hate you," I grunted. "So...pretty big deal for her, then? Getting move up, I mean?"

Freddie nodded. "Yeah, she's pretty excited about it. I just hope it doesn't make her..."

"Make her what?"

"Less than happy about taking a semester off. It's just...we both know if she tries to stick it out through Fall semester, she'll get behind when she has the baby, and it'll be a semester wasted, and throw her grades off. She doesn't need that trying to get into Law school, you know?"

"Good point. Still freaking out about your Probability class?"

"Eh," Freddie responded, taking a swing, frowning when I ducked and hit him in the shoulder. "I'll be alright. So..."

Ugh, I recognized that look. "So what?" I asked.

"What's going on with you and Carly?" he asked. "You guys were happy right up until...well, you started going to the meetings. Don't tell me she's being...well, you know."

"Self-centered? Bratty? Shallow?"

"Whoa, whoa, whoa!" he hollered. "Where the hell did that come from? I was gonna say whiney!"

"Oh," I replied flatly. "Well, she's being that too."

Freddie furrowed his brow, staring at me. "What the hell, man? A few weeks ago you were desperately in love with the girl, freaking out about the possibility of her saying no, and now...you're sounding like you can't stand her!"

I sighed, stretching a little. "It's not that. I love her. It's just...a few of her...less-than-desirable traits are coming to light. And no, I'm not going into detail. And I feel like this entire engagement...she's not taking it seriously."

Freddie shrugged. "I dunno what to tell you. I was only engaged for six hours and then...boom, married."

"I'm starting to think you had the right idea," I grumbled, and Freddie rolled his eyes.

"Yeah, right! Sam and I had to put in..."

"A lot of work, I know," I said with a groan. "And you seem to enjoy your work, a lot."

"Oh, I do," he replied with a grin. "Every bit of it. Poor girl, her head's still spinning from the work I did on her the other night."

"Yeah, I had to get out, go to the gym, but what I did hear, it sounded pretty intense. What the hell did you do to her?"

"Ties are such a versatile object, not mere accessories, you know?"

I laughed, shaking my head. "You guys are sick."

"If we're sick, then I do NOT want to be healthy," he replied. "Besides, a little bit of sickness may do you and your woman some good."

"I'm not tying up my fiance, Freddie," I replied flatly, and Freddie shrugged.

"Suit yourself," he replied. "Besides, it wasn't the tying up that drove her crazy..."

"I kinda don't want to know, but I know you're gonna tell me, aren't you?"

"Let's just say I replenished the battery stash," he responded with a grin, and I just laughed.

"Wow. Poor girl."

"Oh, she loved it," he said with a laugh. "I mean...she really loved it."

"Yeah, I get it," I stated, rolling my eyes.

"Had to change the sheets..."

"Dude!" I hollered, cracking up. "Enough!"

"Oh come on, if I can't brag to you, who can I brag to?"

"Start a journal or something, man," I responded.

"Yeah, yeah," Freddie replied with a roll of his eyes. "So...you and Carly? The only thing that's going on is you think she's not taking the engagement seriously?"

"Yeah, why?"

Freddie shook his head. "I dunno. I just get the feeling something else is up. You having doubts?"

"No...I..." I stammered, unsure of what to say. There was no way in HELL I was going to tell Freddie what was really going on, he'd absolutely flip out and I'd have to cram more of those damn pills down his throat to get him to not go postal on Carly. As mad as I was at her, I didn't want that to happen, because when Freddie got fired up, he could say some really mean shit. I still loved Carly, she was just pissing me off right now. I couldn't tell if she really understood what she did was fucked up, or if she was just embarrassed and being stubborn. Carly hated being wrong, I guess like everyone else in the house, but she was definitely wrong on this, and while I thought coming clean to Sam and Freddie right now was a bad idea, I at least wanted her to be honest with me, and to NEVER do anything that sneaky again. If I couldn't trust her not to screw her best friend over, how could I trust her to not screw ME over?

"I'm not having doubts, man...just...worries. Concerns. You know?"

Freddie nodded. "I get it."

I had to scoff at that. "Yeah, right. You and Sam live in your own little perfect world..."

"Again with the perfect?" Freddie snapped. "Are you serious? Sam's back to hating her sister, the poor girl can't eat her favorite thing in the world because the smell makes her sick, and my list of necessary meds are slowly rising. It's not perfect! And yeah, I've had worries and concerns before. I don't anymore, I know Sam's the one, and I can't live without her, but...in the beginning, like right when we first got married and we were arguing? Hell yeah! Girl used to drive me nuts!"

"Really?" I asked, confused. "You never talked about it before."

"You have any idea how incredibly humiliating it is to be slapped on the regular by a tiny little girl like her? Across the face? In front of people? It sucks! And I'll be honest, if she had kept it up, I would have left her. But she changed. She's changed a lot. She's still got her spark that I love...but the girl I married, and the girl...the woman I'm married to now? Night and day, man. And Carly will get there too. Just keep the faith. She's a good girl."

"Yeah, but..."

"Okay, so she's whiney. Big deal. And yeah, a little shallow. And she doesn't always have the best judgment on things."

I couldn't help but think to myself that was a massive understatement, but I didn't say it aloud, just let Freddie continue.

"But she's Carly. And Carly is fun, and sweet, a little misguided at times, but a great person. Don't let a few little doubts scare you off, dude."

I nodded slowly. "Yeah, I guess you're right."

"When am I not right?"

"Well, apparently you can't spot an egg laying mammal," I laughed, and Freddie just grumbled.

"I am ninety nine point nine percent positive the damn platypus is just a reptile pretending to be a mammal. Or...a duck! In costume!"

"Yeah, yeah that's probably it," I said flatly, before changing the subject. "Sam still not talking to Melanie?"

Freddie rolled his eyes. "Of course not. And don't you dare bring that up to her, you'll only upset her. Melanie completely turned into Pam, and Sam doesn't want to be around that, I don't want her around that, and neither one of us want that around our child!"

"Freddie, she's not Pam yet. She made a mistake. She can still change."

Freddie shrugged. "Maybe, but until she does...Sam wants nothing to do with her. She's angry. And I'm pretty sure if Melanie had brought drugs into the house instead of swiping mine, it probably wouldn't have ended that way, but you know how Sam is. If anyone tries to mess with me, she..."

"Turns into the she-beast of the black lagoon?" I finished, and Freddie leered at me, before hauling off and hitting me in the chest. I grunted, taking a few steps back, glaring at him, and he just shook his head.

"Probably not the best thing to call a guy's wife when he's in a boxing ring with you, you know?"

"Point taken," I replied, straightening up and shaking it off. "But...I dunno, man...maybe...tell Sam to go a little easier on her?"

Freddie narrowed his eyes at me. "What? You hate Melanie, right?"

"Well yeah, I do. But...I know what it's like to be cut off from your family because you did something outside their realm of expectations. It sucks!"

"Brad!" Freddie gave me a pointed look. "You ditched a military academy to stay with a girl you loved and pursue filmmaking. Melanie stole prescription drugs from her sister's husband! It's not the same thing!"

"Well, she obviously needs help and support, man!" I replied. "Let me ask you a question. Let's fast forward eighteen years. If your kid stole Xanax out of your cabinet, what would you do?"

"I'd put their butt in rehab!" he shouted. "Don't bring my kid into this!"

"Why not?" I replied. "Would you kick them out and cut them off?"

"Of course not, but it's not the same thing!" he shot back. "This is MELANIE we're talking about...shallow, conceited, aggravating, a total bitch..."

"And your wife's sister. You're wife's twin sister! Who she went through hell and back again with trying to fix their relationship. You gonna let Sam throw all that away because Melanie needs HELP?"

Freddie frowned. "Well, I never thought about it that way, but...damn it, Brad! Now you've got me thinking about shit, and I'm not supposed to be thinking about shit right now! I'm supposed to be thinking about...probabilities. And...formula. And school districts. And...other stuff! Not my crazy ass sister-in-law!"

"Oh come on, Wonder Boy, you can handle it. I'm just saying, if you don't give Sam a little push to reconnect with Melanie, she'll regret it, and do you really want to go through another one of Sam's issues?"

"Oh, god," he moaned. "You're right. But...I still think I should give it a little time before I talk to her about it. It's still too fresh, and I don't want to bring her down from her happiness over the whole skipping a class thing."

"Alright, point taken. But you will talk to her?"

"You will lighten up on Carly?" he shot back, and I groaned. God, I wanted to just blurt it out SO badly, but I knew that would be the worst mistake ever! I was pissed at her for his and Sam's sake, and here he was telling me to lighten up. Now that's irony if I ever heard of it!

"Fine. I'll try to ignore her more...aggravating qualities."

"Or bring them to light in a gentle way, without making her feel like shit about them?" he suggested. "That's what I did with Sam, and it works. Trust me."

"Sure thing, love guru."

He just laughed, before putting his gloves back up. "Less talky, more punchy."

~*Freddie*~

"We're back!" I called as Brad and I walked into the apartment.

"Shhh!" Sam shushed us, turning her back and looking over Carly's shoulder, and my eyebrows went up.

"What's going on, baby?"

"Helping Carly with this paper."

"What paper?" Brad asked, dropping his gym bag on the floor and walking over to Carly's other side, kissing her on the side of the head. I couldn't help but notice the surprised look Carly gave him, which told me they were in fact having problems, but I decided to not bring it up and stay out of their business.

"First day, and already my prof hates me," Carly moaned. "I have a twelve page paper, due on Friday, on how the French and Indian War led to the American Revolution."

"Whoa," I stated, my eyebrows going up. "Sounds serious."

"Oh, it is," Sam responded. "I'm not super well-versed in American history, but I've got those Frenchies on lock, so this shouldn't be too hard," she replied, before walking away from Carly toward me, putting her arms around me. "Hey sexy. How was the work out?"

"Intense," I replied, kissing her, and she wrinkled her nose.

"So I smell," she said bluntly, and I laughed.

"Point taken. I'll go take a shower."

"Sexy AND considerate," Sam said with a grin. "How'd I get so lucky?"

"It's because you have a cute butt," I replied, reaching around her to squeeze it, making her squeal a little.

"What about my sparkling personality?"

"Uh, okay," I teased. "I'll be right back. Have you eaten yet?"

"She cleaned out every vegetable in this house," Carly commented. "Whose turn is it to grocery shop again?"

"Uh, ours," I replied. "I'll be back." With that, I left everyone else to fuss over Carly's paper, quickly hopping into the shower and putting on fresh clothes, walking back out to find Sam, Brad, and Carly still hunched over Carly's history book, all of them armed with highlighters, and Sam flipping through her PearPad looking for info online.

"Back," I called, and Sam turned to look at me, her eyes going up and down over me and licking her lips.

"I love those pajama bottoms on you, you know that?"

"Oh I know," I replied with a smirk. "I seem to remember catching a certain someone checking out my ass in these before she even had the cajones to admit that she was in love with me."

"And I've never stopped checking you out in them since," she replied, kissing me. "I love you."

I just gave her a smile, my hand tangling through her hair and giving it a gentle tug. "Movie?"

"We're not watching Lord of the Rings or Galaxy Wars again, nub. Three times a month is plenty."

"Aw, come on, baby," I replied. "You know you have a thing for Gimli."

"Yeah, okay," she responded. "I get to pick."

"No zombie or apocalypse movies, baby."

"Ugh!" she responded. "You're unreasonable."

"And you're uncouth."

"Like sci-fi geekdom is couth?"

"I don't think couth is a word, baby," I responded, and she shrugged.

"It is now. Fine. Silence of the Lambs."

"Now that's sexy," I responded with a roll of my eyes.

"You love Silence of the Lambs!" she argued.

"Yeah, but...I'm just not in the mood for it tonight, I guess."

"Reservoir Dogs?"

"Make it Pulp Fiction and you got yourself a deal, baby."

"Okay," she replied. "Carly?"

"Yeah?" Carly asked flatly.

"You got it handled for awhile?"

"I guess," Carly said with a sigh.

"She's good, I'll help her," Brad added.

"Really?" Carly looked at him in shock, and he simply nodded.

"Yeah, babe. We'll get it done," he replied, kissing her.

"Alright, looks like you guys have it handled," I said, grabbing Sam's hand and pulling her into the bedroom. "Later." I shut the door, leaning against it, my eyes landing on Sam and giving her a smirk.

"C'mere, smart girl."

She gave me a smile, kissing me, her arms going around my neck, and I kissed her back eagerly, tangling my hands through her hair, sucking on her bottom lip for a moment before pulling away.

"I am so freaking proud of you baby," I said, hugging her, and she just laughed.

"Who knew my ability to make grown men cry would serve me in a scholastic setting?" she asked with a giggle.

"You were absolutely born to be a lawyer, I swear," I grumbled, moving away from the door and taking her with me. "Lay down, I'll put the movie in."

"Okay," she responded, flopping down on the bed and pulling the covers back. "Hey?"

"What?" I replied as I looked over our massive DVD collection.

"Can guys PMS?"

"What?" I asked, looking at her, confused. "Why?"

"Cuz Brad's been acting bitchy the last few days. And now he seems over it."

I shrugged. "Brad's a weird guy."

"You are right about that," she said with a laugh. "Whatever though. I've suddenly changed my mind, I don't want to talk about Brad."

"Then what do you want to talk about?" I asked, my back turned to her, still trying to track down the Pulp Fiction DVD. She was quiet, and I turned around to look at her. "Sam?"

"Turn back around!" she barked, giving me a grin. "Let me enjoy the view!"

"Yes ma'am," I said with a laugh, turning around and finally tracking down the DVD I was looking for, before quickly sliding it in the DVD player and laying down next to her, pulling her against me. She sighed happily.

"I love nights like this."

"What, being bums?" I teased her, and she nodded.

"We better enjoy them while we can, because baby Benson is going to keep us awfully busy, you know?"

"I know," I replied. "But I'm still...okay, I'm still freaked out, but really excited."

"Yeah?" she asked, looking up at me, and I kissed her on her forehead.

"Of course."

She looked down at her stomach. "My stomach's starting to poke out more," she pointed out, and I nodded.

"It's cute."

"I guess," she sighed. "I still wish I could just lay an egg and be done with it."

"You're not a chicken, baby."

"Or a platypus," she added, and I rolled my eyes.

"Enough with the damn platypusses."

"Platypi."

"Hey, don't keep correcting me!" I stated, poking her. "You say meese!"

"They are meese!"

"Sam!" I laughed. "The plural of moose is still moose!"

"No it's not!" she responded. "It's meese!"

"How do you figure?"

"The plural of goose is geese! Erego, meese!"

I couldn't respond to that, all I could do was laugh. "Whatever, baby."

"I'm right on this, I know I am. And if I'm wrong I don't want to know, because I like meese."

"Moose!"

"Meese!"

"You gonna argue with me over this?" I asked, my eyebrow going up, and she nodded.

"I'm a damn good arguer. I'm so good they're putting me in a senior level law class."

"And the seniors will tell you it's moose!"

"Meese, you nub!"

"What's the plural of nub?" I asked, and she sat there for a moment, thinking carefully, before a smile spread across her face.

"Noob."

I shook my head. "You're insane, you know that?"

"Yeah, but you love me anyway."

I laughed, kissing her. "You have no idea how much, baby."


	26. Chapter 26: Martini

**A/N: Drama llama! Bahhh! And a lemon! Things are just getting started, so stay tuned!**

**Chapter Twenty Six:  
><strong>**Martini**

~*Sam*~

"Freddie!" I yelled in a panicked voice as I hung up the phone. "Freddie!"

"What's wrong, Sam?" Freddie asked as he rushed out of the bedroom.

I flopped down on the couch, sighing. "We have a problem."

Freddie's brow furrowed. "What problem?"

"That was the doctor's office. They had to move tomorrow's appointment."

"To what?" he asked, and I sighed.

"Eleven"

"Shit," Freddie grunted. "I have my physics class at eleven, and I have a test tomorrow. They didn't have any other times available?"

I shook my head. "And they're all booked up for this week."

"Well, you can't miss an appointment, baby," he replied. "We should probably think about getting a second car. You know we can afford it."

"Yeah, but then I'd have no excuse to get out of driving," I responded. "I hate driving."

Freddie shrugged. "You're gonna have to get used to it, sweetheart. We definitely can't have only one car after the baby comes, you know that."

"Okay, fine...we'll get another car," I grunted. "But what about tomorrow?"

"Carly!" Freddie shouted up the stairs. "You up there?"

"Yeah!" she hollered back. "Why?"

"Can you do me a favor?" Freddie yelled, and a moment later I heard the sound of Carly walking, coming down the stairs.

"What's up?" she asked.

"I can't take Sam to her appointment tomorrow. Do you have class at eleven?"

Carly gave me a regretful look. "Yeah, I do. I can't take her, I'm sorry."

"Aargh!" I groaned, frustrated. "Now what?"

"BRAD!" Carly and Freddie yelled, and I winced.

"Can you guys stop? I have a headache!"

"Sorry, baby," Freddie responded, leaning over the couch to kiss me on my forehead, and I just shrugged, grunting a little.

"What's going on?" Brad asked as he popped down the stairs. "I'm trying to re-design the lights in the studio."

"We need a big favor," Freddie replied. "They had to move Sam's doctor appointment to eleven tomorrow. I can't take her, and neither can Carly. Can you do it?"

"Uh...the baby doctor?" Brad asked, making a face. "Am I gonna have to watch them...you know...poke around?"

"Brad!" I hollered, annoyed. "No! It's just a standard appointment. I just need you to take me. You can wait in the waiting room and everything. Please?"

"Yeah, I guess I can," Brad said with a sigh. "Why don't you guys buy another car?"

"We're thinking about it," Freddie replied. "So what are you doing with the lights, exactly?"

"Don't you think the webcast looks a little...yellow?" Brad responded. "I figured put in a few warmer bulbs, should balance things out. Wanna help?"

"Sure," Freddie replied, before looking over at me. "You okay, baby? Your head I mean?"

"Yeah," I replied. "I think I just need to lay down."

"Okay," he replied, kissing me. "Let me know if you need anything. I'll check on you in a little while."

"K," I responded. As Brad and Freddie headed upstairs, Carly walked around to the couch, lifting my legs up and plopping down, grunting a little as my legs crashed onto her lap.

"So...things seem like they're going a little bit better with you and Brad," I commented, and Carly shrugged.

"I guess," she replied softly. "He thinks I'm not serious about being engaged."

"And are you?" I shot back.

"Yes!" she replied. "But I dunno what I'm supposed to do! I don't want to rush into the whole wedding, you know? I mean maybe...maybe we should wait until we're done with school to get married."

"That's not a bad idea," I stated. "Have you told Brad that?"

She shook her head. "I don't want him to think I'm not being serious."

"Carly! A lot of people have long engagements!"

"Says the girl with the shortest engagement in history," Carly replied, giving me a Look, and I shrugged.

"Yeah, well, I was in a bit of a predicament that had to be handled quickly. But you? You're not."

"Yeah," she replied. "So..."

"So?" I asked.

"Have you talked to Melanie since everything happened?"

I shook my head. "Don't want to. She really fucked up, Carls."

"Are you ever going to talk to her again?"

"If she straightens her life out, maybe. But until then...no way."

"What if..." Carly trailed off, biting her nails nervously, and I gave her a Look.

"What if what, Carly?"

"What if Melanie was telling the truth? About the pills, I mean."

"So...they just vanished?" I replied. "From my cabinet?"

"No! That's not what I meant."

"So what did you mean? You think I misplaced them?"

"No, Sam! Come on!"

"Well, I don't know what you're getting at, Carly. Melanie had to take them. Emily was a freakin' lamb, and there's nobody else who would even think about doing it. It's obvious," I replied. "I really don't want to talk about this anymore, Carly."

"Fine," she said. "We won't talk about it. But maybe you can help me figure out how to deal with Brad. I mean, I guess we're okay right now, but I don't really want to be okay, you know? I want things to be good! No, scratch that, I want things to be great!"

"What were you guys fighting about?" I asked. "Just you not taking the engagement seriously?"

"Uh...yeah," she replied. "Pretty much. And the whole...meeting thing. He doesn't like them."

I scoffed. "I can understand that. I hate talking about my feelings. I only went to therapy like three or four times, and if it would have been group therapy? Forget it!"

"But it's important, Sam! It's not gonna sink in if he spends all his time mocking it!"

"I think you need to cut the boy some slack. He's doing really good. I mean, he hasn't slipped up ONCE! Even the night his dad came over and acted like a dick!"

"Yeah, I know," Carly responded with a sigh. "But...I just worry about him slipping up, that's all."

I shrugged. "And if he does, as long as he corrects it, you'll be good. Stop worrying so much, Carly. Worry about school."

"US History is killing me," Carly whined. "I worked for a day and a half on that paper, and the prof still gave me a C!"

"Ouch," I replied. "She sounds like a bitch."

"Oh, she is," Carly replied. "Hey, have you gotten the results back on that placement exam?"

"Should get them tomorrow, hopefully before the doctor," I said. "Man, I hope I pass. It'd be awesome to skip up to a senior level class!"

"Oh, you so will, Sam," Carly replied, patting me on my leg. "You'll be good. I know it."

"Thanks," I said with a sigh, sitting up. "Well, I'm gonna go lay down. My head's hurting pretty bad."

"Sorry," Carly replied, giving me a sympathetic look. "You want me to go get Freddie?"

"Nah, let him do his techie crap. I'll be fine," I responded. "Just need some shut eye."

I went back into my room to lay down, quickly drifting off, and the next thing I knew I was being shaken awake by Freddie.

"You okay?" he asked, a concerned look on his face, and I nodded.

"What time is it?" I asked groggily.

"A little after eleven. Sorry baby, I got all locked into a bunch of stuff Brad and I were working on, and..."

"It's okay," I replied. "I was just sleeping."

"How's your head?"

"I guess it's alright. Are you done working?"

"Yeah, I'm done," he responded. I held my arms out to him, and he laid down next to me. "You gonna go back to sleep?"

"Uh-huh," I responded, yawning. "Will you go to bed too?"

"Yeah, sweetheart. Just let me change real quick, okay?"

"Mmkay," I replied, still sleepy. "I love you."

"Love you too," he replied, quickly pulling off his clothes and crawling in bed with me, pulling me against him. I laid my head on his chest, and the last thing I was aware of was Freddie kissing me on the top of my head, before I fell back asleep.

I couldn't believe how tired I was. I'd slept through much of the afternoon, and the entire night, and Freddie still had to wake me up in the morning.

"Baby, get up," Freddie whispered in my ear, pushing my hair aside to kiss my neck. "Come on."

"Ugh, why am I so tired?" I groaned, rolling away from him, and he just hooked an arm around me, pulling me back to him.

"Because baby Benson is zapping all your energy," he responded, kissing the back of my neck. "But you gotta get up, okay?"

"Donwanna."

"You have a doctor's appointment in an hour, honey."

"I wish you could go," I said softly, turning over to look at him, and he just sighed, kissing me.

"I wish I could too sweetheart. But I promise, no matter WHAT, I'm not gonna miss the next one."

"You better not," I said, giving him a Look. "Because that one's really, really, REALLY important!"

Freddie scoffed. "You think I'm gonna miss seeing my child for the first time? Fat chance, baby." He grabbed my arms, pulling me up. "Now get up, baby. Go shower."

"Wanna come?" I asked, giving him a sexy smile, and he sighed.

"I really don't have time, I need to look over some things, and..." he trailed off when I pulled my shirt off and threw it at him. "Damn. You know what, never mind." He gave me a grin. "Get the rest of those clothes off, sexy." I did just that, dragging him into the bathroom with me and pulling his shirt over his head, immediately kissing, licking, and nibbling all over his neck and shoulders, eliciting a groan from him. He reached behind me to turn the water on, before focusing on kissing me as I unbuttoned his jeans, his hands holding my hips and grinding me against him, pulling away from my mouth to kiss my neck.

"Baby," I sighed. "I love the way your mouth feels on my skin."

"I love the way your skin feels on my mouth," he said with a laugh, pulling away to pull the shower curtain back. "Get in, baby."

I stepped in, and as soon as he had rid himself of his pants and boxers, he was right there with me, quickly capturing my mouth with his, his arms going around me and pulling me against him as the hot water flowed over our bodies. Every time his chest slid against mine, it felt amazing, all wet and slippery, and I couldn't get enough of the way his mouth felt on mine, the way he tasted. He grabbed my arms, pulling them above my head, pressing me against the shower wall as his mouth trailed over my jaw, my neck, and then lower, his tongue sliding across my collarbone, making me arch into him. He went lower, his mouth covering one breast, and I cried out, egging him on for more. He let go of my arms to bring his hand down between my legs, rubbing softly, the other locking around my waist as his mouth continued licking and sucking at my breasts.

"Oh god, Freddie!" I moaned. "You feel so good..."

"Yeah?" he murmured against my skin. "Want more?"

"God, yes," I sighed as he dropped to his knees and draped one of my legs over his shoulder, his mouth finding me quickly. I tangled my hands through his wet hair as his tongue began making slow circles over my most sensitive area, occasionally flicking back and forth, making me cry out in pure pleasure.

"Don't stop, Freddie..." I begged. "Please don't stop."

He didn't even respond, just kept going, sliding a finger inside of me, working it in and out slowly, bringing me closer and closer to the edge. I couldn't stop myself from grinding into his face as he continued to make love to me with his mouth. It was the most incredible feeling, and I'd never be able to get enough of it. God, I loved the way he made me feel. My breathing was becoming more and more ragged as I started shaking, letting go of his hair to grip at his shoulders.

"Baby...baby...oh god...I...oh my god...FREDDIE!" I cried out as I felt myself hurtle over the edge finally, trembling uncontrollably. He let me come back down to earth before kissing his way back up my body, his mouth coming over mine. I wondered briefly how other girls felt about a guy kissing them right after they'd gone down on them, but I certainly didn't care. I loved the way his mouth felt, and that was all I really cared about. I wrapped my arms around his neck as I continued to kiss him, feeling him grab my leg and pull it against him, before sliding into me, and I gasped, burying my face in his shoulder as he began moving in and out of me.

"God," he groaned, pulling me against him even tighter. "I love you, Sam."

"I love you too!" I gasped out. "Oh, baby...this feels so good...ugh, don't stop."

"I can't stop," he responded. "You feel too good."

You know, I'm pretty sure over the course of our relationship, we'd probably had sex thousands of times, but I still couldn't get over how good it felt, and how after every time, I felt closer and closer to him. I didn't know if it was possible to be even more connected than we were now, but if it was, I welcomed it, because I loved it. Nobody else on earth understood me better than Freddie. Nobody else could handle my bad moods, my craziness, my mischievous streak. He had his faults, sure, like everyone did, but I was convinced that he was as close to perfect as any man could be, at least for me.

He moved his mouth over my neck, licking the water droplets off my skin, and he suddenly surprised me by grabbing my other leg, lifting it up. Now I wasn't even touching the ground at all, Freddie had me pinned against the wall, and all I could do was moan helplessly as he plunged in and out of me.

"Baby!" I cried out, gripping his shoulders. "I...oh god...I'm so close..."

"Come for me, baby. Come on. Let me feel it. Please...I wanna feel you."

"Oh my god...Freddie...Freddie...AAAHHH! Freddie! Oh god!" My back arched, my nails dug into his skin, and my eyes rolled back as I felt myself reach my peak, shuddering against him, and he groaned against my neck.

"Shit...Sam...oh fuck...aah! Sam!" he moaned out as I felt him go stiff and then explode inside me, his face buried in my neck, shuddering. I was still lost somewhere in my own climax, and...oh man. There were no words. I loved when we went at the same time. It was so hot, so intimate, so incredible.

I finally came back down to earth, and he let my legs back down, kissing me softly. "I love you," he whispered.

"Love you more," I replied with a smile.

"Finish up in here, okay?" he replied, kissing me on my forehead. "I gotta get dressed again, and then go chug down some coffee, and then I gotta go. But I'll make sure Brad's up first, alright?"

"Yep," I replied. He gave me another smile, turning to step out of the shower, and I couldn't stop myself from slapping him on the ass, grinning when he yelped, turning back around to glare at me.

"Sam..." he warned.

"What?" I asked innocently. "My hand slipped."

"Cute. Very cute. But your ass is gonna get it, later."

"I hope so," I replied, giving him a smile. He just shook his head, amused, toweling off and then putting his clothes back on, leaving me alone in the shower.

I couldn't resist reaching down to run my hands over my stomach, trying to figure out whether or not I had gotten any bigger. Okay, so the idea of getting huge was still a little terrifying to me, I'll admit it, but it also meant the baby was getting bigger too, and that was an amazing thing to think about. Today was just supposed to be a normal check up, but the next appointment in two weeks would be the first ultrasound, and I was SO excited about it!

I quickly finished washing off, stepping out and then going into our room to get dressed, and then walking into the living room, where Freddie and Brad were poised at the countertop, both of them drinking coffee and looking over a file.

"Hey guys," I said. Freddie looked up, giving me a smile.

"So you're sure you're okay with Brad taking you, baby?" he asked, and I nodded.

"It's fine, baby," I replied, walking over to him and kissing him. "Don't worry about me, just worry about your test, okay?"

"Okay. I've gotta go, I don't want to be late, and you two better not be late either," Freddie stated, giving me and Brad a look. "No detours!"

"Like what?"

"I don't know!" he replied. "With you two, it's no telling!"

I rolled my eyes. "Whatever you say, baby. I love you."

"Love you too, sweetheart," Freddie responded, kissing me one last time before grabbing his bag, throwing it over his shoulder. "My phone'll be on silent, but text me when you're done anyway, okay? Just to let me know how it went."

"Will do," I replied. "Now go! Before you're late!"

"Alright. See you in a few hours." With that, he gave me one last smile before turning and walking out the door, shutting it behind him, and I turned to look at Brad.

"Are you almost ready, Harrison? Time is of the essence," I said, and he just harrumphed.

"Don't give me lip today, Benson."

"Can't help it, it's what I do," I replied with a shrug. "Hurry up! Chug that shit! And after this is done, we're SO going to the Groovie Smoothie."

"Still on your fruit and veggie kick?" he asked as we walked out the door and down the hallway.

"Well, not by choice," I replied. "I tried eating bacon yesterday, and...let's just say it didn't go well. I think this kid may be a vegetarian or something."

"That musta came from Freddie's side of the family," Brad said with a laugh, and I nodded fervently.

The doctor appointment went pretty good. I left Brad in the waiting room, grumbling over there being nothing but parenting magazines, and went through the usual business of getting weighed, checking a few samples, hearing the baby's heartbeat again, which, I hate to say, made me tear up yet AGAIN! And then it was done. The whole thing had taken about twenty five minutes, and I made the appointment for the ultrasound, bouncing with excitement the entire time.

I finally walked back out to the waiting room, and Brad sprang to his feet.

"You done?" he asked, and I nodded. "Everything good?"

"Everything's great, and right on schedule," I replied. "Come on, I'm starving."

"Fine by me," he said with a shrug, and we turned to leave, but as we started to head for the door, Brad stopped in his tracks, looking ahead in shock.

"What?" I asked. "What's wrong?"

Brad completely ignored me, shoving past me. "Mom!" he shouted at a woman with her back to him, but the woman turned around, and sure enough it was Brad's mother. Oh, great. I wondered how this was going to go.

"Bradley?" his mom asked, looking surprised to see him in an obstetrician's office. "What are you doing here?"

"I had to take Sam to the doctor because Freddie had class. They're having a baby."

"Oh," she responded. "Well, it was nice of you to take her."

"Yeah," Brad replied. They stared at each other awkwardly for a moment, and Brad reached out to hug her. "It's good to see you, Mom. I wish..." he trailed off, shaking his head. "Never mind. I know it's not going to do any good."

"I have to do what your father wants me to do, Bradley..."

"Yeah, I know..." Brad responded sadly. "Don't you...you know, miss me?"

"I miss you a lot, Bradley," she replied, and Brad just stared at her, not saying anything, and then something clicked in his head and his eyes narrowed.

"Why are you here?"

"Well, your father and I, we're..."

"Wait, you're having a baby?" Brad surmised, and she just nodded. "Wow. Great that somebody kept me in the loop. When are you due?"

"October."

Brad nodded, thinking it over. "Guess this is my replacement?"

"Don't be like that, Bradley. You defied your father. You brought this on yourself."

"Yeah," he replied, biting his lip. "Yeah, I'm the bad guy. For trying to be happy. I'm the bad one."

"Bradley, please..."

"Forget it. I don't...whatever, Mom. Have a nice life. Hopefully this one gets treated better than I did." With that, he turned around, marching back towards me and grabbing my arm. "Let's go."

"Brad, maybe you should try..."

"I said let's go!" he barked. "I don't wanna deal with this right now, Sam!"

"Fine," I responded as I followed him out to the car. "So what are you gonna do? Pretend this never happened?"

"That's not all I'm gonna do, Sam," he growled as he started the car, and my eyes widened.

"I would highly advise NOT beating the shit out of your dad, Brad."

"Give me a break, Sam!" Brad responded. "I'm not that stupid!"

"Then what are you gonna do?" I asked, frowning suddenly when I realized we were heading AWAY from Bushwell. "Where are we going?"

"The pool hall," he replied, and my eyes widened.

"Brad, no!" I shouted. "Come on, you were doing so good! This isn't worth it! Carly's gonna leave you!"

"I highly doubt that, she wouldn't be able to wear that ring anymore," he growled. "And what am I supposed to do, Sam? I'm completely shut out, cut off, and now they're having another kid, and it's gonna be like I never even EXISTED! Fuck this!"

"Brad!" I cried. "Please don't do this!"

"Don't tell me what to do, Sam," Brad responded with a shake of his head. "I'm not Freddie."

"You're damn right about that," I grumbled. "Freddie's actually got some sense."

"Sorry I'm not perfect like your damn husband, Sam."

"Don't say that about him. I thought he was your best friend?"

"He is. But...you guys won't understand this."

"Are you serious?" I replied. "I, Sam Benson, don't understand family problems?"

He laughed bitterly. "I got cut off, you cut someone off. Big difference. You won't understand."

I let that comment go, just because I knew Brad was freaking out and tended to get mouthy whenever that happened. We were less than two minutes away from the pool hall, and I knew once he got in there and started drinking, I wouldn't be able to talk any sense into him.

"Brad, don't do this! You've been sober for a month! Don't throw it all away!"

"Don't judge me right now, Sam! I can't take it! I get it enough from my family, and from Carly...I don't need it from you!"

"Brad, please!"

"Just stop!" he growled. "I don't wanna hear it!"

We finally reached the pool hall and he parked, turning the engine off, before turning to me. "You can either stay here or come with, but I'm going in there, I'm getting wasted, and there is nothing you can do to stop me!"

With that, he got out, slamming the door shut, leaving me alone in the car. I sat there for a moment, totally shocked, before pulling out my phone. I knew Freddie had his phone on silent, but I had to let him know what was going on, because this was really, really bad. I fired off a quick text and then grabbed my back, scrambling to get out of the car and run inside. Brad was having a total meltdown, it had been coming for awhile, and he didn't need to be alone right now.

~*Freddie*~

I was so relieved to finally get done with my test, and eager to talk to Sam and find out how the appointment went. I practically ran out of the classroom, pulling my phone out of my pocket to check my messages. Ten text messages, eight missed calls, and I felt my stomach drop. That wasn't a good sign. Sam rarely blew my phone up, especially when she knew I was in the middle of a test. I opened the first text message, totally worried beyond belief.

Sam: Need u now. Big trouble.

Oh god, what did that mean? I read through the rest of the messages.

Sam: Brad is having a meltdown. We're at the pool hall.

Sam: Please get over here as soon as u get out. This is bad.

Sam: Baby hurry! Brad is really drunk!

Sam: He's had a bunch of shots.

Sam: Where r u? Hurry!

That was all I needed to see, I called Sam as I stormed out to the car, absolutely furious. I'd asked Brad to do one simple thing, and not only had he managed to screw that up, but he was drinking AGAIN! He'd better have a damn good explanation for this, because I was going to kill him!

Sam answered the phone on the second ring. "Baby?"

"What's going on, Sam?" I asked as I started the car. I heard her sigh.

"He's really drunk, Freddie. We ran into his mom at the doctor's office. She's pregnant. Brad just completely lost it."

"How many drinks has he had?"

"A few beers, like seven or eight shots. It's just...you know when he gets started it's hard for him to stop, and..."

"Say no more, baby. I'm on my way. Are you okay?"

"I'm fine. Except for all the lushes hitting on me. Who gets drunk at noon?"

"Apparently Brad. Was everything okay at the doctor?" I asked.

"Yeah, everything's fine. Got the appointment for the ultrasound booked too. I really hope they don't reschedule, because I'm not going without you."

"I wouldn't miss it for the world, baby. Just sit there, I'm on my way, okay? If anyone hits on you, just...I dunno, smash a beer bottle over their head or something."

Sam let out an aggravated sigh. "Don't push my violent tendencies, Freddie. It's taking everything I have not to kill these assholes."

"And it's gonna take everything I have not to kill Brad. I should be there in fifteen minutes, okay? I love you."

"Love you too," she replied.

I hung the phone up, speeding the entire time, until I got to the pool hall, parking all crooked because I was so angry, and not caring. I stormed in to find Sam sitting at the bar, and Brad in the corner talking to a bunch of guys. He didn't look too broken up, he looked pretty damn happy, but all that was about to come crashing down on him, because I was so pissed I could hardly see straight. I made a beeline for Sam, and she put her arms around me, kissing me.

"Don't kill him," she said, and I shook my head.

"I want you to go wait in the car. Can you do that for me?"

"Freddie..." she warned, and I cut her off.

"Sam. Just do it. Here's the keys."

She groaned, understanding I wasn't in the mood to argue, taking the keys out of my hand and walking out of the building. I focused my attention on Brad, storming across the room and grabbing his arm hard, shoving him into the wall.

"Dude!" he hollered. "What the fuck?"

"You've got some fucking balls, you know that?" I shouted. "I asked you to do one simple thing, and..."

"I got her to the doctor, man! It's fine!"

"This is not FINE!" I yelled. "You fell off the wagon, you idiot! And you brought my pregnant wife to a smoky pool hall around a bunch of fucking drunks! Have you lost your fucking mind, Brad? How the fuck were you gonna get her back to the apartment, huh? Drive? While drunk?"

"Chill out, Freddie!" he said. "She could have drove, you know. She's not helpless!"

"The 'stang is a stick shift, you idiot! She can't drive a manual, she can barely drive an automatic! You've done some pretty fucked up shit, but this absolutely takes the cake, Brad! You have no idea how badly I want to beat the shit out of you right now!"

"Bring it on!" he hollered, giving me a shove. "I'd like to see you try!"

I shook my head. "Nah, I'd rather wait until you're sober enough to feel it, jackass. You fucked up, and you fucked up big time! Carly's gonna leave your ass!"

"She's not gonna leave me. She doesn't want anybody to know things aren't perfect."

I just laughed. "Everyone can see things between you and Carly aren't perfect. It's obvious. And you just made it even more obvious. Now give me your fucking keys, moron."

"Fuck you," Brad spat. "You can't have my keys."

I stared at him for a second before giving him a violent shove against the wall, my forearm over his chest, pinning him, before reaching into his pocket and pulling his keys out. "You wanna act like a loser, then you can walk home like a loser." I released him, shoving the keys into my pocket. "You're on thin ice with me, Brad. You're on thin ice with everyone."

"You wouldn't get it, mama's boy."

"You're too fucking old for this rebellion shit! You think your parents are gonna want anything to do with you if you keep acting like this? Grow the fuck up, Brad! All you're doing is proving everyone right! Good job!" I shoved him against the wall one more time, before turning around to walk away.

"Fuck you, Freddie!" Brad yelled, and I turned around, glaring at him.

"No, fuck you. You're on your own. Drink yourself into a stupor. Die of alcohol poisoning. I don't fucking care anymore." With that, I walked out of the pool hall, ignoring Brad's shouts at me, walking out to the car and getting in, not meeting Sam's eyes.

"What'd you do?" she asked.

"Nothing," I grunted. "I don't want to talk about this right now, let's just go home, okay?"

"Freddie," Sam said softly, touching my arm. "Are you sure you're okay?"

"I'm fine, baby," I replied, taking her hand in mine. "But Brad? Fuck him."

"He made a mistake, that's it," Sam said gently. "People fall off the wagon all the time."

"I know, baby, but that's not the point. He brought you around a bunch of drunken idiots. And...what, was he gonna drive you back drunk? You can't drive a stick."

"I know," she said. "But...don't give up on him, okay?"

I shook my head. "Sam, I can't talk about this right now."

"Okay," she replied. "Then let's just go home. I bet you need to take out some frustration, don't you?"

I groaned. "You have no idea."

"You wanna take it out on me?" she asked playfully, and I turned to look at her, a mischievous expression on her face.

"I dunno," I sighed. "I'm pretty pissed right now. I don't wanna lose it and get too rough on you, sweetheart."

"I can take it," she replied with a sexy smile. "Besides, if you get too out of line, I'll let you know."

I nodded slowly. "Okay. You got yourself a deal, baby."

"Awesome. Now let's go, so I can bang all the anger outta you."

I couldn't help but laugh at that. "Sounds good, baby."

We were pretty quiet on the drive back, I was absolutely furious. I was so mad I wasn't even going to take the time to seek out Carly and tell her what was up. I probably should, for Carly's sake, but this was her and Brad's problems, and I was DONE interfering in Brad's life. I'd done all I could, he'd put my wife in a possibly dangerous situation, and now I just didn't give a fuck what Brad did.

"Baby?" I asked, shooting a look over at her.

"Yeah?"

"I think we need to start looking for that apartment now," I said quietly, and Sam sighed, leaning her head back.

"I think you're right."


	27. Chapter 27: Out from Under

**A/N: Hey guys, I know it's been a little while since I updated, and I'm sorry! I work part-time in retail, and I had to pull eight hour shifts every day from Friday all the way until today! I've been completely braindead the last few days! Okay, so this one's a little short, lemony, but the drama is also a-brewing, and it will be SUPER intense!**

**Chapter Twenty Seven:  
><strong>**Out from Under **

~*Sam*~

Freddie was completely silent the entire elevator ride up to our apartment, and I knew he was pretty angry. But the way he was staring at me, his eyes traveling up and down my body, I could tell his mind wasn't on Brad. He was still pissed off, but that anger had an outlet, and the outlet was me. Not only did I not mind, but when he got like this, I sort of encouraged it. It was better than letting him walk around angry all day, or him and Brad getting into a serious fight. Brad had fucked up, I got that, but I thought Freddie was overreacting a little bit, and once he calmed down a little, maybe I could make him realize that.

But still, Freddie definitely had a point about moving out. I guess I was ready, besides, it'd be nice to have some real privacy before the baby was born, because once that happened, we definitely wouldn't have any. I just hoped we could find something that wasn't too expensive. It'd be GREAT if there was a place open in Bushwell, that would just make things SO much easier.

Right now wasn't the time to talk about that though, as the elevator doors opened, Freddie grabbed my hand, practically dragging me down the hallway, unlocking the door and shoving it open.

"Bedroom," he stated firmly, and I didn't waste any time getting there. I heard Freddie slam the front door shut, before walking into the bedroom, shutting the door and locking it, before turning back to me, his arms crossed over his chest. I sat down on the edge of the bed, waiting for him to make a move, and he unbuckled his belt, before pulling his shirt off. I licked my lips at the sight of his bare chest, he was so sexy when he was shirtless. He advanced toward me wordlessly, grabbing the back of my head and kissing me fiercely, nipping at my bottom lip a little, making me gasp in surprise. He held my head steady as he continued to kiss me hotly, passionately, intensely. I could feel the fire and desire welling up in him, and in me as well, and I knew this was going to be pretty intense. We could get pretty rough on each other sometimes, but this might just be one for the record books. No matter what though, I knew he wouldn't hurt me. We had ways of bringing each other back down if either one of us got too rough, and we always respected each other's boundaries. But man, he was fired up! I could tell just by the way he was kissing me, one hand tangled through my hair, the other one running down my back and grabbing my ass roughly, pulling me against him. He growled against my mouth as I ground my hips into his, before pulling away, ripping my shirt over my head.

"If I get out of line, tell me," he breathed.

"I will," I responded. "I just want you to feel better."

"You always make me feel better," he said, unhooking my bra and pulling it off. "Don't hold back, okay?"

"I won't."

He pushed me onto the bed, coming over me, attacking my mouth with his. "I want you to bite me. Scratch me up. Be bad, baby." He pulled away to stare at me, our eyes locked, both of us breathing heavily, and I suddenly grabbed the back of his head, pulling it aside to sink my teeth into his neck, and he groaned, gripping my hair so hard it hurt, grinding against me. "Yeah...yeah, like that."

"Get your fucking pants off," I growled in his ear. "Now."

He sat up, unbuttoning his pants, standing up long enough to yank them down over his hips. My hands went to my own pants, pulling them down, and he grabbed my wrists suddenly, pulling my hands away.

"Did I tell you to do that?" he asked, his eyes narrowing when I just stared at him in silence. "Answer me. Did I tell you to do that?"

"No," I replied, shaking my head. "You didn't."

"Yeah, that's what I thought. I'll do it," he grunted, yanking my pants down off my legs. My eyes widened when he didn't even bother to pull my underwear off, just grabbed ahold of one of the straps and tore it completely off me.

"Baby!" I scolded. "Those were not cheap!"

"I'll buy you more," he growled. "Now shut up."

I bit my lip, trying to decide whether or not I should challenge him on that. On the one hand, it would be a lot more fun if I did, but on the other, he was pretty fired up, and if he got pushed to the point I had to make him back off, he'd feel bad afterwards. He always felt a little guilty when he got too out of control, even if it was a rarity for us. I decided to let this one go, and just see which direction he would take things this time. He stared at me for a moment, and I could tell he was contemplating what he was going to do to me, and then suddenly he got back on top of me, kissing me roughly, trailing down my neck, biting a bit, doing the same to my shoulder, dragging his teeth across my skin, grabbing my wrists and pinning my arms above my head.

"I'm gonna fuck you senseless," he whispered huskily in my ear, nibbling on it, and I moaned, getting turned on just by the way he was talking to me.

"Prove it," I responded, grabbing his hair and yanking on it, before biting his shoulder, making him groan.

"Fuck..." he hissed. "That hurt."

"In a good way?"

"In a very good way," he responded. "I didn't tell you to stop, did I?"

I licked up the side of his neck, wrapping a leg around him, lifting my hips to grind against him, surprised when he pulled away, pulling his boxers off. His erection sprang free, and I just licked my lips at the sight of my sexy ass husband naked. He didn't get back on top of me, just laid down next to me, staring at me.

"You just gonna sit there and stare at me, or are you gonna do something?" he asked, his eyebrows going up, and I smirked when I realized what he wanted, getting on my knees and taking him into my mouth, moving up and down slowly, enjoying the way it made him moan, moaning a little myself when I felt his hand go to the back of my head.

"You better not stop," he growled. "Until I tell you to. Got it?"

I just nodded, continuing to give him what he wanted, what he needed, picking up my pace, wrapping my hand around the base of him, my other hand running up and down his thighs. He groaned, lifting his hips off the bed.

"Damn, you're good," he groaned. "Oh, god...Sam..." His hand went to my shoulder, pulling me back a little. "Stop..." he said, gasping for air. "I don't want to yet...jesus, Sam..."

"You sure?" I asked with a smirk, bending my head down, but he sat up, grabbing me and flipping us over so he was on top.

"Yeah I'm sure," he replied. "I'm not done with you yet." He kissed me fiercely, grinding against me. "I want to make you shake, beg, moan, I want to hear you scream..." I moaned in spite of myself, getting turned on by the way he was talking to me. "And I'm gonna make you do all of those things. You're in for a very, very long afternoon, Sam."

I didn't even have a moment to think before he sat up, picking me up off the bed and then pressing my back up against the wall, dropping to his knees and putting both of my legs over his shoulders, his tongue finding me quickly. He had me in a way I couldn't move, just hold on for dear life. The game was on, and holy shit, this one was going to be intense.

~*Carly*~

The first thing I became aware of when I walked in the apartment was Sam and Freddie were having an argument, a really intense one. I could tell, because the door was shut, and there was a lot of banging around and yelling. It even sounded like there was a lamp or a vase being broken, all I could hear was a shattering sound. I sighed, flopping down on the couch. What could those two possibly be arguing about right now? They'd been doing so good, they hadn't had a real argument in weeks. For a brief moment I thought they were arguing about something to do with Brad taking Sam to the doctor. Brad and Sam were extremely close, perhaps too close for my own comfort, but it seemed to bother Freddie a little bit more, though he did a pretty good job of keeping it buried deep down. If it weren't for the fact that Brad was Freddie's best friend, he probably wouldn't be so good at hiding it. Still, I had no idea what Freddie was so angry about, it had been his idea for Brad to take Sam in the first place!

Speaking of Brad, where was he? He didn't have any classes today, and there was no sign of him right now. I got up off the couch, heading upstairs, checking the bedroom first, then up in the studio. Nothing. Where was he? I started to get a little nervous. Sam and Freddie were fighting pretty hardcore right now, and Brad wasn't in the apartment. What possibly could have happened?

My eyebrows went up when I heard a loud thump, and then the sound of the bed in Sam and Freddie's room banging against the wall. I breathed a sigh of relief and rolled my eyes at the same time. They obviously weren't fighting, they were up to something else, but good lord, those two were stirred up! They only got this bad when one or both of them were pissed off, so maybe I'd been right in that something HAD happened today. Whatever it was though, I wasn't in the mood to deal with it, school had really thrown me for a loop today, and I needed to just lay down and rest for a little while. I went back up the stairs, heading to my room and flopping down on the bed.

I'd been laying there for about fifteen minutes when the bedroom door creaked open, and I looked to see Brad standing there. I sat up immediately, curious to see whether he knew what was going on with Sam and Freddie.

"Hey," I said. "What's up?"

Brad sighed, leaning against the doorframe. "You're gonna hate me."

My eyes narrowed when I realized he was slurring his words a little bit. "Brad? Are you drunk?"

"Well, the walk kinda sobered me up, so..."

"Walk? And you HAVE been drinking!" I cried, scrambling to my feet. "Brad? What the hell?"

"I was on the phone with my sponsor the entire time, Carly," Brad sighed, walking in and flopping down on the futon, resting his head in his hands. "God, I'm such an idiot."

"Why? What did you do? Why did you drink?" I asked, walking over to where he was sitting. "I told you if you drank again it was over!"

"I know!" he cried. "Carly...fuck. I screwed up so bad."

"Just tell me why," I said softly. I was so upset, I'd been very upfront about us breaking up if he drank again, and he'd done it anyway! I wasn't even worth more than a stupid bottle!

"I ran into my mom when I took Sam to the doctor, Carly," Brad responded, looking at the floor.

"Okay, so?" I replied.

"The BABY doctor!" he exclaimed. "They're having another kid, and nobody told me! I wasn't worth telling!"

I was silent, I wasn't quite sure what to say. I knew what had happened had to have stung, badly, but I didn't understand why he had to resort to drinking to cope with it! Why couldn't he have just talked to me? I just stared at him, waiting for him to continue.

"Don't you get it, Carly? This baby is going to be my replacement. Like I never even existed, and look at how Heather and Bryson are both turning out! They're just gonna screw this kid up too!"

"Brad," I said softly, sitting down next to him. "I...i'm sure they're not having a baby to replace you. I mean, it probably just kinda happened. I mean, hello! We're talking about YOUR parents! They're worse than Sam and Freddie!"

"Ugh, Freddie," Brad groaned. "I...oh man. I really, really fucked up, Carly."

"Why?"

"I didn't even wait to get Sam back before I went to the pool hall. She had to call him to come pick her up because I was too drunk to drive! He took my keys, after he slammed me into the wall. He HATES me now!"

Oh god, that's WHAT had those two so fired up right now! Normal people just ranted and raved and argued when they were upset, but no, not Sam and Freddie, they'd just lock themselves in their room and bang each other senseless, leaving all kinds of marks all over each other, breaking stuff...it was insane!

"He'll get over it, Brad. But...this is a big deal!" I exclaimed. "Forget Freddie, Brad! You DRANK! What were you thinking? And...and I told you what would happen if you drank again!"

Brad was silent, staring at the floor for a moment, before catching me off-guard, his arms going around my waist and hugging me tightly.

"Carly, babydoll, please! I screwed up bad, I know this! But please, please, please don't leave me over this! Please! I promise I won't fuck up again! I love you so much, don't leave me!"

"Brad..."

"Please!" he yelled. "Carly, I'm begging you! I'll do whatever you want, I'll go to the meetings EVERY DAY if you want! I won't do it again! Please!"

"Brad..."

"And I'm really sorry! You're worth more to me than drinking, I promise you! I love you!"

"Brad!" I yelled, getting annoyed. "You're not even LETTING me talk!"

"Sorry," he whispered. "I'm sorry. I just...man...this...it hurts, you know?"

"I know," I replied. "Look at me."

Brad sighed in resignation, not letting go of me, but not meeting my eyes either.

"LOOK AT ME, Bradley Harrison!"

Brad's eyes quickly flicked up to mine when I threw out his full name at him. It wasn't something he heard out of me very often, and it definitely got his attention. I shook my head slowly.

"I know how upset you must be right now, but that's no excuse," I stated, and his shoulders slumped forward, sighing sadly. I stared at him for a moment, taking a deep breath. "If you screw up again, it's OVER, and I mean it!"

"Oh, thank god!" Brad said softly, kissing me passionately.

Okay, so I caved. I'd given him an ultimatum, and I caved. But I did it because I loved him, and because it just wouldn't be right with all the emotional pain he was dealing with right now. It'd be like adding insult to injury, especially now that his best friends were also pissed off at him! Besides, breaking it off with him now would probably send him right back to the pool hall, and as upset as I was with him, I didn't want him doing anything stupid right now.

"I mean it, Brad!" I said. "Don't screw up again!"

"I won't, I promise," he replied. "I love you, Carly."

"I love you too, Brad. Now...we need to sober you up."

Brad sighed, shaking his head. "I'm not going downstairs right now. I'm convinced Freddie is going to kill me the minute he sees me."

"Well, I mean...you did fall off the wagon," I said, shrugging, and Brad shook his head.

"That's not what he's upset about. He's pissed I brought Sam there, and pissed I was too drunk to drive her back. I let him down."

I nodded. "Yeah, I guess you did. And you probably shouldn't have done that, but come on, you and Freddie have battled before, he'll cool off. In fact, I'm pretty sure he's a little busy pounding all his anger out right now. Poor Sam's probably not going to be able to walk by the time they're finished."

"I'm sure she won't mind," Brad grumbled. "They're so damn weird."

"Yeah, no kidding," I replied with a sigh, before standing up. "Come on, let's go get you some coffee."

~*Freddie*~

"I didn't hurt you, did I?" I asked as I laid next to Sam, staring up at the ceiling after a long period of silence.

"No," she responded. "I mean, not really. No worse than I hurt you, I mean."

"Yeah," I replied, pausing. "Is my shoulder still bleeding?"

Sam reached over, running her fingertips over the very pronounced bite mark on my shoulder, shaking her head. "No. It stopped. Sorry about that..."

I shrugged. "I told you not to hold back, didn't I?"

"Well, I definitely didn't do that," she responded, and I laughed, before rolling over to look at her, my hand reaching out to run through her hair. "That was pretty intense, you know?"

"Yeah, I know..." I trailed off. "Too intense?"

"I mean...not for me, but tell that to the lamp we broke."

"And the picture frame."

"And the vase."

I sighed, continuing to stare at her. "You know, we're probably not going to be able to do that anymore. I mean, now that I'm thinking clearly...I...the baby..."

"Freddie, the baby's fine," Sam responded, kissing me gently. "You didn't hurt me."

"Not there, anyway," I responded, taking her hand in mine. "I think your wrists may end up being bruised."

"Yeah, I know," she replied. "And that bite mark's gonna leave a scar. But you're right, we may have to pull back a little."

"Yeah."

"Which sucks," Sam grunted. "I love it when you get all rough and lose control."

"Me too," I replied. "I mean, I love it when YOU get rough."

"Yeah," she replied. "But...it's something else that's going to change I guess. Gonna be awful hard for us to get away with acting like this with a baby in the house, you know?"

"Yep," I replied. "Which reminds me, when do you want to start looking?"

"Um..." she wrinkled her nose. "Should we get the place or the car first?"

I gave her a Look. "Okay, you've been resisting this car thing pretty heavy, and now YOU'RE the one bringing it up? You don't want to move early, do you?"

"Well...no," she admitted, biting her lip. "I just..."

"You just what, baby?"

"I don't wanna leave Carly!" she cried. "I mean, I knew this day would come, but she's my best friend! It's gonna be so weird not having her upstairs! I'm going to miss her so much!"

"Baby, calm down," I said softly. "We're not moving to a different country. If we can get something in Bushwell, we will. But it's not gonna change anything between you and Carly!"

"Yes it will!" she replied. "What am I supposed to do without her?"

"Uh, be with me?" I responded, slightly irked.

"Freddie, you're my HUSBAND," she said pointedly. "I explained this to Carly before, but I guess I'll have to do it again with you. There is nothing you could possibly do to replace Carly. But there's nothing Carly could do to replace YOU. I love you both. Just differently."

"Yeah, I know," I replied. "Very differently, I hope!"

"Uh, duh...I mean, I love Carly, but not like THAT. I mean, could you imagine, me and Carly..." she trailed off, frowning. "Scratch that. Don't imagine that!"

"Too late," I responded with a grin.

"Stop!" she replied, shoving my shoulder.

"Hey, you told me to!" I laughed. "Pretty hot..." I wiggled my eyebrows at her. "But, yeah, I get it, baby. But it's better we move out sooner rather than later...I mean, at least we won't be rushed trying to get everything perfect, you know?"

"True," she replied with a sigh. "Okay, so...you didn't answer my question. Car, or place first?"

"I mean, we can do both, right?" I asked. "But we'll go tomorrow and look at some cars, okay? You get done with class, when? Around three?"

"Yep."

"Okay, we'll go after." I sat up. "I should probably go slap some ointment on this shark bite."

"You TOLD me to do it!" she barked, crossing her arms over her chest, and I just grinned at her, leaning over her to kiss her.

"I know, I'm just messing with you."

"Are you feeling better?" she asked, her hand rubbing up and down my arm, and I shrugged.

"I'm still pissed, just not violently pissed. Best I can do right now."

"I know," she said softly. "But..."

I groaned. "Sam, do not bring up Brad with me right now, I don't even want to think about it!"

"But he was just upset, and alcoholics fall off the wagon ALL the time!"

"Yeah, but they don't ALL do it when they're supposed to be driving their best friend's wife home from the doctor, while said wife is pregnant!" I replied.

"I know, but...you have to at least TRY to understand his perspective! And I mean, you can't be pissed off at him forever, we have a show to do tomorrow, it never goes well when there's tension, you know that!"

I sighed, my head going back. "Fine. I'll be civil, okay? But I'm not gonna be all buddy-buddy right now. You get why I'm upset, don't you?"

"Yes, I do! And I think you're forgetting I can handle myself, Freddie," Sam responded, giving me a look.

"Yeah, well..." I started to go into a huge spiel about she shouldn't have to handle herself in that sort of situation, that being a smoky club was bad for a developing baby, that kind of thing, but I decided to let it go. I'd just had amazing, incredibly rough sex with her, and I had a feeling she was still pretty riled up, the last thing I wanted to do was piss her off right now! I shook my head, clearing away the thoughts. "So what are we doing tonight?"

"I dunno. Movie?" she asked, stretching a little bit. "After I take a nap, I mean."

"We could do that," I replied, pulling my jeans on. "Dinner?"

"Thai?" she asked hopefully, and I nodded.

"Sure thing, baby," I replied. I laid back down next to her, pulling her against me, and she rested her head on my chest, yawning. "Did I wear you out, sweetheart?"

"Oh yeah," she replied. "Nap with me?"

"Mmhmm," I replied, stroking her hair and beginning to zone out a little bit. Within a few minutes she was out cold, and soon, I was too.

~*Brad*~

"So, we're going to a meeting tonight I guess?" Carly asked me as she leaned over the counter, and I shrugged.

"I think it pretty much goes without saying, babe," I grunted.

"Yeah," she replied softly. "I'm sorry. You know, that you had to find out the way you did..."

"Eh," I replied with a wave of my hand, unwilling to talk about it at the moment. "I'm fine."

"No, you're not," Carly replied. "But I'll let it go."

"Thanks," I replied.

"So what exactly happened with Freddie?" she asked, and I just sighed.

"It was kind of a blur, I was pretty buzzed, but I remember him shoving me into the wall, and calling me a fuck-up. And telling me he wanted to beat my ass, but he'd wait until I was sober. And then he took my keys. Which is how I wound up walking back to Bushwell. Ten miles. In the snow. Fun times."

"Well," Carly replied with a shrug, as if to say, that's what you get for drinking. "So..." she cleared her throat nervously.

"So what?" I asked.

"Well, I know how you tend to run off at the mouth when you drink," she responded hesitantly. "You didn't..."

I rolled my eyes. "No, Carly, I didn't..."

"Brad..." Carly stated, looking at me, and I rolled my eyes.

"Carly, I swear, I didn't tell either one of them that it was you who took the pills, okay?" I barked, looking at Carly strangely when I noticed her eyes were large as saucers. "What?"

I just about fell over when I heard a voice behind me speak.

"You wanna throw it in reverse and repeat that for me?"

Oh god, I was a dead man.


	28. Chapter 28: Oil and Water

**A/N: Drama, thy name is iCarly. And oh yes, it is just beginning!**

**Chapter Twenty Eight:  
><strong>**Oil and Water **

~*Brad*~

I turned around in my seat to see Sam staring at me, her arms crossed over her chest, glaring at me and Carly.

"Did you not hear what I said, Brad?" Sam asked, leering at me. "I said, do you wanna throw it in reverse and repeat that for me?"

"Uh..." I trailed off, looking over my shoulder at Carly, who looked like she wanted to disappear then and there. Her face was white as a sheet, and she looked like a deer caught in headlights, her hands gripping the counter top so hard her knuckles had turned white.

"Somebody better start talking!" Sam barked.

"Uh, you misheard me, Sam," I responded stupidly. "What I meant to say was..."

"I heard you PERFECTLY, Brad!" Sam yelled, looking at Carly. "What the hell did you do, Carly?"

"I..." Carly shifted from foot to foot nervously, looking at the counter.

"Carly!" Sam yelled. "You did something, I wanna hear it from your mouth! What did you do?"

"I'm sorry, Sam!" Carly blurted out. "I didn't know what to do, I...Melanie was fucking everything up! She made me and Brad fight, and..."

"So you FRAMED my SISTER?" Sam cried. "Have you lost your fucking mind?"

"I'm sorry!" Carly replied. "I was gonna tell you, I just..."

"Pussied out?" Sam responded. "Why am I not surprised?"

"Sam!" I exclaimed. "Calm the hell down!"

"You shut up, drunkie!" Sam yelled. "This is serious shit! Carly! How could you do that? I mean, you're supposed to be my friend, and you purposely put me and my sister at odds with each other! You saw how upset she was!"

"Sam, I..."

"Sorry isn't good enough this time, Carly! I can't believe you!"

The door to their bedroom opened, and I groaned when Freddie walked out, glaring at me before looking over at Sam. "What the hell's going on in here? What's with all the yelling?"

"Ask her!" Sam hissed, pointing at Carly, and Freddie looked over at Carly, a quizzical expression on his face.

"Carly?"

"Tell him what you did!" Sam yelled. "Tell him! You did it, own up to it, Shay!"

"I..." Carly started, shaking her head. "I can't handle this right now." She took off toward the stairs, only to be cut off by Sam.

"You are not getting out of this, Carly!" Sam yelled, inches away from Carly. I stood up anxiously. For the first time ever, I was suddenly afraid that Sam would hit her, and if that would happen, she'd probably knock the girl out! To my knowledge, Carly had never taken a hit to the face, and I wasn't about to let it happen now!

"Sam, back the hell up!" I yelled, stepping between them.

"Stay out of this, Harrison!" Sam yelled.

"I said back the fuck up! Are you stupid?"

"Whoa! You're the one who needs to back the hell up, man!" Freddie yelled, grabbing Sam's arm and yanking her aside. "You don't talk to her like that!"

"I swear to god, Freddie, you don't want to go head to head with me over this right now!"

"This is between the girls, not you and me, asshole! But if you wanna make it personal, we can sure do that!"

"Everybody calm down!" Carly yelled, jumping in between me and Freddie, pushing me back. "If you guys wanna be mad at me, that's fine, but you CAN'T be mad at each other!"

"Oh, trust me, I'm mad at YOU, not your dumb boyfriend," Sam replied.

"Fiance," I growled at her, and she just smirked at me.

"Oh, that's right, fiance. My bad," she replied with fake sweetness. She made air quotes around the word 'fiance' and that just made me even madder.

"What the hell is that supposed to mean, Sam?" I barked, and she shrugged.

"I think you know exactly what it means, Brad," she replied.

"You know what, fuck you," I spat, suddenly finding myself taking a step back to steady myself after she'd given me a violent shove backwards.

"Fuck you both!" she hissed. "I think Freddie's right."

"When isn't he right? Oh wait, scratch that, when doesn't he THINK he's right!"

"I will deck you right across the face right now, Harrison," Freddie growled. "Don't push me."

"Don't push me!" I shot back, and Freddie just laughed.

"Why? My five foot two WIFE just did that, and she almost knocked you on your ass. Bitch."

I just glared at him wordlessly, and he glared right back. If Sam hadn't spoken at that moment, we probably would've started taking swings at each other, but she said something that caught both me and Carly off-guard.

"Change in plans. We're not waiting until summer to move out."

"What?" Carly cried. "But...but Sam! I'm sorry!"

"It doesn't matter, Carly!" she responded. "How could you do that? I don't even know who you are any more!"

"What did she do?" Freddie asked, confused, and Sam sighed, leering at Carly, before looking back at Freddie.

"Ask Carly who really took the Xanax," she stated, and Freddie looked at Carly in shock.

"Please tell me she's joking," he said, and Carly shrugged.

"I can't."

"Carly!" Freddie exclaimed. "What...why? And you just let her pin it on Melanie and throw her out? Are you serious right now?"

"That's WHY she did it, to get Melanie out!"

"That wasn't the plan, Carly!"

"Wait...plan?" Sam replied, looking back at Freddie, who just sighed, closing his eyes and leaning his head back.

"Ooh, the plot thickens!" I said. "Seems like things AREN'T perfect after all, are they Sammy?"

She glared at me. "Call me that again and I will snap your arm like a twig," she threatened, before looking back at Freddie. "Talk."

"Sam, it's not what you think, okay?" he replied. "We just...she was throwing off the balance, and..."

"What balance, Freddie? Look at this shit, there is no balance any more! It is gone! Now what the fuck were you gonna do?"

"We were just going to be disagreeable, make her uncomfortable, and maybe...maybe encourage Emily to break it off with her."

"What?" Sam responded. "Are you fucking kidding me? Why? Why the fuck would you do that?"

"Because Melanie treats her like shit, that's why!" Freddie responded.

"Well some people think I treat you like shit, and vice-versa! You want other people meddling in our relationship?"

"No! Baby, come on, we're not like that!"

"And you don't know what my sister and Emily are like either! You should know better than anyone, you don't know what goes on in a relationship unless you're IN it! How could you...I...fuck all of you!" she screamed.

"Sam, I didn't do anything!" he shouted, grabbing her arm, but she just jerked it away.

"But you were going to! Carly just beat you to the punch with her bullshit! You know, in case you all forgot, I'M supposed to be the bad one, remember? And I haven't been that girl for a very, very long time! You guys just picked up my slack!"

"Sam!" Carly cried. "Please! It was a mistake!"

"No," Sam said, shaking her head. "Moving in here in the first place, THAT was a mistake! I can't believe this, my relationship with my sister is fucked up beyond belief right now, and...and not only that, but you KNOW how hard it was for me to curb my violent urges, I SNAPPED on her, and if Brad hadn't pulled me back, I would have attacked her! You made me undo all that progress I made, Carly! This is...oh my god, I can't even deal with this right now!" She ran into the bedroom and emerged a moment later, shoes and coat on, heading for the front door.

"Baby, wait!" Freddie said, going after her.

"All of you, leave me alone!" she responded, slamming the door, and Freddie groaned, hauling ass to their room to grab a shirt and shoes, yanking his coat off the hanger before throwing it on, glaring at us.

"I don't even know what to say," he grunted. "Now she's pissed at me too!"

"That's what you get!" I replied. "With your damn conspiracy!"

Freddie just glared at me. "You know, if I didn't know any better, I'd say the reason you were so against it is because you have a thing for Melanie. You know, since you couldn't nail her identical twin, who'd rather be with me."

"First of all, Sam doesn't seem like she wants to be with you right now, if you ask me. Secondly, fuck you, and third, you're insane! I hate Melanie!"

He gave me an amused look, shrugging. "The same way Sam and I hated each other? Something to think about, Carly," he stated, before walking out the front door, slamming it behind him, leaving me and Carly staring at each other.

"Carly, he only said that to upset you, babe. You know that's not true."

"I know," she said softly, biting her lip.

"Where's your head at, babydoll?"

Carly sighed shakily, looking at the ground. "Sam hates me." She looked back up at me, and I noticed she was crying. I shook my head, pulling her into my arms.

"It's okay, Carly," I replied, kissing her forehead. "She's just mad. She'll come around. You guys have been best friends for ten years. She won't throw it away, I promise you."

Carly just took a deep breath, hugging me tightly. "I hope you're right."

~*Freddie*~

I couldn't wait for this day to be over with, I was completely exhausted. Last night had been a pretty bad night. I'd managed to catch up with Sam and calm her down to the point she wasn't angry with me any more, but she'd been up until three AM on the phone with her sister, our night had been pretty much ruined, and I hadn't gotten very much sleep. To top it off, I hadn't spoken to Brad or Carly. Maybe it was because I'd been pissed off at Brad pretty much for most of the day, but I wasn't nearly as angry with Carly as I was with Brad. I didn't like the way he'd mouthed off to Sam, or me for that matter. I was still pretty pissed off at Carly, what she had done was pretty low, but...let's be honest. This was really the first time Carly had done anything shady, and she'd done it out of anger at Melanie for causing a rift between her and Brad. I got that, because Melanie had almost caused a rift between me and Sam. Carly had made a mistake, an error in judgment, that was it.

But then again, so had Brad with the drinking. I couldn't understand why I was so angry with him. I was really having difficult wrapping my head around this one. Maybe the time had come where we just need to separate and give each other space. We'd been way too wrapped up in each other's lives for too long, and it had to stop. The tension had been building, and it wasn't going to go away any time soon, unless we just backed off each other and let things simmer down for awhile.

But that was going to be awful hard to do, considering we were filming tonight! Ugh, this day was just going to go on forever! Sam and I had to go to the car lot, go speak with someone at the leasing office at Bushwell to see if there were any openings, I needed to at least put a dent in a paper I had due on Monday, and then there was post-show paperwork to look forward to. Tomorrow couldn't come fast enough!

I walked out of my last class to see Sam sitting against the wall across from the classroom, her eyes glued to a textbook she was reading over, absentmindedly chewing on an apple slice. I walked over to her, sitting down next to her and leaning over to kiss her on the cheek.

"Hey beautiful," I said. "How was your first day with a bunch of seniors?"

She shrugged. "Made some girl cry."

I had to laugh. "What else is new? So you stomped her pretty hard, then?"

"Let's just say I'm already making a name for myself," she replied, finally looking up from her book. "But I can tell this class is gonna be pretty intense for me."

"Ah, you'll get it done, baby," I responded, grabbing her chin and turning it so I could brush my lips across hers. "Ready to go get this car business handled?"

She frowned. "I thought we were just looking."

"Yeah, but if we end up finding a good car, no need to wait, right?"

"I guess," she responded. I stood up and grabbed her hands, pulling her to her feet and then bending down to grab her stuff. "Talk to Carly at all?"

"Talk to Brad?" she shot back, and I groaned.

"Okay, point taken, we won't talk about them. But we have to film tonight, you know that."

"Ugh," she whined. "I don't wanna."

"Yeah, well, we just signed a bunch of new affiliate deals, so tough shit. We have to."

"I guess you're right," she grumbled. "I know you told me before, but...baby brain. What's the percentage on sales this time?"

"Fifteen percent," I responded. "They wouldn't go for twenty, but...I did send out the new prices for banner ads for February, and people are still biting."

"Really?" Sam asked, her eyebrows raised. "I thought for sure we'd lose half of them...I mean...two thousand a month for a silly banner is a lot of money!"

"Not when you're working with a webshow that reaches two million viewers per show."

Sam groaned. "If we can't keep up our witty repertoire on camera without yelling at each other, the views will start dropping."

"You'll be fine, baby," I responded, taking her hand in mine and giving it a squeeze. "Come on, let's go. I need to get some food before we get over to the car lot, and I wanna get there before they close."

Sam stopped me before we made it to the exit. "Wait!" she cried, and I looked at her quizzically.

"I forgot to show you this morning," she said, looking around to see if people were watching us before lifting her shirt. "Look."

My eyes dropped down to her stomach, and my eyebrows lifted in surprise. Her formerly flat stomach now had a very small, but still visible bump. It wasn't obvious when she had her shirt covering it up, but I definitely noticed it now. I knew it hadn't happened overnight, but the change had been so gradual, it wasn't until Sam had pointed it out that I became aware of it. A grin spread across my face as I pressed a hand to her stomach, the other hand tangling into her hair as I kissed her.

"That is so cool, baby," I said softly. "Wow. Just...wow."

"Yeah, I know," she replied, staring at me. "But this is just the beginning...at the end of this thing I'm gonna look like I swallowed a watermelon whole."

"Aw...you'll look adorable," I replied. "I can't wait."

She bit her lips nervously. "You sure? I mean...I'm not...I mean, I..."

"Just shut up, Sam," I responded, kissing her again. "You're beautiful, and having my baby inside you only makes you more beautiful, okay?"

"Okay," she replied, still sounding unsure.

"Come on," I said, pulling her shirt down and taking her hand in mine. "I'm starving. Aren't you hungry?"

"I kinda want some french fries."

I wrinkled my nose. "You know, I don't think fries are exactly healthy for you and the baby right now..."

"Yeah, but it'll be very UN-healthy for you to not get me any!" she threatened, and I laughed.

"You're probably right about that, baby. We'll get you some fries, it's okay."

"And a Fat Shake."

I just shook my head, smirking a little. "Fine. Fat shake it is." We reached the car, and I opened the door for her. "Now get your sexy ass in there. We're on a major time constraint here."

After I'd appeased Sam with a large fry and a Fat Shake, as well as food for myself, we headed off to the car lot, and Sam made a disgusted noise.

"Volvo? Really?"

"What'd you expect, Sam? The Ferrari dealer?"

"Well...no, but...something less nubby!"

"There is nothing nubby about a Volvo, Sam!" I shot back. "They're good cars!"

"Yeah, good cars for nubs!" she replied. "I am not driving a Volvo!"

"Fine, then I'll take the Volvo, and you can drive this car!"

Sam just let out a laugh. "I am not driving this ridiculous thing."

"What?" I exclaimed. "What exactly is wrong with my car?"

"Oh come on! I'm not driving something named after a high priced hooker!"

"What?" I gave her an incredulous look. "Sam!"

"I'm serious! I am not driving your Ford Escort! It's a nubby car too!"

I just rolled my eyes, irritated. "Then what did you have in mind, Samantha?"

"I want a Volkswagon!"

"Is that right, little Cheech?" I stated, smirking when she glared at me. "You want me to buy you a big Volks van you can roll a fattie in? Maybe take a few bong rips?"

"Shut up!" she laughed. "I don't want a van! But what about a bug?"

"They're not safe!"

"Oh, come on! The newer ones are!"

"They look like giant balls on wheels," I responded, rolling my eyes when Sam snickered.

"Not THAT kind of balls, perv," I said, opening my car door. "Come on, just get out and have a look around. If you don't see anything you like, we'll go check out the Volkswagon dealership, I suppose."

"So I can get my automoBALL?" she shot back, and I just shook my head, laughing a little.

"You're absolutely insane, you know that?" I asked, and she shrugged.

"I want a bright green car."

"Yeah, good luck finding a bright green Volvo, Sam."

"Exactly!" she replied pointedly. "I don't want a damn Volvo!"

"I could pull the boss man card," I stated, leaning forward so my mouth was inches from her ear. "You'd better do what I say, or else."

Sam gave me a challenging look. "You are not going to bait me into driving one of these with your sexy voice, Freddie."

"Oh fine," I grumbled, slumping in defeat. "It was worth a shot."

"Just come on, let's get this over with," she responded, grabbing my arm and dragging me to the first row of cars.

~*Carly*~

Well, this was awkward, I noted to myself as I looked back and forth nervously between Brad and then over at Sam and Freddie, who were leaning over the desk, frantically scribbling notes, looking up every now and then to murmur to each other and then writing more notes.

This had been our worst show to date. The comedic timing was off because Sam and I weren't speaking, and the technical stuff was all thrown out of whack because Freddie and Brad weren't speaking! This was a disaster! I was really worried, because we'd just signed a bunch of new affiliates, and if we put out a crappy product, we probably wouldn't keep them for long. I hoped this whole thing could be resolved before the next show, because the last thing we needed was a drop in money. School was killing me, as was my rapidly collapsing friendship with Sam, and the whole Brad situation, well...

I'd thought long and hard last night about everything that had happened, not just the argument, but Brad's drinking, and I couldn't figure out if I was really as in love with him as I thought, or if it was just my own guilt overriding my common sense. Brad had literally begged me not to leave him. I knew he loved me. And I knew he was going through hell right now. It would absolutely break him if we split up, a fact I was painfully aware of. I still loved him, I knew that, but did I love him enough to spend the rest of my LIFE with him? We still hadn't discussed the child issue, and not only that, but we were so...different. We were both in the middle of our own identity crises, and changing more and more each day. Brad was a devout Catholic, and I considered myself to be largely Agnostic. I didn't NOT believe in God, but I wasn't sure WHAT I believed. One thing I did know was that I wouldn't be down with a big traditional Catholic wedding, or a big traditional Catholic family. It wasn't just a religious issue, we didn't see eye to eye on a lot of things. Politics, finances, our tastes in entertainment. Could two people who were so different really make it work? We always said Sam and Freddie were different, but their differences worked together seamlessly; where one was weak in one area, the other was strong, and vice-versa. Brad and I weren't like that, our differences tended to cause arguments, rifts, mayhem.

And I couldn't help but admit that Freddie's comment about Melanie irked me. When I really thought about it, it made sense. Every time Brad and Melanie were around each other, they were fighting, very similar to the way Freddie and Sam used to behave when they were younger. Brad had a thing for girl-on-girl action, and Melanie was well-versed in that category. Not to mention, Melanie was physically identical to Sam, who I knew for a fact Brad was attracted to! The whole thing was going to end up driving me nuts! I knew it wasn't an option, Melanie was a lesbian and on the other side of the country, but I wanted Brad to have eyes for me and me only, the way Freddie only had eyes for Sam. I'd caught Brad checking out other girls before, and though I never brought it up, it drove me crazy. If Freddie was guilty at doing the same thing, he sure was good at hiding it, because ever since he'd gotten with Sam, I'd never seen him check out another girl! Even back when Brad and Sam had pointed out that Freddie and I were guilty of checking each other out when we were in high school, he'd never been obvious about it, so I couldn't tell if they'd said that because it was true, or just to ease my mind.

But still, this whole thing was irking me, and I at least needed to clear my head of it long enough to get this stupid paperwork done. I tried to scribble down more notes, frowning when I realized my pen was out of ink. I looked over at Sam and Freddie hesitantly.

"Um...can I have a pen?" I asked, and Sam rolled her eyes, before grabbing one off the desk and launching it at me, hitting me right in the forehead. "OW!"

Brad's head snapped up, glaring at Sam. "You wanna quit launching projectiles at my fiance?"

"You wanna quit being a dick?" she shot back.

"Look," he started, standing up, but Freddie whirled around, leering at him.

"Sit your ass back down," he grunted. "You wanna act like a little baby, do it on your own time. We're fucking working." He turned back around, looking down at his paper, sighing. "Playback," he called over his shoulder, only to be met with scoff from Brad.

"Do it yourself, asshole."

Freddie lifted his head to glare at Brad, before rolling his eyes. "Then toss me the remote, ass."

"Sure thing," Brad replied, grabbing the remote off the floor and winging it at him, football style, the remote planting itself squarely in the middle of Freddie's face, causing him to grab his nose and holler in pain.

"Son of a bitch!" Freddie yelled, and Sam abandoned her notes to walk around the desk, pulling his hand away, taking her chin in his hand and examining his nose closely.

"I don't think it's broken," she stated, grabbing a paper towel off the desk and holding it to his nose, which was starting to bleed. She gave Brad a death glare. "Thank God, for Brad's sake."

"Brad!" I scolded him. "You didn't have to do that."

"And he didn't have to be a dick!" Brad replied.

"What can I say, I learned from the best," Freddie responded, still holding the paper towel to his nose and looking at Brad pointedly.

"You really wanna mouth off to me right now, Benson? Your nose is already bleeding and I didn't even punch your ass!"

"Brad!" I cried, grabbing his shoulders and shaking them. "Calm down!"

"Yeah, listen to your fiance, Harrison!" Sam called. "Or there's gonna be a massive recall on my platform of non-violence!"

"And what exactly are you going to do, preggo?" Brad responded.

"I can knock out a grown man with one hit, if you'll recall. You've seen it."

Brad snorted inelegantly. "Three years ago. You've lost your edge."

"You wanna find out for sure?" Sam threatened, but Freddie grabbed her arm, yanking her back.

"Let it go, Sam," he replied. "We're gonna be out soon enough."

"Soon is not nearly soon enough," Brad shot back, and Freddie just glared at him, before shaking his head and going back to his notes.

"You guys, we can't keep doing this!" I exclaimed, standing up and walking over to Sam. "Sam, I'm sorry!"

"I know you're sorry," she grumbled, looking down at her notes. "But sorry's not good enough right now. You really screwed things up for me with Melanie, you know that, right?"

"Yes, I know!" I replied. "But I want to make it up to you! Please!"

"You wanna know how you can make it up to me?" she asked, finally looking up at me, and I nodded fervently.

"Yes, I'll do anything!" I replied.

"You can make it up to me by getting out of my face!" she replied, shoving past me. "I'm going downstairs."

"Sam, you're not finished!" Freddie called, and Sam turned around, snatching her notes off the table. "Then I'll finish in our room. Are you coming?"

"Yeah, I'll be right there," he responded with a sigh. Sam slammed the door behind her, and I just sighed, looking over at Freddie.

"So do you hate me too?" I asked, and he shook his head.

"Nope. Your fiance, on the other hand..."

"Fuck you!" Brad called out, and Freddie shrugged.

"Need I say more?" he asked. "Look, we went by the leasing office here today, there's a three month waiting list on all the single level apartments."

"So what does that mean?" I asked, and Freddie shrugged.

"Sam and I are going tomorrow to look at some other complexes. We'll try to stay local, for the sake of the show, but..." he trailed off, shrugging again. "I dunno what to tell you, Carly."

"Do you think she'll ever stop being mad at me?" I asked softly.

"Yeah, she'll get over it eventually. You know Sam. Girl can hold a grudge. But I'm sure for you...she'll get over it faster. She hates fighting with you, Carly, but she's really upset about this one."

"So...so why don't you hate me?" I asked. "If I took your pills?"

Freddie shrugged. "We've done worse things in the past, haven't we?" he asked. "All of us?" he looked pointedly over at Brad, who just scowled, pretending to look busy.

"Yeah, I guess so," I replied, and Freddie patted me on my arm encouragingly.

"So yeah, I can't be too pissed off at you. Besides, my hands are full in the anger department!" Another comment leveled at Brad, which he just shook off. "I'm going downstairs. Let me know when you've got these notes done, okay?"

"Yep," I replied. Freddie gave me another half-smile, before picking up his notebook and walking out of the studio, shutting the door behind him. I turned around to look at Brad, crossing my arms over my chest.

"I know that look, Carly, and I don't wanna hear it right now," he commented, not bothering to look up from his notes.

"You could have broken his nose," I commented. "Do you hear me? You could have broken your best friend's nose!"

"And Sam could have put your eye out with that pen," he replied calmly, and I scowled at him.

"Sam aims stuff exactly where she wants it to go," I responded. "If she wanted to put my eye out, she would have! Why are you being such a dick, Brad?"

"Because I'm sick of Benson acting like he's morally superior! You heard him, we've all done fucked up things in the past, why does he get license to act holier-than-thou?"

I rolled my eyes, annoyed. "Because Freddie's grown up, and he's tired of waiting for you to catch up!"

"What is that supposed to mean?" he barked, and I shrugged.

"I think you know exactly what it means," I replied. Brad just stared at me, shaking his head.

"That's fucked up, Carly," he stated, and I just sighed.

"You're right, it is. I'm sorry. Look, I'm just a little on edge right now, okay?" I replied, kissing him. "I think I'm gonna go for a walk. Clear my head. You know?"

"You don't want me to go with you?" he asked, and I shook my head.

"I just kinda wanna be by myself right now, okay?"

"But you're supposed to finish the production notes," he pointed out.

"I'll do them when I get back," I replied. "Besides, it's not like you're gonna tell Freddie, right?"

"Have a good walk," he said flatly, flopping back down in one of the beanbags, and I just shook my head, walking out of the studio and then downstairs, quickly leaving the apartment, and then the complex. It was about ten at night, but it was a Friday, and there were lots of people out. I walked past the Groovie Smoothie, not wanting to run into anyone I knew right now, continuing to walk until I was a few blocks away from Bushwell. I stopped in front of a coffee house that seemed to be pretty alive with action right now. I could hear music inside, and people were bustling in and out. I looked through the window to see a musician playing, and that's when I noticed the "open mic" sign on the front door. Wow, that looked really cool. I couldn't believe I'd never been in here before, this place looked exactly like the sort of place I'd want to go. I stood there for a moment, trying to decide whether or not to go in, before thinking better of it. How lame would I look going in by myself and sitting by myself, being a wallflower. I decided to walk past the entrance and keep walking when I ran right into someone who was walking out.

"Oh my gosh! I'm so sorry!" I cried, steadying myself. "I'm such a klutz!"

"Carly?" the person asked, and I had to stop myself from rolling my eyes.

"Matthew," I said flatly. "Funny running into you."

"Stalking me?" he asked with a laugh. "I mean, first I see you in class, and now here outside The Beanery...people may start to talk, you know."

"Very funny," I replied, not trying to hide my eyeroll this time. "So this is where you hang out, huh?"

Matthew shrugged. "Sometimes. I always try to stop by for Open Mic night. Maybe one of these days I'll be brave enough to play."

I looked at him, furrowing my brow. "Play?"

"Yeah, guitar," he responded.

"Oh!" I replied. "I do too! I mean, I'm learning. I actually play the ukelele, but made the switch to guitar pretty recently, and..." I trailed off, biting my lip when I realized I was talking animatedly about something I loved to someone I hated, my snooty TA.

"Pretty cool. So what kind of ax are you working with?"

"Uh, Fender Strat," I replied. "My fiance gave it to me for Christmas."

"Ah, the fiance," Matthew responded, amused. "And how are things in Wonderland?"

"What? What does that even mean?" I replied, both confused and annoyed. "We're great! Brad and I, we're...we're great."

"Uh-huh," he said flatly. "Sounds convincing. So tell me, if things are great, then fiance, where art thou on this most wondrous of Friday evenings?"

"What century are you from?" I snapped. "I'm not allowed to have apart time from him? Solo time? I wanted to take a walk!"

"Alone, in the dark, freezing? Again, on a Friday night? Having problems with your wonderful fiance?"

"What? No! We're fine! I just wanted to take a walk!"

"Me thinks thou doth protest too much," he replied with a grin, and I shoved at his shoulder.

"Stop doing that! Quit talking like you're Shakespeare!" I replied. "Look, if you must know, we just...I mean, we share an apartment with Sam and Freddie, and there's been a lot of drama between the four of us lately, okay? And it just gets tiring. I just wanted some me time, okay?"

"Alright, fine. Sheesh. No need to get so defensive, Carly," Matthew responded. "So, this me time. Is there room for one more?"

"Doesn't that negate the point of me time?" I shot back, and Matthew laughed.

"You've got spunk, I like that," he replied. "Look, instead of hanging outside here all night, wishing to be the belle of the ball and join the dance, why don't you come inside? I know me time can be a little...embarrassing when you're in public."

I shook my head slowly. "I don't think that's such a good idea, Matthew. I mean, you're my TA."

"And we're off school grounds," he replied. "Come on, I'm sure your boyfriend won't mind."

"Fiance," I corrected him. "And you obviously don't know my boyfriend. I mean, fiance! Damn it!"

Matthew laughed again, making my face flush, though I couldn't be sure whether it was with embarrassment or anger. "Carly, come on. You look like you're in need of a good time. I'll buy you a coffee."

"I don't think so," I replied, shaking my head again.

"A platonic coffee!" he replied, his hands going up. "A hot beverage does not constitute an offer of fornication, Carly."

I sighed, rolling my eyes again. "Fine, but only if you promise to stop talking like that."

"Scout's honor," he replied, holding the door open for me. "Apres vous, m'lady."

"What did I just say?" I barked, and he laughed.

"Alright, alright, I'm sorry!" he responded. We walked in, sitting down at a table near the stage, and I quickly began losing myself in the music, watching the guitar player go, hoping I'd be able to get that good one day. This place was so much better than the Groovie Smoothie. For one thing, there wasn't any high school kids running around, there were college age people and older, and as much as I loved T-Bo, nobody had tried to sell me a food on a stick all night! It was dark and cozy and laid back. I was so relaxed I'd almost forgotten about the fight I'd had with Brad, and even that I was hanging out with my irritating TA, until Matthew leaned in, his mouth close to my ear.

"Ever had a Chai latte?" he asked, and I shook my head.

"No. Freddie used to drink them, before he..." I trailed off, not wanting to go into my friend's health issues with a guy I barely knew who also got on my nerves.

"Before he what?" he asked, and I sighed.

"He came down with diabetes senior year of high school, now he can't have sugar. Coincidentally he doesn't really trust coffee houses to get it right any more."

"Understandable," Matthew said with a nod. "That sucks. So Freddie's the..."

"The tech producer for the show. Sam's husband."

"Right," he replied. "Cool."

"Yeah," I responded. "So...you were saying something about Chai lattes?"

"Yep. This place has amazing ones. Just take my word for it, alright?"

"Okay," I responded, looking back at the stage. I couldn't believe I was in here with Matthew, and even more to the point, I couldn't believe I was actually enjoying myself! This was ridiculous...and worrisome. I should not be out on a Friday night with another guy, even if he was my TA.

But even in spite of my guilt, the more I sat there talking to Matthew, the more I began to realize he wasn't so bad. I must have gone through three Chai lattes while we sat there and talked about random things, and I couldn't help but be aware of the way he was looking at me.

"You know, you're pretty cool for a sophomore, Carly," he teased, and I rolled my eyes.

"You're not so bad I guess, for an old guy," I replied, and he laughed.

"Come on, I'm twenty four. I'm not old."

"Whatever you say, grandpa," I responded with a grin, jumping in my seat when I felt my phone vibrate, and I looked down, instantly overwhelmed with guilt as I read the text message I'd just gotten.

Brad: Where R U babe? I'm worried about you. Please come home. XOXO Ily.

I stood up, grabbing my coat. "It's getting late, I should probably go," I said, pulling my coat on.

"Ah, the boyfriend calls," Matthew said, and I glared at him.

"It's fiance, and yes. I should be at home with him, not in a dark romantic coffee bar with you."

"So you admit it, it was romantic," Matthew pointed out, and I gaped at him.

"That's not what I meant," I replied, flustered. "I have to go." I headed for the door, and Matthew came right after me.

"Wait!" he called. "Let me walk you home. It's really late."

I shook my head. "I don't think that's a good idea, Matthew. You're my TA, and I'm engaged."

"Then why'd you sit with me for two hours?" he replied, and I shrugged.

"I honestly don't know," I replied.

"It's because you're not happy with where you're at," he said. "Maybe because you want some excitement?"

I had to laugh. "And you think a teaching assistant for American History is going to give me excitement?"

"Wanna try me?" he replied, staring at me. I bit my lip nervously when I realized I couldn't force myself to look away from his penetrating gaze, even when he took a step toward me. "Carly..." he started, bending his head down, the intent to kiss me very obvious, and I felt something in my stomach flutter.

"I have to go," I said softly when his mouth was inches away from mine, and he pulled away, a look of pure amusement on his face.

"Fine," he replied. "Let me know if you change your mind." He said it so flippantly, like he didn't care at all, and it just made me mad. What an idiot I was! This guy was just toying with me to have something to do, like I was just an object to be conquered! How insulting!

"I won't," I responded coldly, giving him a death glare, and he just laughed.

"Never say never, Carly. See you in class," he called over his shoulder as he turned around, heading back inside. I sighed, trying to clear my head, before pulling my phone back out to text Brad.

'Will be back shortly. Was walking, saw a coffee bar with an open mic night, wanted to check it out. I love you. On my way now. Xoxo.'

Oh man, that was close. I'd almost screwed up really badly, something that was becoming a habit lately, and had to stop now. But the entire walk back, I couldn't get that idiot Matthew out of my head. I was so angry at being played like that, that had to be it. It was just pure anger. Sometimes it was hard for me to let go of that. That's all. Just anger.

Right?


	29. Chapter 29: When It Comes

**A/N: Hey guys, sorry for the lack of updates, work has been killer. Anyway, this chapter's kinda short, but I'm working on the next one now, and things are only gonna get more dramatic here on out!**

**Chapter Twenty Nine:  
><strong>**When It Comes**

~*Freddie*~

"So what'd you think of that one?" I asked Sam as I slid into the driver's seat and started the engine, and she wrinkled her nose.

"Hated it," she replied, referring to the apartment we'd just checked out.

"Really? What'd you hate about it?"

"I didn't like the white cabinets, I don't want carpet, and just...ugh. It was ugly. All...what's the word I'm looking for? Plain. White. Very..."

"Austere?" I responded, looking over at her, and she nodded.

"I don't like it."

"Yeah, me neither," I admitted. "And they were asking way too much for it anyway. Four grand for a two bedroom? I don't think so."

"Yeah," she replied softly, staring out the window.

"What are you thinking, baby?" I asked, taking her hand, and she sighed, shrugging a little.

"I'm thinking we're not going to find anything in our price range that we like, other than..."

"...the apartments in Bushwell," I groaned, and she nodded. I just rolled my eyes. "Baby, we can't stay where we're at for three months, Brad and I are going to end up killing each other, and you and Carly, well..."

"What am I supposed to do, Freddie? I mean, I know you think I'm overreacting, but..."

"You haven't spoken to her in three days, Sam! That's not like you! Even when you guys have been angry in the past, you at least still yelled at each other. Right now, you're not even doing that. It's weird, and a little unnerving. I'm worried the show isn't going to survive this, and you know what will happen if that goes down."

"So I should make up with her for the sake of the show?" Sam shot back, and I shook my head.

"No, of course not. You're putting my words in my mouth again. You should make up with Carly for the sake of YOU. She's your best friend, Sam. I know you're upset, but if you cut her out of your life completely, you WILL end up regretting it. A lot."

Sam was silent for a moment, staring out the window, before turning to look at me.

"You make up with Brad, and I'll make up with Carly. You know, I have a lot more to be pissed off at Carly about than you do with Brad!"

"He took you to a smoky pool hall, got too drunk to drive you home, he was really out of line the way he was talking to you, and..."

"And I'm really flattered that all this anger is over ME, baby, but Brad's YOUR best friend, and you cut HIM out of your life, you'll regret THAT."

"Alright, touche," I grumbled. "But it's not just that, you know? Brad and I, we...I feel like he's just like...a world behind me. He's immature."

"He's NINETEEN!" Sam shot back. "Just because you act like you're thirty, doesn't mean Brad has to. Him and Carly...they're still figuring things out. We've already got it figured out. We shouldn't hold it against them just because they're not where we're at yet."

I gave her a pointed look. "Sounds like you're defending Carly now."

"I...no!" she exclaimed. "I was...oh crap." She sighed, sounding aggravated. "Dammit, you're right. But...we shouldn't wait until summer to move out."

"I completely agree," I responded.

"But what's the point of taking an apartment that is both over budget and something we HATE, getting locked into a year lease, when we could wait three months and get an AWESOME place?"

"Yeah, but the way things are going right now, do you really think that's such a good idea?"

"Freddie..." she trailed off, biting her lip. "Never mind."

"What? What is it, sweetheart?"

"Look, I know it's best for us to move and all and not put it off, but...I'm taking Communication Law, a senior level class, Judicial Reasoning, Symbolic Logic, AND World Religion this semester, and it's my last semester before I have to take off before I have the baby...I'm afraid I'm a little over my head, okay?"

"Baby!" I exclaimed. "You'll be fine. You're smart. You got this!"

"That's not the point!" she shot back. "I've got a lot of my plate right now, meanwhile, baby Benson is zapping my energy and brainpower, AND we've got the show...a move right now...it's gonna be too much, okay?" She was silent for a second. "I'm sorry, it's just too much."

"You'd rather run the risk of putting up with more drama than move out early?"

"And deal with a move? Absolutely! Why can't we just wait until April? School will be almost done with, and then we have the whole summer to get everything set up properly."

I just shook my head. "I think it's a bad idea, Sam."

"Baby..."

"But," I cut her off. "If that's what you want, then fine."

"Really?" she asked, looking surprised, and I nodded.

"As long as you make an effort to fix things with Carly. I'm tired of living in a war-zone."

"Then you'd better fix things with Brad."

I was silent for a moment. "Maybe he'll get kidnapped by aliens."

"Freddie!"

"Okay, fine!" I replied. "I'll try to be nicer to the kid. But he's really been pissing me off lately!"

"Yeah, me too, but I WANT an awesome single level in Bushwell, I don't want to settle for some crappy apartment that's out of our budget anyway! And it's so close to everything, and we already know people in the complex, and your mom's there, and..."

"Sam!" I laughed. "I get it, okay? You win, baby. You don't have to go head to head with me like your law classmates, alright? You win."

"I love winning," she replied with a smile, and I rolled my eyes.

"Yeah, I know. Okay, so...since we're out..."

"I don't wanna look for a car! I wanna go home!"

"Sam," I scolded her. "It has to get done, okay? We NEED a second car, BEFORE the baby gets here!"

"Ugh, fine!" she growled, crossing her arms over her chest and slumping down in her seat. I rolled my eyes again, shooting a look over her.

"Did you eat before we left?" I asked.

"What does that have to do with anything?" she snapped, and I sighed.

"Because you turn into...this...when you don't eat!"

"And what exactly is THIS, nub?"

"A brat, if you want me to be honest!" I shot back. I ignored the glare she was giving me, my hand going to her leg and giving it a quick squeeze. "Look, let's go get some food, and then we'll go to the car lot, okay? You'll feel better after you eat, I promise."

"Fine!" she barked, and I rolled my eyes.

"You're gonna end up driving me straight to the nuthouse one of these days, woman," I grunted, and she just shook her head.

"Impossible. I hate driving. You'll have to take a cab."

"At least then I'll get some peace and quiet!" I responded, ignoring the way Sam was grumbling to herself. I hoped once I got her some food, she'd calm down. We'd both been on edge lately, mostly because of all the drama that had been going on, that and the car search, apartment search, school, all of it. I honestly thought waiting was a TERRIBLE idea, but if Sam had her heart set on an apartment in Bushwell, then that's what she'd get. I loved her, and I didn't want the poor girl to be stuck in an apartment she hated, even if we had to put up with more drama and bullshit while we waited for a space to open up.

"Chinese okay?" I asked her, and she shrugged.

"It's fine."

"Oh my god," I grumbled. "We have to get you some food, stat."

"Stat? Yeah, okay, Dr. Benson."

I just gave her a grin, and she rolled her eyes. "Not right now, Freddie."

"Ugh, fine," I grumbled, parking the car.

~*Carly*~

I couldn't wait until I was done with school. I hated it. I hated my classes, most of my professors, and ugh...damn US History! Not only was my professor impossible, and the work she assigned outrageous, but ugh, stupid Matthew! I couldn't get that stupid jerk out of my head! I couldn't believe I'd almost let him kiss me!

And even more to the point, that overwhelming emotion that tended to permeate every single aspect of my life, guilt? It was back, and back with a fiery vengeance. I felt so guilty about hanging out with another guy instead of my fiance, while there was all sorts of drama going on, and I felt even more guilty that I couldn't stop thinking about the guy! You know, maybe it would have been easier to deal with if Brad hadn't been acting so sweet to me today! When I came back last night, he didn't want to do anything except cuddle with me, which was nice, but it just made me feel worse, and today he was being even sweeter! He kept coming up behind while I was working on my homework, rubbing my shoulders, kissing me on the forehead, bringing me tea and snacks. Was this MORE epic punishment from the universe? Why couldn't I make sense of all of this? I loved Brad, I knew that, but things were just so screwed up, screwed up to the point I couldn't stop thinking about another guy! I was a horrible fiance!

I was broken out of my thoughts by the front door opening, Sam and Freddie walking in, and I groaned silently to myself. There was no way in hell I could handle more drama right now, I had enough to deal with. I turned back to my books, pretending to be completely engrossed by my history book, and I was completely surprised when Sam walked up, standing beside me.

"History paper?"

"Yup," I responded, trying to sound nonchalant. Sam sighed, shooting a look over at Freddie, before focusing back on me.

"Can we talk?"

"I'm not in the mood to get yelled at, Sam."

"Well, that's good, because I'm not in the mood to yell at you," she responded. "Can you take a break for ten minutes?"

"I guess," I replied, standing up. "What do you want to talk about?"

Sam bit her lip, before tossing a look over at Freddie. "Don't you have something to do?"

"What? You want me to do it right now?" he cried, and Sam nodded.

"Yep. Go."

"Ugh, fine. Where's Brad?" Freddie asked me, and I shrugged.

"The studio."

"Alright."

I gave Freddie a Look. "If you get into another fight with Brad, Freddie, I swear to god..."

"Relax! I'm not gonna get in a fight with him!" he snapped, before heading up the stairs, leaving me alone with Sam.

"So what did you want to talk about?" I asked her, and she shrugged.

"I'm still really mad, Carly," Sam responded. I opened my mouth to say something, but she cut me off. "But I don't want to fight with you any more. It sucks. I don't like being like this. Not with you."

"Yeah, me too," I said softly. "Look, Sam, I'm really sorry about the Melanie thing, okay? I don't know what I was thinking. It was a mistake. I just...we all kind of lost our heads that night, you know? Myself included."

"Yeah..." Sam trailed off. "I just...let's just forget about it, okay? You're my best friend, Carls. I mean, I apologized to Melanie and everything, I think we're okay now, but...Melanie's my sister and all, but we're nowhere near as close as you and me, you know? I don't want to lose that!"

"I don't either!" I cried. "Sam! Oh my god, I've been feeling so incredibly bad these last few days! I hate when you're mad at me!"

"Me too!" she replied, hugging me. "So we're cool?"

"Yeah, we're good," I replied. I paused, biting my lip. "I don't know what to do about Brad and Freddie though. They've never had a grudge going on this long, other than the whole Thanksgiving episode from senior year..."

"Yeah, I know. This is really bad. I know Freddie's pissed about the pool hall thing, and about Brad mouthing off to me, but...it seems like overkill, you know? Something's eating at him about Brad."

"And something's eating at Brad about Freddie," I finished. "I don't know what to do."

At that moment, Freddie came stomping down the stairs, followed by Brad, both of them headed for the front door.

"Where are you guys going?" Sam asked, and Freddie just grunted.

"Gym."

"Gym? Why?" I asked.

"Because I don't feel like talking to this asshole," Brad grunted.

"And I don't feel like being all sunshine and roses myself," Freddie added.

Sam and I shot each other worried looks. "What does that mean?" Sam asked.

"No-holds barred, winner take all, no rules," Freddie replied.

"What?" I exclaimed. "That sounds...that sounds bad, you guys! Come on, is there any other way to get around this?"

"Carly, we're guys," Brad responded, giving me a quick kiss. "Guys don't talk about their feelings."

"Yeah, but..."

"Don't worry about it, I'm not gonna kill him," Freddie said, before giving Sam a kiss. "Love you, baby."

Brad snorted, rolling his eyes. "Like you could."

"See, talk like that isn't gonna help your case right now," Freddie growled, and Brad smirked.

"I'm really afraid, Benson."

"Whatever, see you there," Freddie replied. "Sam, I'll be back in a little while, okay?"

Sam just gave him an annoyed look. "Just promise me you guys will wear gloves."

"Of course, no bare knuckle boxing allowed the gym. But all bets are off."

Sam stared at him for a second, before shooting a death glare at Brad. "If you hit him in the balls, I will kill you."

"Please, that's a bitch move. For bitches," Brad responded. "We're out."

With that, both of the boys left, leaving me and Sam in shock. Sam just looked over at me, giving me a disgusted look. "Ugh, boys."

"Yeah..." I trailed off. "So..."

"So do you wanna go out? Since the boys will be largely occupied by beating each other senseless for a few hours?"

"Yeah, I guess," I responded. "I need a break from studying anyway. Smoothies?"

"Sure. Let's go," Sam replied.

~*Brad*~

"You sure you wanna do this?" I called across the ring to Freddie, who just laughed a little to himself.

"What, you don't?" he responded, giving me a Look, before going back to lacing up his gloves, and I rolled my eyes.

Yes, I definitely wanted to do this. I hated to say it, but this had been a long time coming. There'd been this growing animosity between Freddie and myself slowly brewing, and it had all come to a head. I was getting more and more tired of him acting so damn condescending, like he was better than me. He seemed to carry this attitude everywhere he went that because he had the whole marriage thing down, being an Electrical Engineering major, being the "official" tech producer for iCarly...yeah, he just thought he was superior to me in every way, and I was more than ready to bring him down a peg or two. We were beyond talking this out like rational adults, it was time for some good old ass-kicking.

I turned to my left, leaning over the ropes, to my buddy Tom, who I knew from one of my classes, and was also a regular at the gym.

"Yo, dude," I called. "You ready to ref this thing?"

"Oh yeah," he responded, sliding under one of the ropes and entering the ring. "You guys ready to beat the shit out of each other?"

Freddie's eyebrows went up, smirking a little. "You're letting Tom ref this thing?"

"What the hell is that supposed to mean?" Tom shot back, and Freddie shrugged.

"Nothing. But...you are...I mean..." Freddie stumbled over his words a little, and I just rolled my eyes.

"Tom doesn't smoke before he hits the gym, dumb ass."

"Yeah man, the ganj will totally put the kibosh on a decent workout," Tom replied. "Don't worry, the stoner can accurately call a boxing match."

"Fine," Freddie said with a shrug.

"Ass," Tom muttered under his breath, and I nodded in agreement. I wasn't the only one who could see Freddie's tendency to be condescending and wear his judgment of other people on his sleeve. He thought he hid it so well, but it'd been coming out more and more over the last year or so, and now he was damn unpleasant to be around. It was like nobody was EVER allowed to make a mistake around the great Freddie Benson. To hell with that! It was on now!

"Alright, let's do this," Freddie said, stretching a little.

"Shit yeah, I'm ready," I responded.

"Okay, so...you know the rules, dudes. Keep it above the belt. Everything else, go for it," Tom said, before grabbing my shoulder and leaning into me. "Dude, kick Benson's ASS," he growled, and I nodded.

"I got this shit," I responded.

"Okay, get ready," Tom said. I got into position, Freddie as well, and I just glared at him.

"Try not to give me shit if my form's not perfect," I snapped, and Freddie rolled his eyes. "You take your Xanax beforehand?"

"Did you take a shot beforehand?" Freddie shot back, and I just shrugged.

"Okay, go!" Tom yelled, and before I could even pull back to take a swing, Freddie hit my squarely in the chest, sending me a few steps backwards.

"That's for taking my pregnant wife to a bar instead of taking her home," Freddie growled, and I just swung in response, aiming for his jaw, but missing. I managed to duck before Freddie got another swing in, and then I hit him with a left hook, hitting my target then, right in his jaw.

"That's for acting like you're better than me, dick!"

"You act like a fucking kid, Brad!" Freddie growled, punching me in the shoulder.

"You act like you're fucking perfect!" I hollered, hitting him. We gave up talking shit and just started hitting each other, Tom walking in circles around us, well, more like bouncing around with pure excitement. I wasn't even paying attention, I was so pissed off I wasn't paying attention to anything, focused entirely on beating the shit out of Freddie, but he was definitely giving me a run for my money. I knew not to push my luck too much; it may have happened three years go, but what had happened in the ravine with Bill, the way Freddie had snapped on him...yeah, I didn't want to push him THAT far.

"You're such a bitch, Brad!" Freddie yelled. "You're never gonna fucking grow up, Carly's gonna leave your ass!"

"You're boring, you're a fucking know-it-all, and everyone aside from your fucking wife can't stand you, asshole!" I yelled, catching my leg with his so he fell backward, but as I bent down to hit him, his knee came up, planting itself square in my gut, and I fell to the ground, not down for two seconds before Freddie started hitting me again.

"I don't THINK I'm better than you, I KNOW I'm better than you!" he hollered. "You're a fucking screw up! You had everything going for you, and you fucking threw it away!" He kept hitting me until Tom scrambled over, grabbing Freddie and yanking him off of me.

"Cool it!" Tom growled. "I said boxing, not street-fighting! Get up, Brad!"

I slowly rose to my feet, glaring at Freddie who was still being held back by Tom.

"You've ALWAYS thought you were better than me, Benson. Admit it!"

"Fuck you! I never thought I was better than you. Until NOW. You had everything in the world going for you, man!"

"The fuck are you talking about?"

"You were SMART! And now you don't even take filmmaking seriously! Your screenplay's been sitting in your hard drive, unfinished, for a year and a half! You used to be the cool guy everyone wanted to hang out with, until you started getting wasted every night! You take Carly for granted, you take your life for granted, you just mope around all the time!" he yelled. "I don't even know who the fuck you are, but you're NOT Brad! I don't like who you are anymore! I fucking want my best friend back!"

I lowered my arms, staring at him. "That's how you feel?"

"Yes, that's how I feel! It fucking sucks! I can't even talk to you about shit anymore, because you're always depressed! Who's gonna have my back now? Because you don't! I'm too busy dealing with your problems now! I have your back over every little thing, but you NEVER have mine!"

"That's bullshit!" I replied. "I'm always around when you and Sam are having problems!"

"You are there for SAM. Not for me! And that makes me angry as shit too! If she didn't have my kid in her right now..." he trailed off, sighing. "Fuck it, never mind. I'm not going down that road again."

"No, what?" I responded. "You think I want Sam?"

"Well you certainly act like it!"

"Think about it asshole!" I yelled. "My sister hates me! I can't talk to Bryson! Sam is like a sister to me, she always has been! I don't WANT Sam! If I wanted her, trust me, you'd know, because I would have gotten her already!"

"Fuck you!" Freddie replied. "You could never come between me and Sam!"

"And I don't want to!" I shot back. "When are you gonna get that through your head? I'm sick of this shit! I'm sick of you judging me, I'm sick of you acting like you're better than me...I don't know who you are either, Freddie!"

"We're not sixteen anymore, Brad! Get it through your head!" Freddie shouted. "I HAD to grow up! I'm MARRIED! I have a fucking kid on the way, a kid I have no clue what I'm supposed to do with! I don't expect you to be right where I'm at, but I DO expect you to quit acting like you're in high school! If you can't do that, then..."

"Then what?" I responded.

"Then we can't be friends," Freddie replied simply. "If you can't act like you've got some fucking sense in your head, if you can't act like you WANT to be where you're at, and if you can't act like you're my best friend by choice and not by default, then forget it!"

"What the fuck does that mean? Default?"

"You..." he trailed off, shaking his head. "Don't just hang out with me because you have nothing better to do. If you can't stand me, then don't act otherwise. I can put up with a lot of shit, but I can't put up with someone who acts fake! You think I don't see the way you roll your eyes all the time at every little thing I say? I get it, man. Our girls are best friends, doesn't mean we have to pretend like we are anymore."

I shook my head. "That's ridiculous."

"Is it?" he responded. "Because right now, I'm not so sure. We act like we hate each other these days. Maybe we're just...maybe we're just too different."

I stared at him, my brow furrowed. "Maybe you're right. Maybe we are too different."

"Yeah," Freddie responded. With that, he pulled his gloves off, throwing them to the ground. "Well...I guess there's not much of a point to this anymore, huh?"

"I guess not."

"But..." he trailed off, biting his lip. "We're cool? I mean...we can be civil. At the apartment. And working."

"Yeah," I replied.

He nodded slowly, thinking. "Alright. Well...I guess I'm gonna go then. I'll see you."

"Yeah," I said again.

Freddie hopped down from the ring. "Later," he called over his shoulder, and with that, he was out. I looked over at Tom, who looked absolutely shocked.

"What the fuck was that? I thought you guys were bros!"

"Were. That's the key word. I just...he's not the same. And I'm not the same."

"Whatever, man," he responded. "What are you doing after this?"

I shrugged. "Nothing, I guess."

"Wanna go hang out?"

I thought carefully for a second, wondering whether or not Carly would get upset, but then figuring she was having girl time with Sam, decided she'd be fine.

"Yeah, sure man."


	30. Chapter 30: Drive

**A/N: Last chapter of the night! I'm not working a full day tomorrow, so hopefully I will get chapter thirty one up tomorrow! Semi-lemony towards the end.**

**Chapter Thirty:  
><strong>**Drive**

~*Sam*~

I bounced up and down in my seat anxiously. I couldn't stop looking at the clock.

I really should have been paying attention to the lecture on habeus corpus, but I just couldn't focus. Today was the day I'd been waiting for, for two weeks. As soon as this class was over, Freddie and I had to zoom on over to the hospital, specifically to the ultrasound department. The very FIRST ultrasound, the first time I'd ever get to SEE my baby. Of course, it was going to be grainy, and black and white, but the idea of actually SEEING my child, for the first time ever? It gave me goosebumps. The good kind.

Freddie had been right about this whole thing being abstract at the beginning, but now it was REALLY beginning to dawn on me. I had a baby inside me. Freddie's baby. I was going to be a mother. He was going to be a father. We were going to be parents!

Freddie and I had agreed on just waiting it out until an apartment opened up in Bushwell, and I absolutely couldn't wait. It wasn't that I wanted to get away from Brad and Carly, especially now that Carly and I were okay again, but I was really looking forward to having our own place, getting the baby's room set up, buying furniture, all of that! It was going to be SO incredibly cool.

The class finally came to a close, and I grabbed my books, shoving them into my bag and running out of the classroom, nearly knocking one of my classmates over and rushing out the door. I skidded to a halt when my eyes focused on Freddie leaning against the wall across from me, and I just gave him a big smile, walking over to him.

"Hey, baby," I said, kissing him.

"Hey yourself," he responded with a smile. "You ready for this?"

"I am SO ready," I breathed. "Can you believe it? We actually get to SEE little Sadie or little Freddie Jr!"

"I know," he replied. "It's so cool." He took my bag out of my hand, throwing it over his shoulder, and interlacing his fingers with mine. "So...you know, you can still change your mind."

"What?" I snapped, looking at him like he was insane. "Uh, we can't unmake the baby, nub!"

Freddie rolled his eyes, sighing a little. "Not that, silly girl. I meant...it's not too late to change your mind about finding out for sure whether it's a Sadie or Freddie Jr."

"Oh," I replied, making a face. "No! I'd rather be surprised!"

"But...Sam," he whined.

"What?" I replied. "Settle down! You're going to find out eventually!"

"I know that, baby. It's just...you know me. I like to be prepared!"

"Are you that concerned about whether to buy pink or blue?" I replied. "Be spontaneous! I want to be surprised!"

"Ugh, fine," he responded with a roll of his eyes.

We continued to walk down the hall, out the doors and through the courtyard, and as we did, we passed by Brad, who was standing around talking to a bunch of people. I could tell they were film students, some of them were holding cameras, and the rest of them were talking animatedly about plots and lighting and all sorts of geeky film things.

"Hey man," I said, and he just nodded.

"What's up?" he asked. "Off to the baby doctor?"

"Yep, it's ultrasound day!" I replied excitedly.

"Cool," he nodded. "Let me see the photo when you guys get back, okay?"

"Uh, you'd see it even if you didn't want to!" I replied. "I'm forcing everyone I know to look!"

Brad just laughed. "Okay, well good luck," he responded, before looking over at Freddie, his face changing into a neutral expression. "Freddie."

"Brad," Freddie responded with a nod, and with that, he led me away from Brad, who turned back to his group to continue talking. I just sighed, giving Freddie a Look. "What?"

"Are you guys ever gonna be like you were before?"

He shrugged. "I doubt it," he responded. "Brad and I...we have nothing in common. We're roommates. Co-workers. That's it."

"But you guys used to be such good friends!" I replied, and Freddie shrugged.

"Everything comes to an end, I guess," he said, and I gave him a shocked look.

"Everything?"

"Everything except us, baby," Freddie replied reassuringly. "Nothing and no one will EVER put a stop to that!"

I nodded, but I still felt really bad about what was happening. Freddie didn't really have many male friends. Gibby had moved out to LA, and that had pretty much left Brad, and now Brad and Freddie were on the outs. I felt so bad for Freddie! I felt kinda bad for Brad too, but Brad was a lot more of a social creature than Freddie, who preferred to stick to his small social circle and that was it. Brad would move on, find more friends, but Freddie? He had to put in a little bit of work, work he didn't really have time for.

I stopped worrying about Freddie and Brad as I got into the car with Freddie and after about twenty minutes we pulled up to the hospital. After wandering aimlessly for awhile, we finally found the ultrasound department, and as we sat in the waiting room, I was nearly bouncing off the walls with nervous energy.

"Settle down, baby," Freddie said, reaching over to give my leg a quick squeeze.

"I can't help it, I'm too excited," I replied.

Eventually, the ultrasound tech called my name, and we followed her back to the exam room, where I laid down on the table, my shirt pulled up, and jeans pulled down over my hips a little bit, while Freddie sat next to me. I looked over at him and noticed his leg was bouncing up and down nervously.

"Now who needs to settle down?" I teased, and he just smirked at me. "Yaaah!" I yelped when I felt something cold and slimy make contact with my skin, and glared over at the technician. "Can you warn me next time?"

"Sorry," she responded. "Ready?" With that, she began rubbing the ultrasound wand over my stomach, looking at the monitor carefully.

"Do you want to know the sex?" she asked, and before Freddie could even open his mouth, I poked him, looking back at the technician.

"No!" I replied. "We want it to be a surprise. How does it...they...the baby. How does the baby look?"

"Everything is right on schedule, the size is good, no abnormalities. Looks perfectly healthy to me," she replied. She turned the monitor so Freddie and I could see, and I gasped, my hand covering my mouth.

"Oh, my god..." I whispered, feeling tears creep up in the corners of my eyes.

There it was. A teeny tiny little human being inside of me right now. Okay, so right now the baby kind of looked like...a squirrel with a very short tail, or something...but to me, it was the most beautiful thing I'd ever seen. I could see the head, the little arms flailing around.

"There's the little feet," the technician pointed out.

"Aww..." I turned to look at my husband. "Freddie, look..."

"Yeah," he said softly, biting his lip, and I gave him a Look.

"Are you crying?"

"No!" he said quickly. "I mean...not really. No."

"Aw, baby..." I said with a smile, taking his hand. "Look! It's our baby!"

"A beautiful baby," he murmured. "So...everything's good? The baby's healthy?"

"Seems like it," the technician responded. "So you'll have another ultrasound in about three months, another doctor's appointment in two weeks." She reached down to tear off a piece of glossy paper out of the printer underneath the ultrasound machine. "And here's baby's first photo."

"Awww!" I cried, taking it from her. "Look! Oh my god!" I stared at the photo for a second, before making a face. "Ugh, my uterus looks gross though."

"Baby!" Freddie laughed. "I'm sure all uteruses look like that. Baby probably thinks yours is a four star hotel."

"You mean uteri?" I asked, and Freddie rolled his eyes.

"Don't start that again," he stated, and I just grinned at him, taking the towel from the technician to wipe all the goo off my stomach, smiling when Freddie's hand went across my belly softly for a moment before pulling my shirt down over it and them helping me sit up.

"I love you," he whispered. "This is amazing."

"I know," I replied. "Only six more months to go..."

"Man..." Freddie trailed off, sighing. "We've got a lot to do, you know that?"

"I know that, baby. Don't worry, we'll get it all done before baby Benson comes out."

"I hope so, baby," he replied. "You hungry?"

"Uh-huh," I replied. "Starved.

"What do you want?"

"Uh..." I trailed off, frowning. "Pizza. No. Chinese. No...pizza. No...chinese!"

Freddie just laughed, shaking his head a little. "So which is it, baby? Pizza or chinese?"

"Honestly?" I asked, looking at the ground. "I kind of want a large pepperoni pizza with chicken lo mein poured on top of it!"

"Oh god," Freddie moaned. "Not the cravings already!"

I just shrugged. "Just feed me, nub!"

~*Carly*~

I really shouldn't be doing this, I kept thinking over and over to myself as I sat across the table in the student lounge from Matthew.

Okay, so I WAS having trouble with History, and Brad was NOT helping, and Sam had to go to the doctor today, and Wendy was sitting here with us, but still. I was having too much trouble figuring this out in my head. I didn't want to be tempted. I couldn't even figure out if I WAS being tempted! All I knew was that Matthew kept making passes at me, kept staring at me during class, and he'd keep cornering me after class was over, wanting to hang out, talk about music, see if I needed help with History, whatever. He was so self-assured, sort of arrogant, and he would say things that just got under my skin. Like...I just...I don't know. I found myself craving his approval, and he seemed like he enjoyed toying with me over that. When Professor Montgomery would let him lead the lectures, he'd make a point to call on me, and even if I was right, he'd twist it around in a way to make me sound like an idiot. And of course, after it was all over, he'd be right there, in my face, trying to put the moves on me. It was this psychological mind-bending game that I didn't enjoy, a web I was slowly finding myself being entangled in, and I couldn't get out of. Even more to the point, I wasn't even sure if I wanted to. Brad had been getting more and more involved with other people at school, and I just felt like I wasn't getting as much attention as before. It seemed like now that I'd agreed to marry him, all that stepping up he had done was slowly beginning to drift away. It was nice to get attention again, I had to admit it.

"Okay, so the Civil War," Matthew said. "What was the chief dispute?"

"Slavery," Wendy said, leaning forward and batting her eyelashes. I couldn't help but roll my eyes, Wendy was such a flirt, and she definitely had eyes for Matthew, but Matthew simply shook his head.

"That's actually a fallacy, Wendy. Yes, it WAS one of the prime issues, but mainly the Southern States wanted to split off, become their own country. It was all about independence."

Wendy looked at him uncertainly, and Matthew continued.

"It was like a marriage between the states. And sometimes," he turned to look at me. "Things don't work out. And sometimes one party feels like they need to let go, split off, become their own. You know, when things aren't working out."

I rolled my eyes again. I wasn't exactly a genius when it came to subtext, but it definitely didn't take Einstein to figure this one out, especially not with the way Matthew kept staring at me, biting his bottom lip seductively.

If Wendy hadn't been sitting right next to me, I would have SAID something, but I didn't have to, because I looked over Matthew's shoulder to see the double doors swing open, and Brad came walking in, flanked by two or three of his film student buddies. He hadn't been hanging out with Freddie at all lately, and had been hanging out with those guys more and more. I had to say, I didn't really like them. They all seemed a bit...pretentious.

"Hey babe!" Brad called, walking around the table, bending down to kiss me. My hand went to the back of his neck, forcing him to kiss me a little bit longer, and I finally let him go. He gave me a surprised look. "Damn, babe, miss me?"

"Uh-huh," I responded. I gave Matthew a challenging look. "Brad, you know Wendy."

"Hey!" he said brightly. "It's been awhile."

"Yeah, it has!" she replied. "How's your screenplay going?"

"Eh," Brad responded, making a face. "Going through some re-writes, that's all." His eyes settled on Matthew, staring him down. "Who's this?"

"Matthew," Matthew replied. "Nice to meet you. So you're Carly's boyfriend?"

"Fiance," I corrected. "Brad, Matthew's a TA. He was just helping me and Wendy with History."

"Yeah, Wendy's got it down, but Carly over here needs a little help," Matthew teased me, and I glared at him.

"Really?" Wendy squeaked. "I've got it down?"

"Well, better than Carly."

Brad stared at Matthew for a moment, before shaking his head. "Carly's really smart. She just has this thing about not memorizing facts that have no bearing on the present or future."

"The past determines the future, dude," Matthew replied with a shrug. "So what does Carly care about?"

"Him," I replied pointedly, pushing my chair back and standing up. "Brad, are you done for the day? Can we go home?"

"Sure, babe," he responded. "Wendy, nice seeing you again."

"Nice meeting you, Brad," Matthew said with an amused look on his face, and Brad just sneered at him.

"Yeah, something like that," Brad replied. "Come on, Carly."

Brad grabbed my books for me, taking my hand and practically dragging me out of the student lounge.

"Oh Carly!" Matthew called, and I looked over my shoulder at him. "Remember what I said. About independence."

I didn't respond, just looked ahead, scowling, and Brad gave me a confused look.

"What the hell did that mean?"

"We're studying the Civil War," I replied. "He was telling us about how the Southern States wanted independence from the Northern ones."

"Oh," Brad responded. He was silent for a moment. "Something tells me there was more to that comment than just History, Carly."

"What do you mean?"

Brad sighed, shrugging a bit. "I don't like the way that guy was looking at you, that's all. I mean, not that I'm worried. What a freakin' nerd."

"Yeah, totally," I replied softly, but there was that guilty feeling again. Because I couldn't get that arrogant nerd, or what he had said, out of my head.

~*Freddie*~

"Let me see it again," I stated, reaching over and snatching the ultrasound photo out of Sam's hands.

"Hey!" she shouted. We were sitting on the couch, and she had her legs draped over my lap, one of which she lifted to kick me in the thigh. "Gimme that!"

"Just hold on!" I replied, staring at the picture for a moment. "Man, this is so cool. I can't believe this is our baby."

"I know," she replied, sighing happily. "Not very big yet."

"I wonder who the baby will look like?"

"Well, clearly they already have your big head!"

"Hey!" I cried. "My head's not that big!"

"Well, not the one on your shoulders," she said with a mischievous smile, and I just grinned at her.

"Cute. Very cute. Anyway, on the monitor today, that baby was flailing and bouncing around just like you do!"

"So maybe it'll get my personality and look like you," she replied, and I just laughed.

"That's a worrying combination. Innocent looking, but devious to the core."

"You don't think I look innocent?" she asked, and I shook my head.

"Nope. But probably because I know you too well."

"True," she said with a shrug. "Carly needs to hurry up and get back so I can show her baby Benson!"

"Yeah," I agreed. "So..."

"So what?"

"So will this picture be making an appearance on iCarly?"

Sam sat there for a moment, thinking carefully. "I dunno. I don't like the idea of my uterus being plastered all over the internet, you know? But then again...I do kinda wanna brag a bit."

"Up to you, baby."

"You know, you can make SOME decisions about us," she said softly. "I may gripe a little at first, but...I don't mind. Or if we could at least compromise."

"I make decisions about the money," I offered, and she shook her head.

"Choosing to pay a BILL doesn't count. And any time you want to spend on something that's not a basic living necessity, you come to me. You don't have to leave everything up to me, baby. You afraid I'm gonna turn into a shrew?"

"Nope," I replied honestly. "Just want my sweet sweet baby to be happy, that's all. And I mean...I've got enough on my plate, sometimes it's nice to kick back and let you make the decisions."

"Hmm," Sam said. "You know I never really thought about that. So that's why you let me make all the major decisions? Because you still feel like you have too much on your plate?"

"Yep," I replied. "What can I say, I gotta take a break sometime, right?"

"Well, at least you're acknowledging that," she commented. "We're making progress."

"So..." I trailed off, my hand slowly creeping up her leg. "You wanna make some progress in the bedroom?"

She just smirked, shaking her head. "Is that a decision you want me to make?"

"Hmm," I responded. "Let me rephrase. Get your sexy ass off that couch and get in the bedroom. Now."

"That's more like it," she replied, sitting up to kiss me. "I love it when you're bossy."

"Mmm, then let me boss you around some more," I responded, standing up and then grabbing her hands, pulling her to her feet, my arms wrapping around her waist and kissing her. She draped her arms around my neck, kissing me back, and I was just about to drag her off to the bedroom when the front door opened.

"Carly!" Sam cried, pulling away from me and grabbing the photo off the couch. I groaned as she scrambled away from me, flopping onto the couch and grumbling to myself. Foiled again!

"Did you go to the doctor?" Carly asked. "Did they give you a picture?"

"Yes!" Sam said. "Look! It's my baby!"

"Awww!" Carly said, snatching the photo out of Sam's hand and staring at it. "Wow, Sam. That is amazing. It's so tiny..."

"I know," Sam replied, her hand absentmindedly rubbing her stomach. "But they'll get bigger. For sure."

"Well, let's hope so," Carly teased. "So everything's okay? With the baby, I mean?"

"Yeah! Everything's great! Totally normal! I'm so excited!" Sam responded, bouncing up and down. "Where's Brad? I wanna show him!"

"He's downstairs, getting the mail," Carly replied. I watched her pull her phone out of her pocket to read a text, smiling a bit, and Sam rolled her eyes.

"Guess you guys are good again, sending little texts when he's just downstairs."

"Huh?" Carly asked, looking up quizzically.

Sam gave her a Look. "I know that look, Carly. That's not Brad?"

"No..." Carly said, looking at the ground, and Sam shot a worried look over at me, before looking back at Carly.

"Then who was it?"

"Um, it was Wendy," Carly responded, causing Sam to give her an incredulous look.

"You're lying!" she stated. "You don't get a moony look from texts from Wendy! Let me see!"

"No!" Carly shouted, holding her phone out of Sam's reach.

"What are you up to now, Carly? Just let me see!"

"Sam, stop it!" Carly cried. "I have a right to privacy!"

The door burst open, revealing Brad. "Mail's here!" he called, and Carly nearly jumped a foot in the air. "Whoa, babe! What's wrong?"

"Nothing! You uh...you scared me, that's all."

"Oh. Sorry. Freddie, this one's for you," Brad said, flinging a card at me frisbee style. I caught it, rolling my eyes and tearing the paper open, my jaw dropping.

"What's wrong?" Sam asked, and I shook my head.

"Unfuckingbelievable," I grunted. "My mother lives across the hall from me, and I get a generic save the date card?"

"Save the date?" Carly asked. "So..."

"Oh yeah, we are all cordially invited to the wedding of Marissa Benson and Dr. Robert Connors," I read aloud. "Formal attire requested, March 14th! Can you believe this shit?"

"That's less than two months away..." Sam said softly, and I nodded.

"Less than two months until it's like my father never existed," I said bitterly, tossing the card to the ground. "This is bullshit."

"Baby..." Sam said, sitting down next to me, and I held my hand up.

"Not right now, Sam," I responded.

Sam and Carly exchanged worried looks, before they both looked over at Brad, who just shook his head no. Carly cleared her throat loudly, and Brad just sighed, before looking over at me.

"Yo, Freddie."

"What?" I grunted.

"Uh...you wanna...go over the camera angles for this week's show?"

"Not really," I responded. "But anything's better than this."

"Okay, well...why don't we go upstairs, and...you know...talk about it? The angles, I mean?"

I gave him a Look. "Work stuff only?"

"Yeah," he replied with a shrug, sounding like he didn't care whether I decided to go for it or not.

"Fine," I replied, standing up. "Sam, I'll be upstairs. Yell if you need me."

"Okay," she replied, kissing me. "I love you."

"Love you too," I responded, before following Brad up the stairs. We reached the studio, and I shut the door behind us. "Alright, you got everything mapped out already, or are we doing angles from scratch?"

"It's about half-way done. But I didn't know how you wanted to angle the shot on the 'dumb cowgirl' sketch."

"Oh," I replied. "Well, we could try..."

"Dude," Brad interrupted me, and I looked over at him.

"What?"

"I know we're not exactly...best buds these days, but...do you wanna talk? About the whole thing with your mom?"

"Nope," I replied. "No offense, but if I wanted to talk, I'll talk to my wife."

Brad shrugged. "Just thought you'd want a little bit of a different perspective without being muscled into a certain viewpoint, that's all. I know how...persuasive Sam can be."

"That's true," I said with a nod. "She's quite persuasive."

"So...you never talk about your old man," Brad pointed out.

"I don't remember much about him," I grunted.

"You've gotta remember something. And I mean...you never talk about him. Ever."

I shrugged. "What's there to talk about. He died. Eleven years ago. End of story. And now my mom's moved on. Like he never existed."

"Well, how'd he die?"

I glared at Brad. "I'm not comfortable talking about this, dude."

"Why?"

"Because I'm just not!" I shot back. I turned to walk to the door, and Brad yelled at me.

"Dude, man up!" I stopped in my tracks, whirling around to glare at him.

"Fuck you," I hissed. "Don't tell me to fucking man up!"

"I don't have my dad in my life either," Brad pointed out.

"And look how YOU deal with it!" I spat.

"At least I don't keep it all bottled up, man! I'm pretty damn sure this is part of the reason why you're such an anxiety-ridden wreck all of the time."

At the word 'wreck', I bristled up.

"Very poor choice of words, Harrison," I growled.

"And why is that?"

"Oh, I dunno. Maybe because you used the word 'wreck' in conjunction with my Dad?" I responded, and Brad's eyes widened.

"Sorry, dude. I didn't know."

"Yeah, you didn't. And I wish I didn't! I don't want to talk about this! Not at all, and certainly not with you! We're not even friends any more!"

"Did it ever occur to you that I'm TRYING here, asshole?" Brad shot back, and I just stared at him. "I'm really trying, Freddie. You're not my best friend by default. And it sucks how things are right now. I don't like it."

"What about your film buddies?"

"Bunch of pretentious assholes," he responded with a shake of his head. "Look man, you gotta get over your dad, or it's gonna eat you alive."

I just shook my head. "How can I get over something that's my fault?"

"What?" Brad replied. "That can't be true."

"It is true," I responded. "It's my fault he's dead. He was late for one of my stupid school things, he was rushing, he got in a wreck, was pinned to his car for four hours, and then he died. It's my fault. And now my mom's marrying some other guy! Like none of it ever happened! She got over it, and I'm still sitting here with all this guilt!"

"You have to STOP feeling guilty!" Brad shouted, his hands going to my shoulders and shaking me. "It's NOT your fault, okay? It's not!"

"I really don't want to talk about this anymore!" I replied, jerking away from him. "Nothing you say is going to make a bit of difference as to how I feel."

"Why, because it's ME who's saying it?"

"No! Because it won't change what happened! It won't undo all the damage!"

"And if did, you'd still be in Northern California, and you NEVER would have met Sam!" Brad responded. "Think about THAT for a second!"

As if on cue, the door to the studio opened, revealing Sam. "Freddie, get your coat."

"What? Coat? Why?"

"Just do it," she replied with a roll of her eyes, grabbing my arm and yanking me towards the door. "See you later, Brad."

"Wait, what's..."

"Carly will clue you in!" she shouted as she dragged me downstairs.

"Sam, what are you doing? Why do I need my coat?" I asked.

"Just come on. We're going for a drive," she replied, and I sighed.

"I don't feel like driving," I responded.

"That's fine. Because I'm gonna drive!" she stated, and I gave her a strange look.

"Sam, what the hell are you up to?" I asked her as we reached the living room. "You hate to drive."

She didn't respond, just went into the bedroom, grabbing both of our jackets along with the keys and her bag, before grabbing my arm again and dragging me to the door.

"Bye guys!" Carly yelled. "Good luck!"

"What?" I asked, looking at Carly, then Sam. "Luck? Why luck? Why do we need luck?"

Sam sighed, shooting a look at Carly, before shoving me out the front door and pulling the door shut. "Just come on, baby."

"Where are we going?"

"You'll see."

"Sam..."

"Freddie!" she replied tersely, giving me the hairy eyeball. "Don't ask questions. I'm putting my foot down on this one. Don't ask me anymore questions. When the time comes, you'll know. Got it?"

"But, Sam..."

"I mean it!" she shouted. Her face took on a softer expression, and she kissed me sweetly. "I don't like you upset. This has to be done."

"What has to be done?" I asked as she pulled me onto the elevator. She just shrugged.

"You'll see."

Six hours later, we'd still been driving, and I was beginning to get a little impatient.

"Sam, please tell me what's going on! I don't even know where we're going!"

"Well, right now, we're stopping at a hotel for the night, because I'm tired of driving, and we're only halfway there," she replied, taking an exit off the highway. I just gaped at her.

"Are you serious? We have class in the morning!"

"So? This is important! I'll call your professor, tell him you're sick, you can do the same for me."

"And if I don't?" I responded. She just shot a look over at me, thoroughly annoyed, before taking a deep breath.

"Baby, look at it this way. You'll find out tomorrow, and tonight...you have me, all alone, in a hotel, where we can be as loud as we want. And we can do dirty things. VERY dirty things."

My eyes drifted over to her, the annoyance over the mystery trip fading and quickly being replaced by my overactive hormones.

"How dirty?"

"As dirty as you want," she replied, her hand drifting over to my thigh, before running over my crotch, squeezing a bit. "I'll do that thing you like."

I shook my head. "Nope. You're dragging me to god knows where, I want a hell of lot more than that."

"Hmm. Like how much?"

"You'll find out. I can be mysterious too, you know."

She laughed a little. "Fine by me."

She finally found a hotel she was satisfied with, not too trashy, but not super upscale either, and we paid for a room before heading upstairs. I pressed her against the hotel room door, kissing her, grinding into her, one arm going around her waist to pull her against me.

"I'm gonna fuck you senseless," I growled in her ear as I slid the key in the door, and she moaned a little, already turned on by the way I was talking to her.

"Mmm, you better," she replied, nibbling on my earlobe. I pushed the door open, pulling her in and shutting the door.

"Get your ass on that bed," I growled, and she just backed toward the bed, perching on the edge of it, giving me a sexy smile. I shook my head. "On second thought, stand up." She did, and I walked over to her, turning her around, before sitting where she had just been. "Take your clothes off. Slow."

"Okay," she replied, and I pressed a finger to her perfect lips.

"No talking," I said, one hand going to the back of her head, pulling her down to kiss me, before pulling away, leaning back to stare at her. "Clothes off."

She took a step back, keeping her eyes locked on me, and shook her coat off, letting it fall to the ground, before her hands went to the hem of her sweater, pulling it over her head. She kicked off her shoes, and then her pants were the next to go. Now she was standing there in only a bra and a tiny thong, and I could feel myself already getting turned on.

"Turn around," I said in a low voice, and she turned so her back was to me. "Now your bra." I waited for her to do what I told her to, and she did so without hesitation. "Now your underwear. Slowly. And bend over when you do it."

I could hear her breathing getting more and more ragged; she loved when I bossed her around like this. She slowly pulled her little pink thong over her hips, bending over and further and further, and my eyes nearly popped out of my head at the incredible view she was giving me. She finally stepped out of them, standing back up and turning to face me. I let my eyes run over her gorgeous body, and she just stood there, staring at me, waiting for my next command. God, she was so sexy. I crooked my finger at her, signaling her to come closer, and I reached out and grabbed her hand, pulling her to me so I could kiss her, running my hands over the soft skin of her back, then lower, squeezing her tight little butt with one hand as I continued exploring her mouth with mine. Her arms instinctively went around my neck, fingers curling into the hair at the back of my head as she continued to kiss me, and I pulled her into my lap so she was straddling me.

"Baby," she whispered. "Take your clothes off."

I shook my head. "Not yet," I responded. I went back to kissing her, one arm around her waist to hold her on my lap, the other hand traveling over all her sensitive spots, trying to rile her up, and it didn't take much to do so, in no time at all, she was grinding down on my lap, making sweet little mewling sounds and soft moans, driving me crazy. She could feel how turned on I was, grinding down on my member.

"Somebody's gonna get my jeans all messy," I teased her. "I can feel how riled up you are already."

"You do that to me," she murmured. "You're so fucking hot." She kissed me, her mouth trailing over my jaw, then my neck, her tongue running up and down the side of it before kissing over it again. "Baby, please..."

"Not yet," I said again. "There's something I want."

"What?" she asked. "What do you want?"

"Get on your knees," I replied. "And find out."

She gave me a sexy smile, getting off my lap, but before she could kneel down, I stopped her.

"Wait," I said, leaning back to grab a pillow and throwing it on the floor in front of me. "There. So the carpet doesn't hurt your knees."

"So considerate," she said with a smile, before dropping down to her knees. I just sat there, staring at her.

"Well?" I stated. "On with it. You know what to do."

She nodded, unzipping my jeans and pulling out my member, wasting no time at all, her mouth quickly covering me and moving up and down slowly. I groaned, leaning my head back, one hand tangling through her hair.

"Shit, Sam...god, baby...you do that so well..." I moaned. "Don't stop...oh god..."

She didn't stop, or even slow down one bit, just kept moving up and down, one hand wrapping around the base and moving in time with her mouth, the other going under my shirt and running over my abs. After a few minutes, my hand went her shoulder, pushing her back.

"Stand up," I said.

"But..."

"Not yet," I said with a smile. "Lay down on the bed."

Sam laid down, looking up at me, and I joined her, pulling my shirt over my head, groaning when she softly ran her fingertips over my chest. I loved the way she touched me; I would never get sick of it. She could alternate between rough and gentle effortlessly, and she knew how to keep me perfectly balanced between being satisfied and never getting enough of her. I tried to do the same for her, and it seemed like we were both pretty damn good at it. I made quick work of my jeans and boxers before laying down next to her, but thought better of it and turned around.

"What..."

"Go back to what you were doing..." I replied, pushing her legs apart. "And I'll take care of you."

"Oh god," she moaned. "We've never done this before..."

"You don't want to?"

"Uh, yeah I want to!" she laughed. "Just never thought about it before."

"Well..." I trailed off, before licking over her softly, smiling when she gasped a little. "Yeah, you like that, don't you baby?"

"I love your mouth," she gasped out.

"Well, you know how I feel about yours, so..." I smirked at her. "Remind me."

She just gave me a sexy smile before going back to what she'd been doing a few minutes ago, and god, I loved this. She could be such a dirty girl, and man, did I love it. I loved what she did to me, not just literally, but the person I could be when I was like this with her. I'd always considered myself pretty conservative, until I got with Sam that is, and then all that got thrown out the window. We were anything but conservative, especially in bed, and I wouldn't change it for a thing. I was still really nervous about what the girl had up her sleeve with this mystery road trip, but of course, I couldn't think about that right now, I couldn't focus on anything except how good she made me feel.

Tonight ended up being one for the record books; we must have spent three or four hours making love, trying all sorts of crazy positions, pushing each other's buttons over and over, having sex on every surface of the hotel room. We finally managed to calm down, and as we laid together in post-coital bliss, Sam looked over at the clock, gasping.

"Oh my god! We've gotta get some sleep, baby!" she cried. "There's still lots of driving, and then we have to drive back!"

"Why can't you just tell me what this is about?" I responded, playing with her hair. "I mean, as much as I enjoyed the last four hours rolling around in bed with you, we shouldn't have taken off in the middle of the week like that!"

"I know, but..." she trailed off, frowning. "Nice try. You're not gonna get it out of me that easy!"

"Baby!" I replied. "Come on! Just tell me! I hate when you get all cryptic!"

"Nope," she replied. "I'm not going to tell you. Just suck it up and deal until tomorrow. I just...this is for you, okay? Because I love you. And I don't want you to feel..." she stopped herself. "I don't want to give anything away. Let's just get some sleep, okay baby? I love you."

"I love you too, Sam," I responded. "So damn much. You're everything to me, you know that?"

"How come you always act so sweet after we get really freaky?" she teased me, and I laughed, shrugging.

"I don't know. Maybe to balance it out? And...I dunno. It's just cool that we're so comfortable with each other that we don't really have any boundaries. I've heard guys talk. Girls can be prudish, squeamish, not willing to experiment, and you're game for almost anything! I love it!"

"Well, you bring it out of me," she said with a shrug.

"And you bring it out of me too," I replied, kissing her. "I can be myself with you. And I can bring out all these parts of myself that are...hidden away. I don't have to be something I'm not with you, but every time I turn around, you bring out something else out of me, and make me aware of parts of me I didn't even know about. And I love that about you. I...I'm not afraid to be who I am. Or ashamed of it. I mean, you know I used to be kind of a..."

"Nub?" Sam finished, and I just rolled my eyes.

"Very cute, Sam. But I was going for conservative."

Sam snorted. "Uh, you're certainly not conservative in bed. You're a little freak. I fucking love it."

"Yeah?" I asked, and she nodded. "Well, you're a pretty dirty girl yourself. And I love that."

"See? We're perfect for each other," she responded, kissing me. "You know what's funny?"

"What's that, baby?"

"We're perfect for each other, and we were the absolute last people to realize that."

I laughed, kissing her on the forehead. "That's true. I'm glad we got passed that. God, Sam, could you imagine..."

"Not being with you?" she put in, shaking her head. "Not for a second. I don't even want to. I love you, Freddie. You're everything to me. You, and our baby, and this little life we've created for ourselves. It's far from perfect, but at the same time, it IS perfect. I wouldn't change it, for anything."

"Good," I replied, kissing her.

"Promise me we'll always be together."

"Always," I replied. "You couldn't get rid of me if you tried."

"Well, if I do, put me in the nuthouse, because that will be the day I've lost my mind."

I shrugged. "They could just put us in a padded room together."

"Ooh," she said deviously. "We could slam each other into walls and get all rough and not even get hurt!"

I had to laugh at that. "Only you could get turned on by the idea of a mental institution."

"Only if I'm in there with you. Locked in a room, padded walls, no clothes..." she kissed my neck, and I groaned a little as I felt her run her hand over my stomach.

"What about sleep?" I asked, and she shook her head.

"Later, baby," she replied, before kissing me. Who was I to argue? I kissed her back eagerly, and in seconds I was on top of her, and we were starting all over again.

Damn, what a lucky man I was.


	31. Chapter 31: Monuments and Melodies

**A/N: Man I'm getting bad about updating this thing! Sorry, it's just I've been working a whole lot, and eight hour days drain my brain to the point of pure stupidity. I'm amazed I can write my own name some days. Anyway, I'm going to try to churn out a few more chapters before I have to go back to work on Tuesday! One more thing, yes, I did check online, couldn't find anything, so I made up where Freddie's from, as well as his father's name. If I missed it and the name HAS been established, please let me know! Thanks!**

**Chapter Thirty One:  
><strong>**Monuments and Melodies**

~*Carly*~

I glanced down at my phone before looking over at Brad to make sure he wasn't paying attention to me. Of course, he wasn't. He was superglued to his computer screen, typing away, citing another burst of "artistic inspiration" for his screenplay. It was totally annoying. He'd been at it for two hours, it was the only day all week we both didn't have class, and I just wanted some attention! I wanted to talk, make out, even just stare at each other, just something! Anything to let me know he was thinking of me!

I was getting really bored; I didn't have much to do right now, for once my homework was done, everything was ready for this week's show, and with Sam and Freddie away on the emergency road trip, there was literally nothing to do.

I wasn't really sure how Matthew had gotten ahold of my number, but in all probability, he had probably gotten it from Wendy, or maybe even from the school office. I wasn't sure, and I probably should have been creeped out by it, but I wasn't. Not really, anyway.

I knew I was treading a dangerous road with this one...but again, it was nice to get some attention for once. Sam and Freddie were always occupied, either with each other, school, or the impending baby, Brad was...well, Brad, and I just kind of felt a little invisible.

I looked down at the text Matthew had sent me, careful to fight the smile that was threatening to spread across my face.

Matthew: When are you going to go out with me?

I quickly texted him back.

'Are you dense? I'm engaged.'

Matthew: So you keep saying. But you haven't told me to get lost yet. Are you a tease, Carly? Or are you just fighting the inevitable here?

I rolled my eyes. A tease? Really?

'And what is the inevitable exactly?'

Matthew: You giving in. You know you like me. I can tell.

'What would give you that impression?'

Matthew: Again, you haven't told me to get lost yet. If you didn't like me, you would have gotten your little boyfriend to confront me. Or beat me up. He seems like that type. Too dumb to use words, just fists.

'Brad is NOT dumb. But he could easily beat you up.'

Matthew: Only if he knows about us.

'There is no US! Get it through your head!'

Matthew: Well, not yet. Only a matter of time. You should come up to The Beanery tonight. Excellent guitar player there tonight.

'How do you know I'm not hanging out with my fiance?'

Matthew: Because if you were you would have just told me no. Just think about it. 7 PM tonight.

I sighed, putting my phone down, before looking over at Brad.

"Hey, baby?"

"Yeah?" he asked.

"Um...so...Sam and Freddie probably won't be back until really late tonight."

"I'd say so," he replied, never looking up from his laptop. "Man, I love inspiration, you know that? When it hits...it hits hard."

I slumped in my seat, glaring at him. "So I guess that means you'll be sitting in front of your computer all night?"

"I don't know, why?" Brad asked, looking up at me. "Is there something you want to do?"

"Well, I mean...we haven't been out in awhile, Brad," I replied pointedly.

"Because we're busy with school, you don't like hanging out at the Groovie Smoothie any more, and all the other cool places have alcohol in them, and you don't want me to be tempted, remember?" he responded.

"Well, what about that coffee place I was telling you about?"

Brad wrinkled his nose. "I don't know, Carly. The hipster scene's not really my style...they're kinda pretentious, you know?"

I rolled my eyes. "Says the guy who will spend an hour talking about how passe' Tarantino's films are...or even more to the point, says the guy who uses the word passe', period!"

Brad looked up from his laptop to glare at me. "So I'm pretentious now?"

I shrugged. "You certainly do carry this oh-so-serious filmmaker vibe about you these days. Remember last year when we used to go to every party on campus, everybody knew us? We don't go out anymore! You used to be so fun, and now you don't even hang out with anyone except those stupid film guys and that stoner Tom!"

"Seriously, Carly?" Brad asked, sounding shocked. "So first I party too much, I'm drinking my life away, and I make an effort to stop, and now I'm boring you? Is that how it is? I can't win with you, can I? First you say I'm immature, now...what are you saying?"

I sighed, looking down at the ground. "I don't know what I'm saying."

"Do I make you happy at ALL, Carly? Even a little bit?"

"Of course you do!" I stated defensively. "It's just..."

"It's just you want it all? I can't be everything, Carly! I can't be the life of the party AND be sober! I can't be mature AND always abandoning my responsibilities!" he shot back. "What the hell do you want from me, Carly?"

"I..." I started, but he cut me off.

"Yeah, I know, you don't know, right?" Brad responded, and I just nodded glumly. Brad glared at me, before shaking his head. "Tell me something you DO know, babe. Like...do you know when you want to get married? Instead of just playing house?"

"I am not playing house!" I replied. "I thought we agreed, we shouldn't get married until after we're done with college!"

"But that's all we've discussed! When after college? A day? A month? A year? We don't have a date set, Carly! Two years is going to go by really, really fast, you know that? It takes bare minimum six months to plan a wedding, so realistically, we're really only looking at a year and a half! And yet, we haven't discussed it at all! We haven't discussed anything at all!"

"Like what?" I responded. "What is there to discuss?"

"Grad school? Do we stay in Seattle, or go somewhere else? When do we start having kids, that sort of thing?"

I shook my head. "I don't want kids, Brad."

Brad looked shocked. "I'm sorry, what did you say?"

I sighed, my eyes flicking up to meet his. "I said, I don't want kids!"

"You love kids!"

"I love OTHER PEOPLE'S kids, doesn't mean I want any of my own! I'm not the mothering type, Brad! And this whole plan you have in your head about us being some big traditional Catholic family, I'm not down with it!"

He shook his head, looking at me like I was crazy. "First of all, you could have SAID something! Secondly, I don't recall EVER discussing religion with you! I don't expect you to just convert, Carly! And I mean, I'm not exactly a model Catholic these days. I hate it, it really bugs me when I sit there and think about it, but...yeah. So I have no room to push my faith on you, when I'm not upholding the bargain myself these days."

"What do you mean?" I asked, and he shrugged.

"I haven't even been to Confession in six months, Carly. It's a problem for me, but..." he shook his head. "Never mind. We're not talking about that right now. What we are talking about is US. I don't know what to do with you any more, Carly! Every time it blows up in my face! You wanted me to act more mature, I tried! Now you're bored with me. You wanted some space, I tried that too, and now...you're treating me like I'm neglecting you or something, and I'm not! I'm trying to give you space, AND try to finish my screenplay, because everyone's accusing me of not taking my future seriously! I can't win!"

My shoulders slumped a bit; I knew he was right. But it didn't change the fact that I was still feeling confused, unsettled, unsatisfied. I didn't want to keep going back and forth like this and have it turn into a huge fight. I stood up suddenly, Brad looking surprised.

"Where are you going?" he asked.

"Upstairs. I'm calling Wendy, and we're gonna go out. Since you won't go with me."

"Babe, I didn't say that!" he replied as I started to walk up the stairs. "Carly, come on! I can hold off on working for a few hours, okay?"

"Nah, don't worry about it," I replied. "Your work is important to you. So I'll leave you to it."

With that, I headed up the stairs, leaving Brad alone with his beloved laptop, and I shut the door to our room, sitting on the bed, before pulling my phone out again.

"Hey, Wendy? What's up? You wanna go out tonight? There's this really cool coffee bar, and they're having a show tonight..."

~*Sam*~

"Okay, we've been driving for like six hours, Sam! I'm tired of this! Tell me where we're going!" Freddie yelled at me as I sped down the interstate.

I rolled my eyes at Freddie's ranting, which had been going on for the last two hours. You'd think after all the dirty stuff I did to him last night he'd be a little less grouchy, but this was Freddie we were talking about here. I loved my husband to death, but sometimes he just got on my nerves!

"When's the last time you took a pill?" I shot back, and Freddie glared at me.

"I'm fine," he said flatly.

"Well, you're about to drive me nuts!" I replied. "Just be patient, baby."

"I HAVE been patient, and the patience is rapidly drawing to a close, Sam! Just tell me."

I shook my head, staring straight ahead. "You'll find out."

He rolled his eyes. "When? When am I gonna find out?"

I didn't respond, just pointed at an exit sign in front of us, looking over just in time to see Freddie's jaw drop and look over at me in shock.

"Sam, you've gotta be fucking kidding me."

"Nope. While you were upstairs with Brad last night, I made a phone call to your mom, got a little information."

"See, this is why I didn't tell you what city I moved from!" he yelled, throwing his hands in the air, and I just shook my head, clucking my tongue at him.

"Keeping secrets from your wife? Tsk tsk. I think you forgot for a second who you were dealing with here," I replied. Freddie just grunted, and I put my hand on his leg.

"Baby, you've gotta do this, okay? You NEED to do this!"

He shook his head. "No, I don't. I'm fine, Sam."

"Freddie, you are NOT fine. You just pretend you're fine. But you're an anxious mess. A worrywart. You try to control everything because you feel like you had no control over your dad. And yeah, this isn't gonna change the fact that you couldn't control it, but maybe it'll give you some closure, okay?"

"Sam, I..."

"Your mom said you've never even been to his gravesite!" I yelled. "She said you stayed in the car during the funeral and refused to come out! That's not healthy!"

"I don't care!" he shouted. "I was eight fucking years old, Sam! I didn't..." he shook his head. "Never mind."

"You didn't what, baby?" I asked softly, and he shrugged.

"I didn't want to watch them bury my father, okay?"

I nodded. "I understand. But...you need to do this. I promise you'll feel better."

"How do you know that?" he asked.

"Because...I..." I trailed off, sighing. "Do you remember senior year when I found out what had happened to Melanie, and Brad took me to the prison to see my mom?"

"Yeah. You scared the shit out of me, disappearing like that," Freddie commented. "But it's not the same thing, Sam."

"You're right, it's not. But...seeing her there, and being able to tell her how I felt, it was definitely closure for me, you know? I felt a lot better after that. Maybe...maybe it'll do the same thing for you. I don't know."

"And what if it makes me feel worse, Sam?"

"Then we can afford therapy, nub!" I shouted, poking him. "Come on, just trust me. You know I'd never purposely hurt you."

"Tell that to my permanently damaged nipples," Freddie grumbled, and I laughed.

"That's different. Speaking of which..." I reached out to grab one, laughing when Freddie smacked my hand away and growled at me. I looked over at him, giving him a smile, and he just sighed, taking my hand in his.

"I'm really pissed about this, Sam," he said, and I nodded.

"I know. But you'll get over it."

"And how do you know that?" he responded.

"Because you love me," I replied. "That's gotta count for something, right?"

"I guess so," he replied with a smirk. "But next time don't try to pull a fast one on me, got it?"

I snorted. "Next time you won't even see it coming, nub!"

Freddie sighed. "Man..."

"What?"

"I really hope this baby doesn't inherit your mischievous streak, because it's gonna be hell dealing with it twice as much."

"But just as fun?" I asked, and he nodded.

"Let's hope so."

~*Freddie*~

"So, other than putting this off, why exactly did you want to stop?" Sam asked, crossing her arms over her chest and staring at me, leaning back in her seat. "The cemetery's only like twenty minutes from here, so you can't put it off forever. There's no way we're turning around now."

I shook my head. "I'm not trying to put it off."

"Then why'd you make me pull over?" she asked, continuing to stare. I didn't respond, just unbuckled my seatbelt and opened my door, getting out of the car. Sam scrambled to open her door, practically leaping out of the car.

"Where are you going?" she shouted. "Freddie! Get back in the car!"

"Will you just shut up for a second?" I snapped, and her eyebrows went up. I stared straight ahead, leaning against the car. "Fifth and Glenwood. This is the spot."

Sam walked around the car, standing next to me. "This is the spot?" she repeated, and I nodded, pointing.

"Right there. See that stoplight? He ran it. And that's when the truck hit him."

"Oh," she said softly. I stood there for a moment in silence, trying to think back to the day it happened. It was such a long time ago, I didn't remember much of it, other than just pure chaos. I didn't look at Sam, just continued staring at that one spot, as if I could just wish all of it away and things would be fine. Sam put her hand on my arm tentatively, and I took her hand, interlacing her fingers with mine.

"I remember being angry he wasn't at my Science fair," I said in a hoarse voice. "And then I remember my mom coming to get me. Sitting in the emergency room, that was a blur. But I did remember when the doctor came out. He said he didn't make it, and I didn't really understand what that meant. I figured when people died, they just came out and said it, like on television. All dramatic and stuff. And my mom, she...it was really weird. She cried a little bit, but yeah, it's not like on TV, when the woman falls down and screams at the sky saying 'why why why'. It wasn't like that at all. We went home. And I don't remember much between then and the funeral."

"Baby..." Sam started to speak, but I cut her off.

"But I do remember spending HOURS trying to figure out how to tie that stupid tie. I couldn't get it. It took forever. I got so mad I tried to punch a hole in the wall. Of course that backfired," I laughed bitterly. "It hurt the entire funeral. My grandmother, she..." I trailed off, biting my lip. "She kept trying to make me look at him...you know, in the casket, but I wouldn't do it. I didn't want to see my dad just laying there...I mean, it wasn't even him at that point, just a shell, right?" Sam nodded hesitantly, and I sighed.

"And when they closed it...the casket I mean, it made this horrible shutting and clicking noise that just RANG through the entire church. It gave me chills. The bad kind. It was like...like a door shutting on my old life. It was so final. But I didn't want it to be final. So...so that's why I didn't get out of the car, when we went to the cemetery. I just wouldn't do it. I couldn't do it, you know? And...after that, everything changed. My mom wasn't always overbearing and psychotic, you know?"

"Uh..." Sam trailed off, biting her lip, and I could tell she was struggling not to say something smart. My mom had definitely calmed down since Sam and I had gotten married, but she still loved to poke at me sometimes about how she was. I smirked at Sam, shaking my head.

"She used to be fun. She...one time she took me to an amusement park, and she rode a rollercoaster with me. Can you imagine my mother riding a rollercoaster, baby?"

"No, not at all," Sam laughed, and I shrugged.

"Well, she was really cool. Up until my dad died. She loved him a lot. They used to always be...very...affectionate, in front of me. I remember telling them to get a room and not even really knowing what it meant!"

"Wow, guess it runs in the family, huh?" Sam asked playfully, nudging me, and I just shrugged, smiling a little bit.

"But yeah, she loved him. Very much. And after that happened...I guess...I guess she was worried about losing me too, you know? So she just started overcompensating about every little thing. Even stupid germs."

"Tick baths," Sam reminded me, and I shuddered.

"Yeah, the dreaded lyme disease, very common in urban settings," I said with a roll of my eyes. "But my point is, she used to be normal. I used to be normal. And then all this stuff happened. I got...I got damaged. I just wonder how my life would have turned out if he hadn't died, you know?"

"I can't answer that, baby," Sam replied. "All I know is you're not damaged. You're amazing. You're sweet, and protective, and responsible, and...perfect."

I laughed. "I'm not perfect, baby. Far from it. It's been recently brought to my attention that I'm kind of an asshole, actually."

"Well, I'm kind of a bitch," Sam offered, and I glared at her.

"Don't say that. You hate when other people call you that, don't call yourself that. And it's not true."

Sam rolled her eyes. "I know that, I'm just saying. You're perfect to me. You fit me."

I smiled, leaning over to kiss her. "And you fit me. But we are both kind of screwed up, so...that's probably why it works."

"Maybe I don't want you to be screwed up any more," Sam commented softly. "Or let me re-phrase. I don't want you to feel like you're screwed up. Because you're not."

"Is that why you brought me here?" I asked, and she nodded.

"You need to do this, baby. You're holding onto something that you shouldn't be holding on to, okay?" Sam replied. "It was NOT your fault. Your dad was rushing because he knew it was important to you. Because he loved you. But that DOESN'T make it your fault! Just like the night..." she trailed off, biting her lip. "I know you feel guilty about what happened with Bill, because you were at the gym. But that wasn't your fault either. He would have gotten to me eventually."

"But my dad...he'd still be alive."

Sam shrugged. "Maybe. Look, I know we never really talk about God or anything like that, but...when a person's time is up, it's up, you know? It was your dad's time to go, baby. It wasn't your fault."

I nodded slowly, still staring off into space. "Sam?"

"Yeah?"

"Let's go get this done, okay?" I asked, and she nodded.

About half an hour later, Sam and I were walking around the cemetery. I had only been here once, eleven years ago, and I'd sat in the car the entire time, so I had no clue where my father's grave was. I felt a little bad about it, but I was here now, and that had to count for something, right?

"Freddie?" Sam asked, standing about five feet away from me.

"Yeah?"

"I think I found it," she said, pointing down in front of her. I walked over to where she was standing, and felt my stomach drop.

There it was, plain as day. Karl Edward Benson, 1970 – 2003. I was a little disappointed in the state the plot was in, compared to the others around it, but there was nobody around to maintain it. I had never been here, and my mom had never been back after we moved. There was no family around here to do it for us. He had no one to put flowers on his grave. It was really sad, and I felt incredibly guilty for it.

"Yeah, this is it," I said softly. I let out a deep breath, so heavy it felt like I'd been holding it in for over a decade. I'd put this off for so long. It didn't make it any easier to deal with now, and the reality that I'd been putting it off, overwhelmed with my own inability to just let it go, was hitting me very hard right now. I just stared at the gravestone.

"Freddie!" Sam exclaimed. "Are you okay?"

"Huh?" I asked, then realized I was a lot closer to the ground than I'd been before. I'd dropped to my knees and hadn't even noticed. I sat back on my heels, my hand extending forward all on its own to brush across my father's name, etched into the marble stone, then it dawned on me that right now, I was kneeling on top of his grave. His casket was six feet underneath me. I let my hand fall from the gravestone to run across the grass.

"Baby?" Sam asked, and I looked up at her.

"This is too real," I said. "I didn't wanna do this, Sam. I didn't want to do this."

"Do you want to leave?" she asked, and I shook my head.

"I guess I need to do this, don't I?" I asked, and she nodded.

"I'll...I'll give you a minute, okay?" she responded, taking a few steps back, and when I looked over my shoulder, I realized she'd walked back about ten feet away from me, to give me space. I looked back at the gravestone. Well, this was odd. Did people really come to graveyards and TALK to headstones? The person wasn't there. It was just an empty shell, and in most cases, the shell wasn't even there anymore, just nothingness. Just a reminder of what once was. Just a stone.

Still, I decided to give this whole talking thing a shot. What could it hurt? I spoke softly at first, brushing my fingers over the headstone again.

"Hey, dad," I managed to croak out. "I'm sorry it took me so long to do this. I hope you know you're a hard person to get over."

I took a deep breath, trying to ignore all the stuff I'd shoved to the back of my mind that was starting to come back to me. Learning to ride a bike. Going to the zoo. My first web page. He'd been really excited about that, me learning HTML at only seven years old. I'd done it because I wanted to be just like him, and that was his thing, computers. Come to think of it, I was still holding onto that. I still wanted to be like him, what I remembered of him.

"I wish you were still around. I feel like I didn't get enough time with you. You still had a lot to teach me, didn't you? But...I can still do HTML." I laughed a little. "I make a lot of websites these days. I hope you'd be proud of me. Like I said, you still had a lot to teach me, but what you did teach me, it stuck. How to treat people. To not give up. How to treat a woman. I'm married, hopefully you know that. I'm not really sure what I believe, but I hope you're...around somewhere, watching over me. But...I try to treat Sam the same way you treated Mom. Even when she gets on my nerves. But she's amazing. You'd like her a lot. She's got a lot of...spunk, shall we say? We're...we're having a baby, and I'm really nervous about that, because I feel like I'm not ready. Because I didn't have you around to show me. I know that's not your fault, Dad. And maybe it's not my fault either, you know? I felt so guilty. So incredibly guilty. I just knew that because you were rushing to make it to the Science fair, THAT was why you got in the accident. Like it was my fault. But...even if it is, I CAN'T keep letting it get to me. It makes me feel...crazy. Anxious. I'm a perfectionist. I don't like screwing up, because I feel like I screwed things up so bad with you. But I can't keep letting it control me. And the thing is, I know you don't want me to feel like that either."

I took another deep breath, and I could feel my hands shaking. Tears were starting to pop up in the corners of my eyes, but I didn't try to stop them, or even take the time to brush them off my face.

"I love you, Dad. And I miss you every single day. Even the days I don't let myself think about it, I know I still miss you. But I've gotta let this go. Because I can't live this way any more. I can't keep doing it to myself, and I can't let it affect Sam, and I definitely can't let it affect our child. But I do miss you. And I'll never stop doing that. But...I'm not gonna avoid...this place any more, I can promise you that. I remember how bad you hated it when the house got messy, so I'm not gonna let your gravesite get messy either, okay? I promise. I gotta go now, I have class tomorrow and it's going to take all day to get back. But I do miss you. And I love you. And if I turn out to be half as good of a father as you were, then I'll know I've done a really good job." With that, I finally stood up, running my hand over the headstone one last time.

"Goodbye, Dad."

With that, I turned around to see Sam still ten feet or so away from me, watching me intently.

"Are you alright?" she asked softly, and I nodded, walking over to her. She reached up to brush the tears off my cheeks, kissing each side of my face sweetly, before gently brushing her lips across mine, her arms going around my neck. My arms went around her waist, pulling her against me, and I kissed her forehead, pulling away to rest mine against hers.

"Thank you," I said quietly. "For making me do this."

"Are you sure you're gonna be okay?" she asked.

"Yeah, baby. I'll be fine. I actually do feel better now."

"Good."

"So..." I said, pulling away, and she looked at me quizzically.

"So, since I'm feeling better..."

"Yeah..." she responded, her eyebrow going up.

"You want me to drive?"

"God, yes!" she gasped out. "This was absolute torment!"

I just laughed. "I know, baby. You hate driving. But when we go get that car on Saturday..."

She groaned. "Don't remind me."

"Oh yes! You're gonna drive! Your own car!"

She pouted a little. "So you won't be taking me to class anymore?"

"No, I'll still take you if you want."

"What about doctor appointments?"

"Wouldn't miss them for the world, baby."

"What about my late night Thai food cravings?" she asked, and I rolled my eyes.

"You're on your own, baby."

She gasped. "But Freddie! You don't want me driving late at night by myself, do you? What if the car breaks down, and..."

I cut her off, kissing her. "Shut up, silly girl. I'll be your personal chauffeur. I don't mind."

She just gave me a smile. "You are an amazing man, you know that?"

"So you say," I responded. "And...if it's true, I think I know where I got it from."

She nodded. "I think I know too."


	32. Chapter 32: Warning

**Chapter Thirty Two:  
><strong>**Warning**

~*Carly*~

"I can't believe I let you drag me here," Wendy whined. "Why couldn't we just go to a club? And why isn't Brad here?"

I rolled my eyes. "He's working on his screenplay."

Wendy's perfectly arched eyebrows went up. "So you couldn't drag him away? To go out? What's going on with you two? Brad used to always be down to party."

I shrugged, not telling her that Brad had in fact offered to go, and I'd told him not to. "Well, I mean, Brad's...calmed down, I guess? You know how out-of-control he used to get..."

"Uh, yeah!" Wendy exclaimed. "Remember that frat mixer we went to and he drank that entire fifth of Jack Daniels and he walked around with a lampshade on his head the rest of the night?"

"Ugh, I've been trying to forget that night..." I grumbled. "We all had a bit too much that night. Remember the coffee table?"

Wendy laughed, clamping down on my arm. "Oh my god! I almost forgot about that! You tried to dance on it and it flipped over!" she started laughing hysterically, but her laughter faded when her eyes fixed on who was coming toward us.

"So I guess you made it out, huh?" Matthew asked, an amused look on his face. "Hey, Wendy."

"Hi, Matthew!" Wendy gushed. "Oh my gosh, I can't believe you're here! I love this place! Do you love this place? I love this place!"

I shot her an amused look. "Love this place, huh? Thought you wanted to go to a club."

"Hush, Carly!" Wendy waved me off. "I was just kidding!"

Matthew just smirked. "So you come here a lot? I've never seen you here before."

"Um...I...sit in the back a lot," she remarked, turning a little red, before looking at me. "So he invited you?" she asked in a low voice, raising her eyebrows, and I could read the look on her face perfectly. Why was I meeting a guy who wasn't my fiance in a dark coffeehouse? I couldn't even answer that, not just because I didn't want to, but because I didn't know either! Why was I here? I had Brad waiting for me at the apartment! My fiance! The guy I loved! The guy who loved me!

I tried to keep reminding myself I was lucky to have Brad. Girls threw themselves at him regularly, and he just brushed them off without a second thought, because he loved me. He was cool, he was funny, he was smart. And gorgeous! He was definitely more attractive than Matthew, and besides that, I LOVED him. So what was I doing here?

"Where's your boyfriend?" Matthew asked, and I gave him an evil look.

"Fiance. And he's working on a very important screenplay right now!"

"Right. Very important," Matthew repeated.

"It is," I responded indignantly. "Brad's a great writer. When it gets picked up, he'll make a fortune, and then..."

"And then he'll move to Hollywood and leave you for some neurotic actress. Or maybe a model," Matthew stated.

"Shut up," I replied. "You don't know Brad."

"I know his type," Matthew replied. "Self-important. Tortured artist. Makes jokes to cover up big issues. Seems like the life of the party type of guy, so he probably likes the drinking and drugs a little too much, am I right?"

I stared at him, dumbfounded. He was right about everything except the drugs.

"You...Brad doesn't do drugs. He's never even touched them," I responded weakly.

"Hey, but what about last summer at that bonfire?" Wendy pointed out. "That joint got passed around, and Brad got high as a kite and swore up and down it wouldn't make Freddie sick, but then he passed out and you guys found out reefer lowers blood sugar?"

"Wendy!" I exclaimed. "Shut up! You're not helping!" I was absolutely mortified now, forget the fact that Wendy had just refuted my claims about Brad never touching a drug, but if anyone within earshot recognized me from iCarly, it wouldn't take a total genius to figure out that the Freddie we were talking about was iCarly tech producer Freddie, and we didn't need it getting out all over the internet that he'd tried pot, even if he'd never touched it again.

God, that was a bad night. It took two people to pull Sam off Brad that night, because Freddie hit the ground and then Sam started hitting Brad's face. All a thing of the past now, as far as I knew Brad had never touched the stuff since, but still, I didn't like thinking about it, and I was super pissed Wendy had even brought it up!

Matthew just shook his head, amused. "Yeah, you never want to give a diabetic reefer. Bad decision."

"Well, thing of the past, Matthew. You have no right to judge me, you know that?"

"Okay," Matthew replied with a laugh. "Well, you guys may wanna grab a table before the show starts."

"You're not gonna sit with us?" Wendy asked, batting her eyelashes, and Matthew shook his head.

"I've got somewhere else to sit," he responded, looking down at his watch. "Excuse me. You girls have fun. Hey Wendy, try the Chai latte, it's excellent."

"Okay, I will!" she replied.

"But of course, you already knew that. Since you've been here before and all," he said with a wink, before walking away, leaving Wendy slightly embarrassed...and me absolutely fuming!

"Wendy!" I exclaimed. "You cannot talk about drugs like that in public! Not when you're referencing certain people from a certain show doing them!"

"What?" she responded. "It was one time! It's not like you guys are big potheads, right? I mean...right?"

"Well, it makes Freddie pass out, so..." I looked at her pointedly. "And you know I've never done it. And I'm pretty sure Brad has stopped too, unless he's doing it on the side."

"Well, what about Sam?" Wendy asked, and I laughed.

"Uh, no. The one time she did try it, when she got some from another Pre-Law student, she cleaned out the entire fridge. Freddie caught her eating dry pasta and put his foot down after that!"

"Good lord," Wendy stated, her eyes wide. "So the munchies hit her bad then?"

I rolled my eyes. "Sam has a permanent case of the munchies."

"Has she started craving weird food yet?" Wendy asked, and I shrugged.

"If she has, we can't tell. I mean, it's Sam. But I did see her dipping orange slices in chocolate syrup the other day, so...who knows?"

"We should probably grab a table, it's filling up in here," Wendy observed, looking around, and I nodded. We grabbed a table near the back, sitting down to resume our conversation.

"Man, I really think I shouldn't have come here tonight," I commented. "I should have stayed with Brad."

"No, this is fun!" Wendy replied. "Although I don't know why you're so...antagonistic towards Matthew."

"I'm not antagonistic! If anything he's antagonizing me! He's so...ugh!"

"Whatever, he's hot! I want him! Do you think I should go for him?"

I stared at her, my eyes widening. "Uh, Wendy, don't you think he's kind of a jerk?"

"A hot jerk," she replied. "But you didn't answer my question."

"Uh..." God, what was wrong with me? I should encourage my friend to go after a guy if she likes him! And I was taken! TAKEN! You are taken, Carly! But god, he was getting to me! He made me so mad, but every little thing he said to me, I went out of my way to try and correct him on it. Why? Why should I care what he thinks? Why did his opinion matter to me at all, when I was TAKEN?

"Oh my god!" Wendy exclaimed, pointing, I turned around in my seat, powerless to stop the eyeroll that immediately happened.

An excellent guitar player, huh? It was just Matthew, perched on a stool on the little stage, adjusting the mic, his acoustic guitar sitting in his lap. He'd tricked me!

"I should go home," I stated, standing up, but Wendy grabbed my arm and yanked me back down.

"Don't you dare leave me here by myself," she responded.

"So come with me!" I replied.

"No way! And miss Hottie McGlasses sing and play guitar? He just went up like ten points on the hotness scale!"

"Ugh, fine..." I groaned.

"So tonight, I'd like to start off with a cover, it's by Fiona Apple, and it's called Mistake," Matthew said into the mic, before beginning to play, strumming the guitar effortlessly. I had to admit, he was good. His technique, his style...he was good.

"I wanna make a mistake, I'm gonna do it on purpose, gonna waste my time. Cuz I'm full as a tick, and I'm scratching at the surface. And what I find is mine. And when the day is done, and I look back, and the fact is I had fun, fumbling around..."

He was looking at me the entire time he sang, and part of me was angry, annoyed, the other part of me was just...gooey. And that made me even madder! Who was he to make me feel that way? He was a jerk! A condescending jerk! And...man he was good with that guitar.

He played three more songs, and I was fully prepared to just abandon Wendy all together and fled the premises, but he cut me off before I could reach the door.

"So, what'd you think?" he asked.

"I think those songs were loaded with innuendo, honestly," I replied.

"Oh, they were," he responded with a smile. "So what'd you think?"

"Nice guitar playing, but your attitude could use adjusting," I shot back.

"Want to adjust it for me?" he replied, and I rolled my eyes.

"Wow, that was creative," I said sarcastically, and he just smiled.

"What can I say? I guess I'm witty. So you liked my guitar playing huh? I'm pretty good with my hands."

I just sighed. "I've gotta go, Matthew. Maybe you should...spend some time with Wendy. She's really sweet." With that, I pushed past him, walking out the door.

"Yeah, but you've got spark. I like that."

"Well so does my fiance!" I responded. "You just don't get it, do you? This can't happen, Matthew! This won't happen! Why don't you just give up?"

"Because I'm having too much fun," he replied simply. "Besides, if you were happy with your...fiance, you wouldn't be here right now. You wouldn't answer my texts. You wouldn't encourage me to flirt with you."

"I do NOT encourage you to flirt with me!" I shouted.

"Sure you do. You like it. You're not getting enough attention from your fiance, or your friends. You want something else. And I can give you something else."

I bit my bottom lip, taking a step back. "What makes you think I want anything from you, Matthew?"

He just shrugged, his eyes locked with mine, and before I knew what was happening, he stepped forward, pressing his lips to mine, kissing me passionately.

I allowed it a lot longer than I should have. There were no tongues involved, thankfully, but the fact that I didn't immediately shove him away spelled trouble. As soon as I regained my bearings though, I DID shove him away, hard, unable to stop myself from bringing my hand across his face in a firm slap.

"You bastard!" I hissed. "How dare you!"

"Well I declare," he laughed, an amused look on his face. "That was awfully 1940's movie star of you, Carly."

"Leave me alone, Matthew!" I replied. "Just go away, and leave me alone!" I quickly turned around, heading back to Bushwell as fast as my legs could carry me.

"See you in class, Carly!" Matthew called after me, but I didn't want to respond, didn't want to give him more ammunition. I quickly pulled out my phone to text Wendy, making up some crap about being sick, encouraging her to go after Matthew. He was a jerk, but Wendy didn't really get attached to guys anyway, just jumped from one guy to another every few weeks, so I doubted she'd get hurt.

I practically ran into Bushwell, taking the elevator up and flinging the apartment door open, finding Brad right where I'd left him. At the sound of the door, he stood up quickly and turned around.

"Carly!" he exclaimed, walking over to me and pulling me into a tight hug. "Babe, I'm so sorry."

I stared at him, dumbfounded. "For what?"

"For fighting. You wanted to go out, I was just being an ass, I'm sorry. How was the coffee place with Wendy? Did you guys have fun?"

I shrugged. "I guess. But the guitar player was kind of an ass."

He frowned. "That sucks. Sorry your night was bad, babe. I feel like it was mostly my fault."

Ugh, really? Why was he being so sweet right now? Oh look, it's my old friend Guilt, back for more!

"Don't say that," I replied, shaking my head. "I wasn't exactly being nice either."

Brad shrugged, brushing it off. "Well, I made some really good strides in my screenplay. I think it's going to turn out really good."

I nodded, giving him a small smile. "That's great, Brad."

"Yeah, it is," he said happily. "But, now that you're back, I can stop for the night."

"Really?" I asked, surprised, and he nodded.

"Yeah! I just wanna spend time with my beautiful girl. And we don't have to talk. Not about marriage, kids, school, work, anything. We can do whatever you want, Carly."

I cleared my throat nervously. "Uh, Brad, that sounds great, but..."

"I mean it! Whatever you want! Tonight's all about you, Carly. I'm sorry, I have been neglecting you. But I'm going to stop that, okay? I love you. More than anything."

I nodded. "I love you too, baby."

He smiled, kissing me softly, before pulling away. Oh my god, my fiance just kissed me right after another man's lips had been on me! I'm the worst person ever!

"So what do you want to do tonight, babe?"

Ugh, must do something to distract me from all the thoughts going through my head. A movie wouldn't work, I had to call in the big guns for this one. With a smile, I wrapped my arms around Brad's neck, kissing him passionately.

"Just take me to bed..." I whispered in his ear before nibbling on his neck a little. "And the rest we'll figure out later."

"Fine by me, sexy," Brad responded, picking me up and carrying me up the stairs. He laid me down on the bed, kissing me softly, but passionately, and despite the fact that he felt amazing, and we were together, I couldn't get the thought of someone else out of my mind, and no, it wasn't Matthew.

When the hell would Sam be back? I needed someone to talk some sense into me, now, before I completely lost it!

~*Freddie*~

"Longest drive of my life..." Sam complained as we dragged ourselves into the apartment. "What time is it?"

"A little after midnight," I replied, looking down at my watch. "Man I'm tired!" I turned to look at Sam, only to find she wasn't there any more. "Hey, where'd you go...oh. Nevermind," I grumbled when I looked toward the kitchen, the only part of Sam I could see being her butt, which was currently sticking out of the fridge. "Hungry, baby?"

"Hi, have we met?" she quipped as she stood up, her arms full of food. "Okay, I'm gonna test this hot dog out, see if it makes me puke."

I shook my head. "Don't eat that."

"What?" she exclaimed. "Why not?"

"It says in the baby books you're not supposed to eat hot dogs or bologna."

"Why not?" she asked again, looking at me like I was crazy.

"I don't know...something to do with them being fully cooked, then re-packaged...they're supposed to spoil quickly. You could get sick. And they have...nitrates and stuff. Too much sodium. And while we're on that..." I walked into the kitchen. "You need to cut back on the sugar. It's not good for the baby!"

"But..." she started, a whine forming, and I shook my head.

"Don't you want the baby to be healthy, sweetheart?"

She glared at me. "Freddie, women have been having babies for millions of years! Eating sushi, caffeine, processed meats, and god knows what else! I'll be fine!"

"Sam," I warned her. "Don't make me drag you out of the kitchen..."

"And do what with me, exactly?" she challenged, and I just smirked at her, shaking my head.

"Oh, there's plenty of things I could do with you," I replied. "But that would be a reward, not punishment."

"Rewarding me for not eating hot dogs," she shot back, hopping on the counter. I advanced toward her, and she reached out, grabbing my shirt collar and yanking me to her, her arms going around my neck as she kissed me. I kissed her back eagerly, my hands sliding underneath her shirt to run over her back.

"So what are you going to do to me, baby?" she asked as she pulled away to kiss my neck, making me groan. I was absolutely exhausted from the drive back, but not too exhausted to spend the rest of the night wearing us out even more. I could never get enough of this girl.

"Hmm," I replied. "Well, first I'm gonna carry you back to our room, throw you on the bed, and then I'm gonna take my time. Take your clothes off, slowly...kiss all over your body, slowly. Until you beg me for more. Then I'm gonna..."

"Sam!" Carly exclaimed, running down the stairs. "Oh, thank god you're back! I need to talk to you!"

I groaned, laying my head on Sam's shoulder. Carly had the worst timing in the world, I swear.

"Can't it wait, Carly?" I practically barked.

Carly glared at me. "No, it cannot wait! I need to talk to Sam NOW, while Brad's still passed out upstairs."

"Wait, passed out from what?" I asked, lifting my head to look at Carly, slightly concerned, and she shrugged, blushing a bit.

"Dirty girl," Sam said with a laugh. "So what's up?"

"Well...I...okay, maybe I should start at the beginning," Carly replied. "So you know my US History class? Well, the TA is..."

"Freddie!" Sam interrupted her, pulling away from me as I started kissing on her neck. "Not right now!"

"But..." I started, and Sam shook her head, hopping off the counter.

"We'll finish it, I promise," she said, before walking over to Carly. "Is this school stuff?"

Carly shook her head. "No. This is definitely not school stuff, Sam." Her voice had a pained inflection to it, and even though I was incredibly frustrated by getting interrupted, I looked up at her, concerned, before shooting a look over at Sam.

She returned the look, and her eyebrows went up. "Whoa. This sounds serious."

"It is. Very serious."

"Okay..." Sam replied. "We'll go upstairs, to the studio. I'll be back, baby."

"Yeah," I grumbled. "I'll be in the bathroom, making good use of your hand lotion."

"You better not," she stated. "Or I'll assume you're satisfied for the night and have no need of me."

"Impossible," I grunted. "I always have need of you."

"I know," she said with a grin. "That's part of why I love you."

"Part?"

"I like your other parts too," she teased. "Just take a shower or something, baby. I'll be right back."

"I'd rather you shower with me," I replied, crossing my arms over my chest, and Sam just rolled her eyes.

"What are you going to do after I have the baby and we can't have sex for six weeks?" she asked, and my eyes widened in horror.

"Oh god, I hadn't even thought about that!" I shouted. Sam just laughed, grabbing Carly's arm as they walked up the stairs. I just grumbled to myself, flopping down on the couch.

I could wait, I just didn't like to. Like I said, I could never get enough of Sam. I wanted her all the time. Whether I was in the middle of class, working, even sleeping! Some nights I'd have the hottest dreams, and it was awesome being able to wake her up in the middle of the night and experience for real whatever I was dreaming about. How many guys were that lucky? To be that in love with someone and be so sexually attracted to them they had dreams about it? Yes, I was a lucky man.

I laid back on the couch, staring up at the ceiling. Today had been really intense, but Sam had been right, it had given me closure on some things. I still wasn't happy about my mom getting remarried, but it made sense, she loved Robert, she didn't want to be alone anymore. And maybe I would stop feeling so guilty now.

But one thing was for sure. I hadn't expected this out of Sam. She'd really thrown me for a loop this time. But she'd done it because she loved me, because she didn't want me to hurt any longer. And I didn't even know it was possible, but because of it, I loved her even more.

~*Sam*~

"Alright, Shay, what's going on?" I asked as I shut the studio door. "You're not in bed with your unconscious fiance, AND you dragged me away from makeout time with Freddie!"

Carly gave me a Look. "Sam, every minute of every day is makeout time with Freddie for you!"

I rolled my eyes. "Alright, good point. So what's going on?"

"Well...I went to this coffee bar tonight, with Wendy..."

"Please don't tell me you guys got drunk and flipped another table over!"

"Sam, come on!" Carly replied, sounding slightly disgusted. "That was freshman year!"

"Yeah, but it was hilarious!" I cracked. "Remember? You were wearing that miniskirt, and Brad and I both told you not to wear a thong, but you did anyway, and..."

"Yes I remember the thong!" Carly shouted. "This is serious!"

"Okay, fine. So you and Wendy went to a coffee bar, and..."

"And we ran into this TA, Matthew?"

"Wait, is that the one you were bitching about?" I asked, and Carly nodded, biting her lip.

"He...he kissed me, Sam."

I just stared at her, completely shocked, unable to form words. What? Carly and another guy? I couldn't believe this!

"Sam?"

"Oh my god!" I exclaimed. "What? Why? Does Brad know? Did you tell Brad? Brad's gonna kill him!"

"Yeah, and then Brad will get kicked out of school!" Carly hissed. "I can't tell him!"

"So...what happened? Did you kiss him back?" Please don't let her say yes! We've handled business drama, past drama, family drama, and framing drama in the past two months alone, we SO did not need this level of trouble right now!

"No. Not really. I mean...I don't know, Sam! I'm freaking out!" she replied. "Did I cheat on Brad?"

Well this was uncharted territory for me! I did not know the rules on cheating, I'd never been in that situation before, thank god, and hoped I never would. What happened in high school between Brad and I definitely didn't count, because there was no romantic intentions behind it, the boy was just trying to knock some sense into me. I was sure Brad needed to know about this, but Carly had a point. Brad would go postal, assault a TA, and then get kicked out of school or arrested or both. We definitely didn't want that. I looked at her carefully.

"How did you react?" I asked, and she shrugged.

"I slapped him."

"Atta girl!" I exclaimed. "Tell that nerdy TA to leave you alone, or I WILL call my Uncle Carmine, and..."

"Sam, I don't think we need to take it that far," Carly said flatly. "I just...I wanted your opinion. I didn't cheat on Brad?"

"Not if he kissed you, and if you slapped him, Carls! You can't control what other people do!"

She nodded slowly. "Right. Okay."

My eyes narrowed when I realized she was hesitating about something.

"Something else is going on with you, isn't it?" I asked, and she shook her head.

"Definitely not," she replied. "I'm just really concerned about this. Look it's late, I have class in the morning, and I know you want to take the Freddie Train straight to Hump City, so I'll let you get back to that."

"You know me too well," I replied, sticking my tongue out at her, and she just laughed.

"I'm going to bed. I'll see you in the morning," she said. "Did things turn out okay with Freddie?"

I nodded. "I think he's going to be okay now, but I know you want to get some sleep, so...tomorrow? We talk?"

"Sure," she replied. "I just...nothing. Never mind. Goodnight, Sam."

"Night, Carly," I replied suspiciously, watching her leave the studio and head downstairs.

Okay, something else was obviously up with Carly, but I figured I'd get it out of her tomorrow, after I had a night to sleep, refresh my brain.

And also get a little loving from my sexy husband. I quickly headed downstairs to find Freddie laying on the couch, staring at the ceiling.

"You okay, baby?" I asked, leaning over the couch to look at him, and he nodded, giving me a sweet smile and taking my hand, kissing it softly.

"I love you, Sam."

"Uh-oh. You didn't take more than the recommended dose of your Xanax, did you?" I teased, and he rolled his eyes.

"No, dear," he responded bluntly. "Just thinking."

"About what?" I asked, walking around the couch to lay on top of him, my head resting on his chest, smiling as I felt his hand going into my hair, curling it around his fingers.

"Life is pretty damn far from perfect, but I'm lucky as hell, you know that? Not every guy has a girl willing to go on a five hundred mile road trip with almost zero notice just to make them feel better."

"And not every girl has a guy willing to marry them at sixteen to help them escape an abusive home. Or permanently cripple the guy responsible for the damage."

Freddie shrugged. "I just did what I thought was right, Sam. And I didn't just marry you to get you out of that. I've told you before, there were other ways we could have done it. I just..."

"Wanted me all to yourself?" I asked, and he nodded.

I lifted my head to look at him, kissing him softly. "I'm glad you did. I love you, Freddie."

"I love you too, baby."

"So Carly's gone to bed," I commented, running a hand down his chest, smirking when I felt him squirm a little bit.

"Oh?" he asked, his breathing already becoming more ragged.

"Mmhmm. So I was thinking..."

"You were thinking..."

"We haven't done it on the couch in awhile."

"Because they're always here," Freddie grunted.

Technically we'd been specifically ordered NOT to have sex in the common areas, but poor Brad and Carly had NO idea how often we broke that rule. There'd even been a few occasions, when we were sure they'd be gone for a few hours, that we'd done it up in their room. Those incidents were usually because there was some kind of argument going on, like the one Carly and I'd had over the summer when I'd accidentally left one of her expensive lipsticks in the car and it had melt, and that same week Freddie had accidentally dropped one of Brad's cameras. They'd been really, really angry at us, and said some stuff that was really out of line, but we'd gotten back at them by having sex on top of Carly's vanity. They still didn't know about it, and I wonder if they ever would.

I brought my focus back to the issue at hand, which was having sex on the couch. We'd done it many times before, but it was such a rush, having sex where we weren't supposed to, the possibility of getting caught very real.

"So do you want to?" I asked. "Right now?"

"What about the table?" Freddie asked, a mischievous look in his eyes. "Or the counter."

"Or against the door?"

"Hmm. Decisions, decisions," Freddie responded, his hand going to my chin to lift it a little so he could kiss me. I sighed against his mouth, kissing him back eagerly, my arms going around his neck.

"I don't want to move," he murmured against my mouth, pulling away to kiss over my neck. My hands tangled through his hair to pull his head back so I could do the same to him, smiling when I heard him groan at the feeling of my tongue on his skin. I ground my hips into him, going back to kissing him as I unbuttoned his shirt.

"So...I guess the couch it is?" I whispered, bending down to kiss over his chest.

"Think you can be quiet?" he responded with a smirk, and I just shrugged. There were definitely no guarantees in that department!

"You're not exactly silent in the sack yourself, Mr. Benson," I pointed out, and he laughed.

"Maybe not, but compared to you?" he teased, and I didn't respond, just went back to kissing him, moaning in surprise when he flipped us over so he was on top of me, his hands finding the hem of my sweater to pull it over my head. He didn't waste any time at all getting my bra off either, kissing and licking over my breasts, making me arch into him and moan.

"Shhh..." he whispered. "Don't wake them up."

"I don't care if they wake up," I responded, lifting my hips so Freddie could pull my pants off. I finished unbuttoning his shirt and slid it down over his shoulders. "Keep up, baby."

"Well, I care if I get interrupted again," he replied. "I want you so bad it's making me crazy."

"Didn't you get enough last night?" I teased while unbuttoning his pants, yanking them down over his hips, and he shook his head.

"I can never get enough of you," he responded, bending down to kiss me, both of us moaning at the feel of our bare skin pressed together. I loved that feeling. He was so warm, his skin felt so soft. The weight of him made me feel safe, protected, like no harm could ever come to me as long as I stayed curled up in his strong arms. I let out a little moan as I felt his hands slide up my legs and over my hips before pulling the boyshorts I was wearing off. Now only one barrier was between us, and it had to go, NOW. I grabbed his boxers, yanking them down over his hips, and he kicked them the rest of the way off, laying down between my legs. I groaned as I felt him brush over my center. I loved how he was always ready to go, no matter what. It was such an ego boost, knowing that he thought I was so hot that he could get turned on like the flick of a switch.

Freddie brought his mouth over mine, kissing me passionately, fingers curling into my hair, groaning as he felt me run my nails lightly over his back, making him shiver. I could feel him grinding into me, pulling away from my mouth to go back to kissing my neck. He continued to move against me, and I could feel him slowly pushing into me. God, this was hot. Some nights I just wanted him inside me now, now, now, but I loved when it was slow like this too, building up, driving me crazy. I locked my legs around him and he let out a slow, drawn-out moan as he went all the way in, making me arch against him and cry out.

"Baby!" I gasped out. "Oh god, this feels amazing..."

"Just getting started, sweetness..." he breathed, kissing me passionately.

"Please don't stop," I whispered. "Please..."

"Not gonna stop," he replied against my mouth as he moved in and out of me slowly. "Never gonna stop."

I just held him tighter, loving the way he moved against me in a slow grind, one hand tangled through my hair to keep my mouth pressed against his, the other holding my leg against him, keeping me still so I couldn't do anything except just experience what he was doing to me, the way he was making me feel. This felt SO good. It was amazing how well this boy could read my body. I LOVED it.

In no time at all he had me shaking, squirming against him, moaning his name over and over, bucking my hips uncontrollably. I was right there at the edge, and he knew it. I hoped he wouldn't tease me tonight. He didn't seem to be in much of a teasing mood right now, but with Freddie, you could never tell, and despite how much the teasing drove me crazy, his unpredictability in bed was one of the many reasons I loved him.

"God, baby..." I gasped out against his mouth. He still hadn't stopped kissing me. This entire time, he'd been kissing me passionately as he plunged in and out of me in that slow, passionate grinding motion, and oh my god, this was so intense. There was just something about being mouth to mouth with him as he made love to me that was so ridiculously intimate. It somehow made us feel even closer!

"Please don't stop, baby..." I whimpered. "Please. I'm so close...oh my god...Freddie..."

"You gonna come for me, baby?" he murmured against my lips. "Hmmm? Are you?"

"Yes!" I moaned. "Oh god...I'm so close...please..."

"Come for me, baby. Come on...let go...come for me..."

"Oh...god...I...fuck...Freddie. Freddie...Freddie! Aaah!" I cried out, tearing my mouth away from his to bury my face in his shoulder as I shook uncontrollably, my legs tightening around his waist, thighs trembling, nails digging into his back. "Oh my god! Yes! Oh, fuck!"

"Shhh...shhh," he said, laughing a little. "Baby...shhh..."

"Oh god, I can't help it..." I moaned. "Oh god, this feels so good..." He hadn't stopped moving against me in that same slow grind, the one that hit all my sensitive spots. Even when I went over the edge, exploding against him, he kept up that same pace, those same motions. If he kept it up he'd make me go again for sure!

"Mmm, I love it when you lose control like that," he whispered in my ear, before biting it a little. His hand went to my chin, turning my head to face him, his lips coming down over mine and kissing me passionately again. I moaned as his hand went into my hair again to hold me steady, and he continued thrusting in and out of me slowly.

Oh god, what had gotten into him tonight? I mean, the boy could be an absolute animal in bed, I knew that, and some nights we'd have the most passionate love-making sessions ever that somehow brought us even closer, but this was different. He seemed hellbent on being as close to me as he possibly could, holding me against him tightly, not letting my mouth leave his, moving slowly against me but going as deep as he could. This felt like heaven!

A few more minutes and I could feel him start shaking, his breathing ragged, and his hips were beginning to jerk a little bit more.

"Sam..." he groaned. "Oh god, baby...you feel so good..."

"You do too," I gasped. "You gonna lose it?"

"I'm trying not to," he grunted. "Fuck...you just feel so good..."

"It's okay," I whispered. "Let go. I'm good. Let go..."

He shook his head. "No. Not yet." I felt him let go of my leg to reach between our bodies, rubbing at me softly, and I moaned loudly, gripping his shoulders even tighter. Oh my god, he was trying to push me over the edge again, and he wasn't going to give up until I did! Of course, the boy could read me like a book, so it wouldn't take too long...I was already right there, trembling again, arching my back, holding onto him as tight as I could.

"Baby..." I whined. "Oh god...oh god...oh my god...Freddie..." Shit, this was going to be REALLY intense, I could tell. "Freddie...I..."

"Come on, gorgeous. Come for me. Take me with you. Come on, baby..." He continued to rub at me, and I began jerking against him uncontrollably. Oh god...this felt so good...I was so close. A final thrust into me, and my head went back, eyes rolling into the back of my head, powerless to stop the loud moan that escaped my lips.

"Freddie! Oh god, baby!"

"Shit, Sam...I...fuck!" Freddie growled as I felt him tense up and then explode inside me, his face pressed against my neck as he trembled against me. He collapsed finally, struggling to catch his breath. "Shit," he gasped out. "That was amazing...wow." He lifted his head to look at me, and I reached up to wipe the beads of sweat that had formed on his forehead. He gave me a smile, brushing his lips over mine softly before laying his head back down where my neck met my shoulder. He loved that spot, he spent an awful lot of time laying his head there, kissing it, running his fingertips over it. I loved it when he did that, it gave me chills, in a very good way.

"I love you," I said softly, amusing myself with running my nails lightly over his back and giggling at the way it made him shiver.

"I love you too, baby..." he replied against my neck. "So much. You're amazing."

"So are you," I responded.

We laid there for a moment, blissful in our post-coital afterglow, until suddenly.

"Oh god, really?" a voice rang out, and we looked up to see Brad standing on the stairs, glaring at us. Freddie rolled his eyes, grabbing the blanket thrown over the back of the couch and pulling it over us.

"Other people use that couch, man!" Brad stated, and I gave him a Look.

"Can you HONESTLY tell me that you and Carly have never had sex on this couch, Brad? Look me in the eye and say it!"

Brad stood there for a moment, eyeing me carefully, before sighing and throwing his hands in the air.

"I didn't see nothing," he quipped, turning around to head back up the stairs. "Night, horndogs!"

"Jealous!" I yelled after him, but Freddie just shushed me, laughing.

"We should probably go back to our room now, don't you think?"

I shrugged. "I dunno. After that, I kinda wanna go have sex all over the apartment now."

Freddie laughed again. "Normally I'd be down, but you just wore me out, baby. And we have class tomorrow."

"True," I responded with a sigh. "But I'm not ready to go to sleep yet."

"Well, let's just go lay in bed then, okay? Watch a movie, snuggle, that sort of thing?"

"Sounds like a plan, baby," I replied, hurriedly throwing my clothes on, even though I knew they'd be off once we were in our room. Freddie did the same, and I laid down on the bed as he picked out a movie and put it in. He laid down beside me, pulling me against him and wordlessly kissing me on my forehead. We watched the movie in total silence, not an awkward silence, but sometimes we had no need for words. He just watched the movie intently, his fingertips running up and down my arm the entire time, occasionally kissing me. He seemed relaxed and carefree for a change. He seemed happy.

I really, really hoped that the trip had been worth it, that it had made some difference, and I had a feeling it did, just with the way Freddie was behaving right now. And at that moment, I couldn't have been happier about it. I loved my husband more than anything, the last thing I wanted was for him to hurt, and I would never stop doing everything I could to prevent it from happening. The same way he did it for me. The same way we would both do for our child.

Life was good.


	33. Chapter 33: Inside the Shell

**A/N: Nice long chapter for you guys! Now, what the hell is Carly up to? Let's find out, shall we?**

**Chapter Thirty Three:  
><strong>**Inside the Shell**

~*Sam*~

I rolled over in bed and immediately frowned once I hit more mattress, my eyes popping open. Freddie wasn't next to me. What the hell? I dragged myself out of bed to look in the bathroom. Nope. He wasn't there. Grabbing my robe and pulling it around me, I quickly opened our bedroom door to walk into the living room, glancing around. Still no sign of Freddie!

"Freddie!" I yelled, only to be met with no response. I trudged over to the stairs to yell up at them. Still nothing! Where was he?

I heard a thump above me, and then the sound of someone walking, only to be slightly disappointed when I saw it was only Carly. She looked a little bit worried herself.

"Sam? Have you seen Brad?" Carly asked. "I can't find him!"

"I can't find Freddie either!" I cried. "What the hell? Where are they?"

"This is not a good way to start off Valentine's Day," Carly grumbled. "Have you tried texting him?"

"No, not at eight in the morning! He's supposed to be in bed with me, not missing!" I responded. I couldn't figure out if I wanted to be upset, worried, or both. If nothing was wrong, that boy had a LOT of explaining to do!

"No kidding!" Carly responded. "I usually have to drag Brad out of bed in the morning! This is completely unlike him!"

"Guess everyone's acting different these days," I mumbled, and Carly looked at me strangely.

"What? What does that mean?" she asked, and I shrugged.

"Nothing." Carly had been acting really weird over the past few weeks, getting mysterious texts, always hanging out at this one coffee place but never asking any of us to come. And she'd been downright OBSESSED with learning to play the guitar. Not normal obsessed, like someone who was excited about learning to play an instrument, but just...unbalanced. Something was off, and I couldn't put my finger on what it was. Things seemed to be good between her and Brad though. They weren't fighting, but they weren't doing that passive-aggressive thing any more either. And Brad had been really making an effort lately. I didn't have to stay on his ass about the apartment any more, he was going to his meetings twice a week, and he and Freddie were getting along a lot better. They still butted heads over a lot of things though. Freddie was a perfectionist, and Brad was more laid-back and easy going, and I suspected neither of them would ever change in that regard, but they were both trying to understand each other a little bit more.

Carly just gave me a Look, before brushing it off and going back to the issue of our missing boys.

"Do you think they're somewhere together?" she asked, and I just smirked.

"Maybe they're having an affair," I teased, and she just rolled her eyes.

"Yeah, that must be it," she muttered. "You know something? I don't get why guys get all turned on by the idea of girl-on-girl action. I mean...think about the opposite...guy on guy action?"

"Just stop right there, Carly," I said, holding my hand up. "I know where you're going with this, and I don't want to think about my sexy husband with...yeah. Fine for some people, but I like my man straight, all the way."

"Oh come on! I'm just saying! It's weird how it gets them all riled up, but just thinking about the reverse does the opposite for us."

"That's because Freddie and Brad are perverts," I reminded her, and she laughed.

"Like you're not?"

"Yeah, but in a totally different way," I responded. "But seriously, where are they?" I leaned against the railing on the stairwell, absentmindedly running a hand over my stomach.

"You're starting to show more," Carly commented, and I glared at her.

"I'm aware, thank you."

"Sam! I didn't mean it in a bad way! It's cute! And it just means baby Benson's getting bigger."

"Yeah," I said with a smile. Carly was right though, it was beginning to be obvious to people that I was pregnant, people who weren't in the know. I was beyond wearing maternity pants by choice, I couldn't button any of my regular jeans or pants, and since it was winter, I was making due with swiping Freddie's sweatshirts all the time. Still, spring was right around the corner, and when that happened, I'd have to start wearing maternity clothes all the way, and then everyone would be able to see!

Things had been pretty good over the last month or so, aside from Carly's mysterious goings-on. Her appearance was even beginning to change a little bit. She was wearing a lot more black now, going heavier on the eyeliner, that sort of thing. It was almost bordering on bizarre, but I knew Carly was still trying to figure things out, so I wasn't giving her too much slack about it.

Carly and I both turned to look at the front door at the sound of it unlocking, and it slowly pushed open.

"Dude, I'm starving," I heard Brad say.

"Quiet! We're gonna wake them up!" Freddie hissed at him as he walked in, shutting the door behind them.

"Too late," Brad said flatly, as he looked across the living room and saw me and Carly standing on the stairs. Freddie turned around too, frowning.

"Dammit! How come you're up?" he asked me, and I just shrugged, glaring at him.

"Because you weren't next to me!" I snapped. "What the hell, Freddie? You freaked me out? What were you guys up to so damn early?"

"This," Freddie responded, and I gasped as he pulled a gorgeous bouquet of red roses from behind his back. "Happy Valentine's Day, baby."

"Aww!" I exclaimed, hurrying down the stairs to kiss him. "Baby! I take back what I said, completely! You're so sweet!"

"Yeah, we just wanted to get over to the flower place early, the selection can get pretty bare if you don't hit right when they open," he responded, kissing me again. "You like?"

"I love! They're beautiful!" I responded.

"Carly, don't look at me like that," Brad said, an amused look on his face. "I got you these." He produced a bunch of white lilies from behind his back, and a big grin spread across Carly's face as she came down the stairs.

"Baby, they're so pretty!" she exclaimed, kissing him. "Thank you!"

"We got breakfast too," Freddie said, gesturing to a bunch of plastic bags he'd laid on the ground. "From that place you guys like."

"Oh god, are there waffles in there?" I asked, bending down to poke through the bags. "Please tell me there's waffles! I'm starving!"

"Hands off, Mrs. Benson!" Freddie responded, grabbing my arm and pulling me away from the bags. "Yes, there's waffles. But other stuff too. Go put some clothes on, it's freezing in here."

"I'm wearing my robe, nub!" I shot back.

"Then go put some pants on too!" he replied, kissing me again. "And some socks."

I rolled my eyes. "Yes, dear," I grunted, walking back into our bedroom to throw on a pair of pajamas, some socks, and then I pulled my robe off, grabbing one of Freddie's sweatshirts instead. When I walked back out, the food was on the table, but Brad and Carly were gone.

"Where's..." I started, but Freddie just laughed a little.

"Upstairs. Something about getting a vase for the flowers, but they didn't respond when I reminded them there's no vases in their room. And then I was alone."

"Yeah, they're doing it," I responded, sitting down at the table.

"So eloquent," Freddie said with a laugh, sitting down next to me. "Okay, so...I did something. At the cafe."

"What?" I asked, slightly concerned. "What did you do?"

"Well..." he stated, pulling a styrofoam container out of the plastic bag. "I know you love their waffles, and their bacon, so..." he opened the container, and I gasped.

"Oh my god! You're kidding me, right?"

"Nope. I am not. I convinced them to put bacon in the waffle batter. You're welcome."

"Oh my god!" I said again. "Do you have any idea how much I love you right now?"

Freddie laughed, kissing me on the forehead. "A lot, I'll bet. So there's also a few omelets in there, some muffins, fruit salad, there's more bacon, and there's sausage and eggs benedict..."

"Ooh!" I exclaimed, but groaned when Freddie finished his sentence.

"...but they're for Carly, and no, you cannot eat any of it!"

"Why not?" I whined. "I'll give her some of my waffles!"

"Sam!" he laughed. "I didn't buy EIGHT waffles just for you! There's only two with bacon in them. The rest are for everyone else. And you can't eat the sausage because it's bad for you and the baby, and you're not supposed to eat undercooked eggs, so keep away from the benedict!"

"Ugh!" I groaned. "Man! How much longer do I have to be pregnant?"

"Six months," he responded, and I groaned again.

"Aw, come on, baby. There's plenty of food for you in there," he said. "Want some juice?"

"Yeah," I replied softly. "I just hate having rules on what I'm allowed to eat! And I wanted to put highlights in my hair and you won't let me!"

"First of all, you don't need to do anything to your hair, it's gorgeous the way it is, and secondly, the chemicals are..."

"Bad for the baby, I know," I grumbled. I speared a waffle with my fork, pulling it onto my plate. "So...are we doing anything tonight?"

"Mmhmm," he responded. "Lots."

"Like what?" I asked.

"Going out," he responded. "I made reservations for eight, but no, I'm not telling you where, okay? Just dress nice."

"I don't have any nice maternity dresses," I grumbled. "All my other clothes are getting tight."

"Hold that though," Freddie responded, standing up and disappearing into our bedroom. He came out a moment later, carrying a bag. "How about this?"

I looked at him suspiciously, reaching into the bag to pull out whatever was in it, and gasping a little at the red dress I was now holding. It was silk, and it felt like really high quality silk, with a little bit of red lace trim at the bottom and at the neckline, which was a v-shape. The dress had an empire waist, so there would be less emphasis on my rapidly growing belly. It was, in a word, perfect. My man had really outdone himself!

"Baby!" I cried, standing up to kiss him. "This is beautiful! This must have been really expensive! When did you get this?"

"The other day, while you were in class," he replied. "Think it will do for tonight?"

"Yes!" I wrapped my arms around him, hugging him tightly. "I love it!"

"So yeah, we're gonna go out, and then I'm gonna spend the entire night afterwards making love to you," he whispered in my ear.

"We could just skip the going out part," I offered, and Freddie laughed.

"Yeah right, that dress was not cheap, Sam. And I wanna see you in it, and then I want to show you off in it. So just deal!"

"Ooh, forced romance!" I teased. "Cute." My brow furrowed suddenly as something crossed my mind I hadn't thought of before. "Baby?"

"Yeah?"

"It's Wednesday," I pointed out.

"Yeah. So?"

"So we don't have classes today," I said.

"No. We don't," he replied. "I have to do a few things this morning, but after I'm done, I'm all yours for the rest of the day. I kinda want to just lay around all day and watch movies in bed."

I nodded. "We can do that. But what do you have to do today?" I asked.

He shrugged. "Balance the books, activate some new affiliates, answer some emails. And then I need to send out some resumes for the internship I need this summer."

"I thought you were going to intern for Cisco," I stated, and he just sighed.

"I have an interview with them, but it doesn't mean it's guaranteed. I've gotta have a back-up plan, just in case," he replied.

"Well, that's fine, but I don't think you need one, Freddie. They'd be crazy not to take you!"

"I hope you're right, sweetheart. I really want this bad."

"You're nervous about the interview next week, aren't you?" I asked, reaching over to take his hand in mine, and he nodded.

"Incredibly," he responded.

"You'll be fine, baby," I said softly. "You're a genius. They'll take you."

"Well, just keep your fingers crossed for me," he replied.

"I will, but you won't need it."

Before we could say anything else, Brad and Carly came scrambling down the stairs, hair and clothing disheveled.

"What time is it?" Carly asked frantically, and Freddie looked down at his watch.

"Almost nine," he responded.

"Aw, man!" Carly cried. "We're gonna be late! You guys are so lucky you don't have class today!"

"Uh, Carly?" I said, and she looked over at me.

"What?" she asked.

I didn't respond, just ran my finger over my neck, hoping she'd get the hint, and she did, clapping her hand over her own neck and looking at Brad in horror.

"You gave me a hickey?" she cried, and Brad shrugged.

"You tore my shirt!" he shot back.

"Ugh, I've gotta go put some cover-up on this, and then we HAVE to go!"

"But what about food?" he responded.

"I have a test! In History! You know how bad I hate that class!"

"Dickish TA still giving you trouble?" I asked with a raised eyebrow, and she glared at me.

"No," she stated flatly.

"TA?" Brad asked. "You mean that geek with the glasses I met in the lounge that day? Do I need to beat his ass?"

"No!" Carly cried, walking over to the table and reaching over me to grab my glass of orange juice, lifting it to her lips and chugging it.

"Hey!" I cried. "That was my juice!"

"There's more," Freddie responded. "Besides, how much of Carly's food have you swiped over the years?"

I didn't respond, just grunted a little bit, crossing my arms over my chest. Freddie just laughed, leaning forward to kiss me before getting up to grab more juice out of the refrigerator.

"Brad, grab me a muffin, I'll be right back," Carly said, scrambling up the stairs to go put cover-up on her freshly formed hickey.

"Maybe you should leave it!" I called. "It'd be like a mark of ownership."

"He does not own me," Carly said over her shoulder, and Brad looked at her strangely, before sitting down next to me.

"Man, she's being weird. Is she being weird? Or is it just me?"

"No, for once, it's not just you," I sighed, and Brad gave me a suspicious look.

"Do you know something, Sam? Carly's acting really different these days. I can't put my finger on it, but...she spends hours playing that guitar, she's dressing different...something's just..."

"Off?" Freddie finished. "Yeah, I noticed too."

"And she's being secretive!" Brad replied. "I don't like it! Do you think she's having second thoughts again?"

"Brad, come on!" I responded. "Carly loves you! And you've really stepped it up, how could she be having second thoughts?" Of course, I didn't mention the fact that the stupid TA had kissed her. Carly hadn't mentioned it again, and I wasn't too worried about it. Well, not really. Okay, maybe I was. I wouldn't be nearly as worried if Carly wasn't acting so damn mysterious, but it was like her entire personality had changed. Something was definitely up with her, and I was determined to find out what it was!

Carly came back down the stairs, and we immediately all stopped talking, so as not to tip her off. Brad pushed his chair back, standing up and turning to Carly.

"Ready, babe?" he asked, and Carly just groaned.

"Ready to fail."

"You always say that," he said with a laugh, kissing her. "Come on, let's go. Get this day over with, so we can go out."

"Where are you guys going tonight?" Freddie asked.

"Sushi," Carly responded, and I let out a miserable groan.

"What?" Brad asked, and I didn't respond, just laid my head on the table.

"She's mad because she can't eat sushi right now," Freddie explained as he rubbed my back. "Come on, baby. Six more months, and then you can eat all the raw fish you want!"

"Yeah, I guess," I muttered. "So anything else happening tonight?"

"No, why? You guys just want us out so you can have sex all over the place again? We can tell when you guys do that shit, you know!" Brad exclaimed. "The counter always has everything moved around!"

"I told you guys to stop doing that!" Carly yelled. "And...I have something to do tonight, afterwards, so..."

Brad gave her a strange look. "Well, this is the first time I've heard about it," he stated, and Carly looked like she wanted to disappear.

"I can't back out of this. It's important."

"Okay, so what is it?" I asked, and she glared at me.

"Study group," she said slowly. "For Chemistry. You know I'm bad with Chemistry."

I shot a look over at Brad, who just shook his head, biting his lip. I could tell he wanted to say something, but he didn't want to get in a fight on Valentine's Day, so he just let it go.

"We should go," he said flatly. "I don't want you to be late, babe."

"Okay. See you guys later," Carly said with a shrug, grabbing a muffin, and with that, they were gone. I looked over at Freddie in disbelief.

"Something's going on, Freddie!" I cried, and he gave me a Look.

"Sam, don't start," he said. "Every time you stick your nose in something, a fight happens, and I am not putting up with that bullshit! Things have been good around here, really good, and I don't want to go back to Drama City! We have two months until a new place opens up, just hold out on your nosiness a bit longer!"

"I am not nosy!" I shot back. "But..." I trailed off, biting my lip.

"But what?" Freddie asked, and I shrugged. "You know something, don't you?"

I sighed. "I can't tell you," I said softly, and his eyebrows went up.

"Excuse me? You can't tell me, your husband? Since when can you not tell me things? I thought we could talk about anything!"

"I can't tell you this."

"Why not?" he asked.

"Because...I...I don't want you to say anything to Brad!"

"Sam!" he exclaimed. "I'm not going to say anything to Brad! Why would I tell Brad...oh. Oh god, please don't tell me..."

"The TA Carly was talking about..."

"Oh god!" he shouted, laying his head down on the table. "She's cheating on Brad with a TA? Are you kidding me? How can she cheat with a TA and still have shitty grades?"

"Well, I don't know for sure!" I responded. "But...she did tell me, the night we got back from visiting your father's grave...that he kissed her."

"Oh man," Freddie moaned. "So did she say anything else?"

"Well, she said she slapped him, but beyond that, no. But...something's wrong with her. She's being secretive, her personality's changed, and I'm pretty damn sure she just lied to us about that study group shit."

"It did kind of seem like a ruse," he agreed. "But there's nothing you can do, Sam."

"I can find out for sure!"

"Sam!" he exclaimed. "Come on! What did I say? No drama! It's Valentine's Day! I wanted us to have a good day for once, baby!"

"We always have good days, nub!" I shot back. "Come on, if Carly's cheating, don't you think Brad needs to know?"

"You really wanna sell out your best friend like that?" he asked, and I just sighed.

"They're both my friends. Brad deserves to know. He's so in love with her, and if she's sneaking around behind his back, I will absolutely strangle her!"

"So what do you propose we do, then?"

I sat there for a moment, thinking things over carefully.

"When they come back tonight from their date, we'll act like we're going back out too. I have a feeling I know where she'll be."

"The coffeehouse?" he asked, and I nodded.

"Bingo."

Freddie just sighed, laying his head back. "This is a bad idea, Sam."

"No, it is a great idea. You're just being a pansy."

"Sam!" he growled. "I hate when you call me that!"

"Well then stop acting like it then," I responded. "Come on, what if the situation was reversed?"

"You'd never cheat on me. I'd never cheat on you."

"Freddie!" I replied, letting out an irritated grunt. "You're being deliberately difficult!"

"Fine!" he shot back. "But when this blows up in our faces, don't be surprised when I say I told you so!"

I didn't respond, just rested my chin in my hand, the fingers of my other hand drumming on the table.

"They didn't eat their food," I commented.

"Nope," Freddie responded, then his arm shot out suddenly to grab my wrist as my arm moved across the table.

"Drop the sausage, Sam."

I just gave him a grin. "That's gotta be the first time you've ever said that to me."

"Perv."

"Nub."

~*Freddie*~

"Sam?" I asked as I stuck my head in the bathroom.

"Yeah?" she asked from the shower.

"Try to get a move on, okay baby? We've only got forty five minutes until the reservation."

I heard Sam snort from behind the shower curtain. "Not my fault you got too handsy an hour before we were supposed to start getting ready."

I just rolled my eyes. "Just like it's not my fault you're so damn sexy."

"Did you put on the new cologne I gave you?" she asked, turning off the water. I saw her arm reach out searching for her towel, and I grabbed it off the hook, pulling the shower curtain back and wrapping the towel around her, kissing her softly.

"I did," I responded, and she leaned in a little to take a whiff.

"Mmm," she said, kissing my neck. "I love that smell on you."

I shivered a little at the feeling of her lips on my skin. "Keep it up and we'll never make it, baby."

"Sorry," she whispered, kissing me. "After we go spy on Carly though, it's on."

"You sure you wanna do this?" I asked, and she nodded.

"I'm afraid she's in over her head, and she hasn't thought at all about the repercussions of what she's doing."

"If she's doing what we think she's doing," I reminded her. The idea of Carly actually cheating on Brad wasn't something I was prepared to deal with. It was so unlike her, not to mention absolutely despicable. If this turned out to be true, there was no way I'd be able to keep my mouth shut. Brad and I were still trying to work out our issues we had with each other, but nobody deserved to be cheated on, and despite his more annoying qualities, he was a good guy, he loved Carly, and he'd really been making an effort to treat her better lately.

"Well, what else could she possibly be up to?" Sam asked as she stepped away from me to wipe off the fogged mirror.

"Well, there is a possibility she could have been telling the truth about the study group," I responded, and Sam just laughed.

"Fat chance. Carly would NOT turn down 'special time' with Brad to go study. Plus I can tell when she's lying, and that girl was definitely lying," she replied.

I sighed. She was right; it was pretty obvious Carly was lying. I knew it, Sam knew it, and I was pretty sure Brad knew it too, though he hadn't said anything to her.

"Baby, can we just forget about this for a little while? Go have a nice dinner?" I asked. "I don't want to spend the entire night talking about Carly!"

"We won't," she responded, turning around to kiss me while she towel-dried her hair. "I don't want to spend the entire night talking about her. I want to talk about us. You. The baby. And...some other stuff."

My eyes narrowed suspiciously. "What kind of stuff?"

"Well...we're going to be moving out soon..."

"Yeah..."

"And...we're going to have to buy all new furniture and stuff, paint, all that..."

"Okay..."

"Can we paint the living room green?"

I breathed a sigh of relief, smiling a little bit. She always acted like everything was a huge deal, and whenever she wanted to "talk" I always got a little bit nervous, because I could never tell if it was a major issue or something simple like painting.

"Sure, baby. Whatever you want."

"Oh!" she said happily. "Well green was really just my back-up color. So what about orange?"

"Okay, I've gotta put my foot down on that," I replied. "I refuse to live in a pumpkin, Sam."

"See, I knew you'd say no to that," she said. "Green it is. Like...a light green."

I nodded. "That could work. We'll talk about it over dinner, okay? Finish getting ready, I wanna see you in that dress already. I know you're going to look gorgeous."

"I love that even though I'm getting huge, you still think I'm gorgeous," she commented softly, and I just smiled, wrapping my arms around her from behind, my chin resting on her shoulder as I ran my hands over her stomach, which was getting bigger every day. I knew she was self-conscious about it, but I still thought she was beautiful. If anything, she looked even more beautiful, just knowing my child was inside her right now. I loved that.

"You're not getting huge," I replied, kissing her neck. "Baby's getting bigger, that's all."

"Erego, I'm getting bigger," she pointed out, and I just shrugged, kissing her neck again.

"More skin for my lips to kiss," I responded, finally pulling away. "I'll leave you alone for a little while, I'm afraid if I stay in here any longer I'm gonna rip that towel off you, then we'll never make it out."

"Freddie, I think we have a problem," she said, and I looked up at her, concerned.

"What?" I asked. "What problem?"

"We're both nymphomaniacs. We've had sex three times today, and we BOTH still want more."

I had to laugh at that. "You're probably right, but I REFUSE to seek treatment. Besides, they don't have a Sam Benson Anonymous program, baby."

"You'd be the sole member," she said. "And I'd have to start Freddie Benson Anonymous." She stopped for a second, turning around to look at me, her eyes traveling over my body. "But fuck that. Did I mention you look really hot in that sweater?"

"Only every time I wear it," I said with a smile. "Okay, I gotta get out of here, I'm seconds away from bending you over the sink and having my way with you!" With that, I reached out to squeeze her firm little butt, grinning at the squeal she made in response, before shutting the bathroom door and laying down on the bed.

I wasn't really pleased about the idea of having our Valentine's Night broken up to spy on Carly, but when Sam got an idea in her head, it was definitely easier to just go along with it and not try to talk her out of it. I'd rather spend an hour spying on Carly than four hours arguing, that was for sure.

Sam came out a few minutes later, hair and makeup all done, and damn, she looked gorgeous, as always. I just laid on the bed, staring at her as she rummaged through our dresser trying to find underthings.

"You're so damn beautiful," I commented, and she just gave me a sweet smile.

"I haven't even put the dress on yet," she stated. "I'm just in a towel."

"Doesn't matter," I responded. "You're beautiful in a dress, jeans, a towel...nothing at all." I gave her a smirk, one she returned, a hint of mischief in her eyes.

"Nothing at all?" she asked. "Like this?" She let the towel drop, and my eyes traveled over her naked body, already feeling myself get turned on just by looking at her.

"Don't start with me," I warned. "Or we'll never get out of here."

"Well, after dinner, I'll finish with you, how about that?" she asked, pulling her underwear and bra on. Oh man, now she was pulling on those thigh-high stockings I loved seeing her in. She looked so incredibly sexy right now, it was taking everything I had not to just wave off dinner and spend the entire night worshiping her beautiful body.

"Sounds good," I replied. "Now hurry up, get that dress on, or...yeah...I'm really trying to hold back right now, and I don't know how long I can do that. You're so damn sexy..."

"Even with the belly?" she asked pointedly, running her hand over her stomach, and I sat up, pulling her to me and kissing her.

"Especially with the belly," I replied. "Baby, don't you get it? It's sexy to me. There's a reason you have that belly. You have my baby inside you. You have no idea what that does to me."

"I can feel it right now," she commented, pressing against me. "You really think it's sexy?"

"Incredibly sexy," I growled, then frowned. "Dammit, Sam!" I pulled away from her. "You're deliberately trying to get me riled up now! Do you not want to go or something?"

"No, I do!" she replied. "I'm just having trouble keeping my hands off you right now. I love you so much, and..."

I cut her off, kissing her passionately. "I know, sweetheart. It's hard for me to stop too."

"I love that about us," she sighed. "We should be sick of each other by now. We spend practically every waking moment together. But...nothing's changed. If anything, it's gotten better."

"It's because we're perfect together," I replied, pushing her back a little so I could stand up. "You need some help zipping that dress up?"

"Yeah," she replied, grabbing it off the hanger and stepping into it, pulling her hair over her shoulder and turning her back to me so I could zip it up for her. I kissed the back of her neck softly as I brought the zipper up all the way, grabbing her shoulders and turning her around. Oh wow, she looked gorgeous. Red was definitely her color. But then again, so was blue, and purple, and green, and yellow. She looked good in everything.

"Beautiful," I stated, kissing her.

"Can you put my necklace on for me?" she asked as she stepped into her heels. Sam had pretty much given up heels for the time being, but on nights we went out, she'd wear them. I loved the way her legs looked in them, but it also bothered me a little that she insisted on something that would no doubt give her leg cramps by the end of the night. At least we'd be sitting most of the time.

"Which one?" I asked, leafing through her jewelry box.

"The one you got me for Christmas," she replied. "I love that one."

"K," I replied, grabbing it and putting it around her neck before fastening the chain. "There. Are you ready now?"

"Uh-huh," she replied, turning around to kiss me. "I love you. I'm so glad I have you."

"Me too, baby. Now let's go. I don't want to be late."

We walked out of room into the living room, and I grabbed her coat, helping her put it on, before grabbing my own coat and throwing it on. Brad and Carly were already gone, I hoped they'd be back and Carly would be off before we got back, it would make this little scheme of Sam's so much easier to pull off.

Fifteen minutes later, I pulled up in front of one our favorite restaurants, and Sam let out a happy noise.

"Pini's," I said. "Good?"

Sam giggled. "Yeah. I LOVE Pini's."

I gave her a strange look. "Are you being sarcastic, Sam?"

"Not at all. I'm a big fan of Pini's."

Okay, now I was confused. Sam loved Italian food, and she loved this restaurant, so what was up with her?

"Sam! I thought you liked this place! You always say you love the meatballs at Pini's."

Sam laughed hysterically, and now I was just aggravated. Pini's was ridiculously hard to get a reservation for, especially on Valentine's Day, and I had to pull some major strings, go there in person, and throw the maitre-di a huge tip just to make sure our name was on the books! What was up with her?

"Sam! What is wrong with you?"

"Oh come on!" Sam laughed, smacking my leg. "You don't get it?"

"No, I don't," I said flatly. "What is so damn funny?"

"Pini's," she said emphatically, and I shook my head.

"I'm still not following," I replied, and she rolled her eyes.

"Fine, you say it."

"Pini's," I replied.

Sam shook her head. "No, say it faster."

"Pini's!"

"Say it three times fast."

"Pini's Pini's Pini's! I still don't get it, what is the big deal, Sam, I..." I trailed off, rolling my eyes. "Oh. You're such a perv, Sam!"

"I like your Pini's," she said with a grin, poking me.

"Well, I love that you like Pini's," I replied, laughing. "But can we go in now?"

"Yeah! I definitely want some Pini's," she said, trying to quit laughing, but failing miserably. I just shook my head, getting out of the car and walking around to open the door.

"Are you going to do this all night?" I asked, helping her out of the car, and she just shrugged.

"Maybe. Now come on, give me some Pini's!"

Sam finally managed to calm down and stop laughing once we were seated, and although sometimes her tendency to act like a twelve year old boy annoyed me, I still had to admit it was cute...and she had a point. The owners of this place hadn't really thought the name out well.

The rest of the night was pretty tame, but really nice. It was great being able to take a break from everything that was going on and just talk. True, we talked a lot, but usually our conversations ended up getting interrupted by us not being able to quit manhandling each other, and we couldn't exactly do that in here.

"Is the food okay?" I asked her. "You don't feel sick?"

She shook her head. "No. I discovered a trick. Meat on an empty stomach, sick Sam. Load up on veggies first, I'm fine. But now I have another problem."

"What's that?" I asked, slightly concerned.

"Chocolate craving," she said with a sigh, and I just laughed.

"No problem baby. Get whatever you want."

"More than one?" she asked hopefully, and I just nodded, reaching across the table to take her hand in mine.

"Anything you want, I'll give it to you. My sweet sweet baby."

"You're the best husband ever, you know that?" she asked, and I just shrugged.

"I try, baby."

We spent the rest of the time talking about how we wanted to decorate the apartment, colors, furniture, whatever. I could tell Sam was really excited about it, and I thought that was adorable. We'd never been able to do that before, first living with my mom and then moving in with Carly, this would be the first time we'd have a place to really call our own, do what we wanted with it. It was exciting, and I honestly couldn't wait. Only two months to go! I was really relieved the drama in the apartment had cooled down for the most part, but yeah. I was ready to get out, just be Freddie and Sam, and then be Freddie, Sam, and baby Benson.

Eventually though, the night out had to come to a close. It was getting late, and Sam was still pretty intent on tracking down Carly and finding out what she was up to. I guess I didn't blame her. I knew she cared about Brad and didn't want to see him get hurt, but she also didn't want to see her best friend head down a really dark path. Once she crossed that line of cheating, there was no going back. I wasn't sure if she and Brad could survive this. Brad had been cheated on before by his first girlfriend, the only girl he'd dated before he met Carly, I was pretty sure news of his fiance cheating on him would absolutely break him. Except for his one slip up at the pool hall, he'd been making strides in giving up drinking, and I didn't want that to come crashing down on him, and I knew Sam didn't either.

"Did you have a good time, baby?" I asked as we walked out of the restaurant and got in the car.

"I always have a good time with you," she sighed happily, reaching over to touch my face. "I feel like such a damn girl these days, all romantic and mushy, but...you just make me so happy."

I grabbed her hand, kissing it softly. "I'm glad. You make me happy too."

We stared at each other for a moment, eyes locked, and I leaned forward to kiss her softly.

"I love you, Sam. Happy Valentine's Day."

"I love you too, Freddie," she replied. After a moment, her focused was re-routed back to the Carly issue. "We need to head back. I refuse to spy in five inch heels."

"I told you not to wear those," I grumbled, starting the car, and she shrugged.

"I wanted to look nice."

"Well, you did. You looked gorgeous. See, I DO have good taste in fashion!"

"Yeah, I know," she said. "I just like teasing you."

"You always have," I said with a smile.

"And I always will. Just think, when we're eighty, I'll poke at you with my cane every time you turn your back."

"And I will have a very, very large stash of Viagra," I said with a grin, and she just laughed.

"You're still gonna want me when I'm old and wrinkly?"

"Well, I'll be old too," I pointed out. "And I will want you until the day I die, baby."

She just nodded, grabbing my hand and kissing it. "We'll have grandkids then."

"Yep," I replied. "Alright, let's get back, so we can get this stupid thing over with."

"It's not stupid!" she replied. "It has to be done!"

"If you say so, baby," I grumbled. "I just don't want to hear any fighting when Carly flips out!"

"She's not gonna flip out, because she's not gonna catch us!"

"Whatever, baby. I hope this goes as well as you think it will."

When we got back to the apartment, Brad was there, working on his screenplay, clearly not in the mood to talk, and frankly, I wasn't either. There was no way I could look the guy in the eye right now without blurting out what Sam and I were up to and what we suspected. Carly was gone, obviously at her "study group", and Sam quickly changed clothes, practically dragging me out the door.

"So what is the name of this place again?" I asked.

"I think The Beanery?" she asked. "She has to be there, she's been going there a lot. But she always tries to say it's lame so I won't want to go, she says she just goes for the Chai Lattes."

"Oh god, The Beanery?" I shot back. "It's a bunch of hipsters!"

"Oh god, this may be worse than we thought," Sam moaned. "Hipster boys are slick. They talk a mean game, and girls really go for that it seems."

"Oh really?" I asked, lifting an eyebrow, and she just let out an irritated sigh.

"Number one, not a normal girl, Freddie. Two, desperately, madly in love with you. Always have been. Always will be."

I laughed. "I know, baby. I'm just giving you shit."

The Beanery was about fifteen minutes away from Bushwell, and we parked across the street, trying to walk in without being noticed.

"There!" Sam pointed. "Table! In the back! Go! Before we get spotted!"

"Dramatic much?" I asked with a roll of my eyes, but did what she asked, taking her hand and walking over to the table with her.

Sam looked around for a little while, trying to find Carly. "I can't seem to spot her," she finally said. "Maybe she's not here."

"You wanna go?" I asked, but before Sam could answer me, one of the employees stepped up to the mic on the little stage and began to speak.

"Okay, people, we have a very special treat for you tonight. She's only been playing here for about a month, on Open Mic night, but she's already made a name for herself here at The Beanery. Tonight, we convinced her to play on the spur of the moment! Give it up for the beautiful and talented Carly Shay!"

My eyes widened, and I looked over at Sam in shock, who looked just as flabbergasted as I did. A moment later, Carly came out, carrying her guitar and stepping up onstage, sitting down on a stool, looking somewhat shy, but still excited about playing.

So THIS was why the girl had been sneaking off all the time? This was why she practiced for hours? Why hadn't she said anything to any of us? Carly had a great voice, but she'd never done much with it, so this was really surprising. When had this happened? Did she want to have a serious career in music, or was this just something she did for fun?

And good lord, why didn't she say anything? She hadn't told Sam, and I was pretty sure Brad didn't know either, or he'd be here right now! What was going on with her?

"Hey, I'm Carly!" Carly said into the mic. "This is the first time they're paying me!"

The audience laughed, and Carly looked around shyly, fiddling with her guitar, I guess she was making sure it was tuned.

"I usually play covers, but this is the first song I've written and actually finished. I hope you guys like it."

Sam leaned over, her mouth close to my ear. "Can you believe this?" she asked. "I did not see this coming! Why was she hiding this?"

I shook my head. "I don't know. Just...wait. Okay?"

"Well I wanna hear her, nub!" Sam shot back.

"Then shush!" I responded, poking her, as Carly began playing her guitar and singing.

"Am I another casualty, in the battle you're fighting? You're your own worst enemy, at war with yourself, but you can't see. And I can't stand to watch your comet falling fast, everywhere you go it seems lightning strikes and then you crash. I don't know how you do it, it always ends the same. Everywhere you go it seems lightning strikes, but there's no rain. No rain..."

My eyebrows went up as I listened to Carly's song. Her guitar playing was on, her voice sounded great, but what really struck me was the lyrics. It didn't take a genius to figure out she'd written that about Brad. Maybe that was why she hadn't told him, because she didn't want him to hear the stuff she was writing about. Maybe this was how she was dealing with it. I looked over at Sam, and she just looked back at me.

"I think that's about Brad," she whispered, and I nodded.

"Definitely."

"And Carly's holding in some stuff," she continued.

"Oh yeah..."

Carly finished up with that song, and was met with rousing applause. It was pretty obvious she was well-received here, and that was awesome for her, but it would have been cool if she'd told us. Was she afraid we were going to judge her? Make fun of her?

"Okay, I've got one more song that I've written, I finished it up about two days ago. It's called How Strong Do You Think I Am," she said into the mic, and began playing that song.

"If I don't cry, do you think I don't feel? If I look away, it doesn't mean I don't see. And just because I want someone when I'm alone, it doesn't mean I'm helpless and I can't stand on my own. How far can we go before we break? How long can I wait? How strong do you think I am? How much can I take of this? Am I rock or a rose or a fist? Or the breath at the end of kiss? How deep do you wanna go, cuz I'll go there if I can. How strong, how strong do you think I am?"

Well damn. Carly had a talent for writing that extended way beyond writing bits for the show, and none of us were even aware of it! Plus, it looked like the girl had found an outlet for some of her issues. This definitely explained the change in personality, the way she dressed, the sneaking around. Carly was changing, and she was hesitant to clue any of us in as to why. I definitely didn't understand why, but it wasn't my place to judge, and she needed to stop keeping things from Brad, before she drove the poor boy insane.

Sam gave Carly about two minutes to get off the stage, before she scrambled over to her, grabbing her by the shoulder and spinning her around.

"Sam!" Carly exclaimed, her face reddening. "What are you guys doing here?"

"Uh, when were you going to tell me you turned into a rockstar, Carly?" Sam demanded, her hands on her hips.

"Very funny," Carly said with a glare, beginning to turn around, but I grabbed her arm, pulling her back.

"Just hold on, Carly!" I said. "Sam didn't mean anything by it. You were great!"

"You really think so?" Carly asked softly, and I nodded fervently.

"Carls, you were amazing!" Sam replied, hugging her. "I mean, I knew you could sing, but not like that, and...you really wrote those songs?"

"Yeah," Carly replied, looking at the ground. "But...they...I mean, you guys know I don't do confrontations well, I had to have an outlet for it somehow, I didn't want Brad to..."

I held my hand up. "It's cool, Carly. We get it. But...what I don't get is why you were sneaking around over this! You had us concerned!"

Carly shrugged. "I guess I just wanted something that was my own? I don't really have any hobbies, other than shopping, and I was getting really tired of people calling me shallow, so..." she trailed off, shrugging again. "I'm sorry. I just didn't know how to bring it up. Just...hey by the way I'm a musician now! Overnight? I knew it was going to sound ridiculous."

"Yeah, but this certainly explains the new wardrobe," Sam commented. "You're going all edgy on us! My little baby Shay is finally growing up!"

Carly laughed. "Shut up, Sam!"

"So..." I trailed off, shaking my head. "Forget it."

"No, what is it?" Carly asked.

Sam and I looked at each other worriedly.

"We...we thought you might be cheating on Brad or something," Sam said, sounding uncomfortable, and Carly gave her an incredulous look.

"What?" she cried. "No! Why would you think that?"

"Because you've been sneaking around!" Sam shot back. "And you lied to us! You lied to Brad!"

"I didn't want you guys to find out!" Carly replied.

"But...didn't you kiss another guy?" I asked. "Ow!" I hollered as Sam smacked me in the chest. "Dammit, that hurt!"

"You have a big mouth!" Sam shouted, and Carly just glared at us.

"Matthew kissed ME. And I slapped the hell out of him. And...things have not been going so well for me, but I am definitely not cheating on Brad with the TA! Come on, you guys! You know me better than that! I was...okay, I was a little confused, but...when you turn a guy down who happens to be your TA and your grades take a sudden drop, something's off about the guy, right? And I love Brad! I just...I'm still figuring things out, okay? I'm still trying to figure out ME, let alone where our relationship is going! But, no. I'm not cheating on Brad. I'd break up with him before I did that."

"So you're gonna break up with him?" Sam asked, horrified, and Carly rolled her eyes.

"No! I didn't say that! I'm just saying, I'd never cheat on him!"

"Well, you need to come clean with him about what's going on. Because if we got this suspicious, you can pretty much guarantee Brad's freaking out," I replied. "And you shouldn't have backed out on the boy on Valentine's Day."

"God, I know!" Carly whined. "But there was a cancellation, and this was the first time I've been offered a paying gig with them, and now they're gonna put me on the roster regularly! This was a big deal!"

"Well, tell Brad! He'll be happy for you, Carly!" Sam replied. "We love you, we all want you to be happy, and you're pretty damn good at this music thing!"

"Really?" Carly asked, and Sam nodded, hugging her.

"Go for it, Carly! You're awesome! But clue in your fiance! He'll be excited! You guys can be all tortured artists types together! This could bring you guys closer!"

"You really think that?"

"Uh, duh!" Sam replied, poking her. "Your filmmaker boyfriend plus you, potential rockstar? Match made in heaven, honey! And you thought you guys were growing apart! This is just proof you DO have things in common, you're both creative, you've just had it buried down somewhere forever."

Carly stood there for a second, thinking, before looking back up at us. "Yeah. I shouldn't keep this from him. And...I mean...I love this! It's one thing filming the show and all, but...a live audience? Singing? Playing music? It's such a rush! I love it!"

"Then do it, Carly!" I replied. "We totally support you in this. We weren't going to make fun of you. Is that what you were worried about?"

"A little!" Carly admitted, and I just shook my head.

"No way. You're our best friend. We wouldn't do that to you. We like giving you shit, sure, but not over something you obviously care a lot about." I looked down at my watch. "Okay, it's almost one, so I'd suggest you get back to your fiance, and have a long talk with him about what you've been up to."

"He's not going to believe me," Carly replied.

"We'll back you up," Sam responded. "Besides," she said, pulling her phone out and holding it up. "I got video!"

"You can't show him that!" Carly replied, sounding panicked. "Those lyrics are about him! He'll get upset!"

"Brad knows he's not perfect," I said with a wave of my hand. "He'll be glad you've got an outlet and you're not keeping it locked away."

Carly just nodded. "Okay. I hope you're right."

"I'm always right," I replied with a grin, and Carly and Sam both rolled their eyes.

"Did you drive here?" I asked her, and she shook her head. "Alright, well, grab your guitar, Hendrix, and let's go."

"I hope he doesn't get mad at me for hiding this," Carly said softly as we walked out. "I don't even know why I did. It's just you guys have this little opinion of me already formed, and I knew if I deviated from it, nobody would take me seriously."

"Well, we do. You've got talent, Carly," Sam said. "And Brad'll be fine. I swear."

"Let's hope so," Carly replied with a sigh.

**A/N: Carly's song lyrics are actually songs by a singer called Alexz Johnson, some of you may know from the show Instant Star. I can't take credit for them.**


	34. Chapter 34: Megalomaniac

**Chapter Thirty Four:  
><strong>**Megalomaniac**

~*Brad*~

"Sam, I am not wearing that damned tie!" Freddie shouted.

"Just wear it, it looks good!"

"It looks like the seventies threw up on it, forget it!"

I rolled my eyes, turning the volume up on the television. I don't know what drove me crazier, when those two kept Carly and I up all night with their bedroom noises, or when they argued, but right now, they were back to arguing. Freddie was stressed out about his interview today, and Sam's pregnancy hormones were back with a vengeance. They'd been at each other's throats all day!

Carly came downstairs, plopping down next to me and laying her head on my shoulder. "They're STILL fighting?"

"Yep. Over ties," I replied.

"Ugh," Carly moaned. I nodded in agreement.

"So?" I asked, trying to ignore Sam and Freddie ranting and raving in the kitchen. "Made any progress today with your songwriting?"

She shrugged. "A little."

I was pretty relieved to find out that Carly's sneaking around had been due to a newfound hobby she was slightly embarrassed about, but still a little agitated that she had kept it from me, fearing I'd judge her or make fun of her or something like that. I thought she knew me better than that. It also bugged me that she preferred to make songs out of whatever was bothering her instead of talking to me.

"When are you gonna let me hear some of this stuff you've been working on?" I asked, and she just sighed.

"I don't know."

"Carly..." I said, taking her hand in mine. "Come on. I'm not gonna judge you, or make fun of you. And I won't get offended by anything. I promise."

"Yeah but..."

"It really bugs me that you'll play them onstage for other people, but you won't let me hear them, you know?"

"Maybe I care more about your opinion than their opinion. Ever think of that?"

"Yeah, but you're not letting me have an opinion, babe!" I grunted, slightly irked.

"Well...there is one I've been working on, but...it's not done yet. When it's done though, you'll be the first to hear it. I promise."

I nodded, not wanting to get into a fight, especially not while there was one going on around me. "Okay. So...have you thought about what I said at all?"

Carly sighed, toying with her engagement ring. "A little. But..."

"But what?" I asked.

"I..." she looked over at Freddie and Sam, who were still arguing, and then back at me, and I sighed, standing up.

"Alright, let's go upstairs then. And we'll talk."

"We have to leave soon," she reminded me.

"We've got half an hour, babydoll," I responded, pulling her to feet. She gave me a little resistance, but I wasn't going for it today. Having serious conversations with this girl was like pulling teeth sometimes, but this had to be handled, and now. I pulled her upstairs with me, heading into our room and shutting the door. She sat on the bed, staring at me.

"So..." I said. "I asked you to make a decision."

"Yeah, you did," she said softly.

"And have you?"

She just shrugged. "I don't know."

I let out a deep sigh, sitting down next to her. "Carly, you're obviously not ready for this. We're not ready for this."

Carly continued to stare at her ring. "I thought I would be a lot happier. I thought it would work. But..."

"But?"

She looked up at me. "You're right. I'm not ready for this. I...I'm still trying to figure out who I am, Brad. And maybe...yeah, maybe who I will be one day is your wife, but...I don't know yet. And I don't want to make a promise I may not keep."

I just nodded. "It's okay, Carly. We're not going to break up." I paused. "Unless that's what you want."

"No!" she cried, grabbing my hand. "I love you! I don't want to break up! I just...I need more time to figure things out! I feel like we were rushing this whole engagement thing, Brad! And...I still don't know what I want to do with my life, where I'm gonna go, what I'm gonna be. And maybe one day I WILL end up wanting kids, but..." she shook her head. "Not right now."

I nodded. "Yeah, I know. I just..." I ran my hand through my hair, thinking. "I thought it would solve some of the problems we were having. It seems so easy for Sam and Freddie."

"They're arguing right now," Carly pointed out, and I shrugged.

"Sometimes I think they enjoy arguing."

Carly laughed. "Yeah, you're probably right about that. But...Brad?" she asked, looking at me.

"What is it, Carly?"

"Say I end up changing my mind about all this...say I do end up being certain about marrying you...now you're not going to want to go through with it again!"

I shook my head. "That's not true, babe. When you're ready, we'll pick up where we left off."

Carly nodded, looking down, and I noticed a tear fall onto her pants, leaving a dark spot. My hand went to her chin, tilting it up to look at me, and I wiped the tears off her cheeks.

"Hey," I said softly, kissing her. "This doesn't change anything, okay? It's not going to cause a problem, I promise. Maybe...maybe it'll take some of the pressure off."

She nodded. "Things were so good, before..."

"Before we started trying to play catch up to Sam and Freddie?" I asked, and she nodded. "We're not like them."

"That can't be good. They're so in love, and we're..."

"In love too," I replied fervently. "But...as much as I hate to admit it, I think you'd be okay without me. Sam would fall apart if she didn't have Freddie, and vice-versa. They're way too dependent on each other. We have outside interests, we're separate people. That can't be bad, right?"

"I guess," she said softly. She took a deep breath, sliding her ring off, and placed it in my hand. "I guess you should take this back to the store then."

I shook my head. "No. I'll hold onto it. For when you change your mind. And you WILL change your mind, Carly. Because I love you, and you love me, and I'm never gonna stop fighting for you."

She gave me a small smile. "Most guys would dump a girl over this."

"Haven't you learned by now? I'm not like most guys."

"That is true," she said softly. "Well...what now?"

"Now we stop putting the pressure on each other, you stop worrying about me judging you, and we just...live, Carly. Not worrying about the future, just the now."

"Yeah," she said. "Well...we should probably head to school now, right?"

"Yep. Are you still nervous about your History test?"

"Incredibly," she replied with a sigh. "I'm not too worried about the multiple choice, but the essay questions? I...I don't think I did very well. And I don't know what to do, Brad! Every time I think I know the material, I take a test, and then I fail! My grade has plummeted! I'm scared I'm going to have to repeat the class, and then..." she shook her head. "Never mind. I just hate it, so much."

"I know, babe. But you'll get through it. You're not gonna fail." I stood up. "Come on, there's still time to go grab a smoothie, if you want. I mean, if the Groovie Smoothie is still cool enough for you to be seen in and all."

"Shut up!" she said with a laugh. "I'm not that bad! But...maybe..."

"Maybe what?" I asked.

"Do you want to go with me? Tonight, I mean? I know it's not your scene, but..."

"No, I'll go. It'd be interesting to see who you've been hanging out with."

She shrugged. "Wendy comes in sometimes, but mostly to see if this guy she has a thing for is there."

"You mean Wendy's had a thing for the same guy for longer than a week?" I asked, surprised, and she nodded.

"Only because she hasn't gotten to him yet."

"Of course," I said with a roll of my eyes. "Alright, well let's go."

Carly stood up, and I opened the drawer next to our bed to shove the discarded engagement ring inside, before following her out the door. Well, this sucked. I know that I'd brought it up in the first place, postponing the engagement, but I had a feeling Carly was beginning to feel trapped, and I didn't want that. She was supposed to be happy about all this, and if she wasn't, and if it stressed her out, there was no point in it. I still wasn't going to give up the hope that maybe one day she'd change her mind, but for now, I'd have to settle with just being her boyfriend. Not her fiance, not her husband, just her fiance. And man, it sucked, but it was better than not having her at all.

~*Sam*~

"Are you gonna be like this all day?" I asked, glaring at Freddie, who just glared right back at me. He held his eyes locked with mine for a moment, before speaking.

"I am stressed out, Sam," he said slowly. "I've never HAD a job interview before, and my first one is for Cisco? You've gotta be kidding me, how can you not understand this?"

"Baby, I get it, okay? But you've gotta calm down! Did you take your pill?"

"Yes."

"And your shot?"

"Dammit, Sam," he growled. "I'm fine. Don't start with me."

My eyebrows went up, and I gave him one of my "are you serious right now?" looks.

"Don't talk to me like that. I'm just trying to help. You're worrying over nothing. They'll take you. You had a reference from April's dad for crying out loud! He and the VP are like best friends!"

"That doesn't matter, Sam!" Freddie shot back. "If they don't think I'm a good fit for the company, they won't take me!"

"Baby, it's just an internship, not the hiring of a new CEO! I think you're worrying way too much about this!"

"I'm not! This is a really big deal, Sam! Do you realize, if I get this, I'm SET! I won't have any trouble getting into grad school, finding a job, any of that. I'll be set! We'll be set!"

"Baby, I know, it's just...I don't like seeing you freak out like this!" I replied. "You're gonna have a panic attack if you don't calm down!"

"I can't calm down," he growled, and I rolled my eyes, walking over to him and giving him a hard shove backward so he fell onto the couch. "Sam, what are you..."

"Sit!" I hollered, walking around to the back of the couch. He continued to grumble to himself, but it immediately came to a halt when he felt my hands on his shoulders, rubbing over his muscles with firm pressure, trying to get him to calm down. A few moments later, I felt the tension leave his body, and he let out a deep sigh, leaning his head forward. "Better?" I asked softly, leaning forward to kiss the side of his neck, and he nodded.

"Sorry, baby. I'm so nervous right now, I don't mean to yell at you..."

"I know," I replied. "But I promise you, you'll be fine. You're smart. You've got a really heavy course load and you still get straight A's, you're the tech producer for one of the most popular webshows in the world, you got this, baby!"

He nodded, still trying to calm down.

"But I still think you should have worn the other tie," I teased, and I saw him roll his eyes.

"That green and purple nightmare is not going around my neck. I can't believe you bought that for me."

"You don't like it?" I asked, pouting a little, and he sighed.

"Well, I mean, it is good for a few things..." he said with a smirk.

"Oh?" I asked, kissing his neck. "Like what?"

"I'll show you when I get home. I should be back in time to take you to class, okay? If not..."

"If not I'll call Carly," I responded, and Freddie just grumbled to himself.

"We are not putting off buying that damn car any longer, Sam. This weekend. Go time."

"Yes sir," I teased, and he turned his head to look at me, smirking a little, before pressing his lips against mine.

"Hmm, I like it when you call me that. Kinda turns me on."

"You gonna make me call you that in bed from now on?" I asked, amused, and he just laughed.

"Maybe. But I like it when you scream my name too." He frowned suddenly. "Okay, I don't need to be thinking about this right now. I'm going to be late."

"And I'm about ten seconds away from ripping that suit off you," I growled, straightening up. "You're right, you'd better go."

"Okay," he replied, grabbing my arm and pulling me to him. "Love you, sexy girl."

"I love you too," I responded, kissing him. "Good luck. Not that you'll need it, but...good luck."

"Thanks, baby," he replied. "I'll call you when I'm done, okay?"

"Okay," I replied. He gave me one last smile, grabbing his coat, and with that, he was gone, shutting the door behind him.

I sighed, flopping down on the couch. God, now I was nervous too! I knew how much Freddie had his heart set on this internship, and he was totally right about it opening a lot of doors for him. But I knew how smart he was, even a company like Cisco would have to be insane not to take him.

Carly and Brad came clattering down the stairs then, and something was just off about them. I looked at them suspiciously, then my eyes widened when I noticed Carly wasn't wearing her ring.

"What's going on, you guys?" I asked, and Carly shrugged.

"Nothing. Nothing we have time to go in detail about anyway," she replied.

"Uh...is everything okay?" I responded.

"Everything's fine, Sam. Don't worry your little pregnant brain," Brad stated, patting me on my head. "You guys busy tonight?"

"No...why?" I asked, and Brad shrugged.

"Carly's finally dropped the embargo on the mystery coffeehouse," he replied.

"Oh!" I responded happily. "Are you playing tonight?"

"No, just going to hang out. You and Freddie can come, if you want."

"I'll see if he's up to it," I replied with a shrug. "It all depends on how well his interview goes today. I really hope he gets it."

"Yeah, me too," Carly replied softly. "He's been talking about it for a whole week now."

"He'll be fine," Brad said with a wave of his hand. "His computer brain would fit in just fine with that place."

"I know. You guys off to class?"

"Yep," Carly said, sounding irked. "I swear, I feel like history class is a death sentence for me."

"Still having trouble?" I asked, my eyebrows going up, and Carly sighed.

"You have no idea. We gotta go. We'll see you later, Sam."

"Bye," I replied.

With that, they were gone, leaving me alone in the apartment. I looked around, not sure what to do with myself. It wasn't very often I had time alone. I sat there for a moment, trying to figure out whether I wanted to sleep or eat, and I gasped suddenly, my hand going to my stomach.

What the hell was that? It was the weirdest thing I'd ever felt. At first, I thought it may have been my stomach gurgling at me, but then I realized it wasn't coming from my actual stomach. I sat there for a moment, running my hand over my belly, gasping when I felt it again. It felt like a tiny flutter. Was this normal? I stood up suddenly, going into the bedroom and grabbing one of the baby books off the shelf, flipping through it until I found the section on what week I was supposed to be in, my fifteenth week, reading over it carefully, and my eyes widened.

'Between thirteen and sixteen weeks, you may feel the baby move for the first time. It may feel like a fluttering motion, like the baby is swimming.'

"Oh my god," I whispered to myself, touching my stomach again. I rolled my eyes as I felt myself begin to tear up. Ugh, really Sam? Does everything have to turn you into a weepy mess these days?

Uh, yes, yes it did! The baby had just moved! Oh my god, I just felt my baby move! This was incredible! I could see this baby was already going to be difficult though, did he or she HAVE to wait until my sweet husband had left for this to happen? I wish he was here right now! Of course, I wasn't far enough along for him to be able to feel it, but it would happen, and happen soon. Oh my god, this was amazing!

And oh my god, this baby was a wiggly thing. Now I was feeling that flutter full-scale in my lower stomach. It almost tickled a bit, and I couldn't help but smile, even though I was still crying a little.

"Hey you," I said in a soft voice, poking my stomach a little. "Settle down in there."

Apparently baby Benson didn't feel like settling down just yet, and I laughed a little.

"I can see you and I are gonna have disagreements already, huh? It's cool though, mama can definitely handle it."

~*Carly*~

I stared at my History test in disbelief, and Wendy looked over my shoulder, her eyes widening.

"A D?" she hissed. "Carly! We studied our butts off! What happened?"

"I don't know," I said softly. "I thought I nailed the multiple choice..."

"Well, obviously the multiple choice nailed you!" Wendy observed. "I got a B."

"Good for you," I grumbled.

"I don't know why you stopped going to the study sessions with Matthew," Wendy stated. "He's really smart, and your grades were picking up until you stopped."

"Wendy!" I replied. "I don't like the guy, okay? He's a jerk!" I didn't tell her about him kissing me, or the fact that it freaked me out so bad that I didn't want to be anywhere near the guy. That hadn't deterred him one bit though. He kept texting me, kept making passes at me after class was over, under the guise of "extra study help", and I kept seeing him at random places on campus. I'm sure the last part was a coincidence, but it still kind of creeped me out.

If I didn't love the coffee house so much, I would have stopped going, because Matthew was a constant fixture there, but one day I'd just gotten this urge to play on Open Mic night, under the cloak of secrecy from Brad, Sam, and Freddie, and the response had been overwhelming. I felt like a different person there.

It was weird, even though I did a show named after me, these days, I just felt like a sidekick. It was always Seddie, Seddie, Seddie. On our message boards, that's all people talked about. We were constantly bombarded with messages about the impending Seddie baby. Everyone wanted to know about Sam and Freddie's relationship. There wasn't nearly as much interest in me and Brad's relationship, although there was some, but it was probably because we didn't banter back and forth on camera like those two did. Sometimes I felt like they just saved up their arguments to bring out on camera, just to give people something to talk about.

The only real interest the iCarly fans seemed to have in me was my clothes. I got TONS of emails about that, but there was a lot more to me than clothes, and I was getting tired of people thinking I was so shallow. Even my friends and my fiance...errr, boyfriend I guess, thought that I was shallow! I could tell, although they'd never say it aloud. But there were jokes. And they bothered me, a lot. I loved shopping, I loved fashion, but I was making an effort to tone it down, or people would never take me seriously.

And that's what I loved about the coffeehouse. I wasn't Carly the fashion-conscious clothes horse, I wasn't Sam's partner in crime, or the third wheel in the Seddie extravaganza. Around campus, I was just Brad's girl, and I didn't like that either. Nope, at The Beanery, I was Carly Shay, musician, and I LOVED that. People actually took me seriously. People listened to what I had to say...or in this case, sing. It made me feel amazing.

I was just irked that I'd managed to come across it via Matthew. Stupid jerk. What was he thinking, trying to kiss a girl who was taken? He'd been right though, I was craving attention, but that wasn't the kind of attention I wanted. He only wanted me because of how I looked, or maybe because I was a challenge, being taken and all, but I didn't want attention solely on the base of my looks or being some kind of prize to be won. I wanted people to listen to me. I wanted people to take me seriously. I didn't want to be known as the stupid shallow girl immature girl any more. I still had a lot of growing up to do, but I felt like as long as I got stuck with that label, I would never grow out of it, and it would stick with me forever. Well, forget that. Carly Shay was shedding her old skin!

I wasn't just a webshow host. I wasn't just a fashion maven. I wasn't just Sam's best friend. I wasn't just Brad's girlfriend. I was my own person! I was Carly, Carly Shay.

Carly Shay, who has thoughts and opinions.

Carly Shay, who was becoming a serious musician.

Carly Shay, who was failing US history. I glared down at my paper again, wishing I had laser beams for eyes so it would just disintegrate in my hands.

Wendy looked at me, and I guess she could tell I was deep in thought. "Look, Carly, maybe Matthew is...condescending, a bit of a know-it-all. But I mean, he's really smart, he can help you with this! Besides, you've put up with Freddie for years, and he's kinda the same way!"

I glared at her. "Freddie and Matthew are nothing alike. They're not even the same species." God, I wish I could tell Wendy so bad what was going on, so she'd stop liking the jerk, and so she'd understand where I was coming from.

"Okayyyy..." she said slowly. "Hey, where's your ring?"

"Um..." I bit my lip, taking a deep breath. "Wendy, we...Brad and I...we called off the engagement."

"What?" Wendy cried. "Did you guys break up?"

"No!" I replied. "We just...we decided we weren't ready, that's all. Like...like it was forced. You know, living inside the Sam and Freddie bubble of wonderment is the easiest thing sometimes. It makes all other relationships look shallow and doomed by comparison. I guess we just wanted to be there too, but we can't rush things. We're still trying to figure things out, and forcing things in a certain direction won't help us do that."

"So you're still together?" Wendy asked, confused. "He didn't get mad?"

"He brought it up," I replied. "I can tell he's a little upset, but...he knows it's for the best. I just hope things won't change, or be awkward."

"Do you think they will?"

"I can't tell yet, but...maybe not, you know? Now there's not going to be all this pressure. We can just be us, and we're done trying to play catch up to Sam and Freddie. Those two are completely unstable without each other, at least Brad and I can stand being apart from each other. Sam gets all bitchy if she's away from Freddie for more than six hours."

"Yeah, it is kind of annoying," Wendy said with a roll of her eyes. "They're almost a drag to be around these days."

"Not exactly a drag, but...I get what you mean. They're happy and settled, and they don't like to go out and party any more."

"Things have really changed," Wendy commented. "Remember when Brad and Sam used to have contests to see who could get the most people drunk?"

"Yeah," I replied flatly. "I'm actually glad that's over with. I still haven't forgiven Sam for that one night when I threw up off the balcony."

"You didn't have to drink that many shots," she pointed out. "What was it, like five? In a row?"

"Six, actually," I said with a grimace. "And I was just trying to keep up. But yeah, Sam and Freddie, boring married couple. Happily boring, but still. Not the party types. Brad and I still want to have fun, and we haven't reached an agreement over the kid thing either."

"What, Brad doesn't want kids?"

I rolled my eyes. "No, Brad wants a ton of kids. I'm not sure about the kid thing."

"Why? Because of your mom?"

I shrugged. "Maybe," I replied, not wanting to talk about it. I was a lot like Freddie in the sense I didn't like talking about my deceased parent, but I didn't feel like it affected me as much. Maybe it was because I kept it buried deep down, or maybe it was because I'd never really met the woman. Either way, Wendy probably did have a point about my not wanting to have kids linked back to my mom.

Wendy put her hand on my shoulder. "You know that doesn't happen to everyone."

"April had a difficult labor," I pointed out.

"And she's fine now!" Wendy shot back. "I mean, as fine as someone possibly could be, being married to your brother and all."

"Shut up!" I said with a laugh. "Spencer's grown up a lot, what with Maggie and all. You know, I haven't really thought about it much, but...I'm kinda worried about Sam too."

Wendy rolled her eyes. "Sam will be just fine. That girl's tough as nails. She can handle childbirth."

I shook my head. "Doesn't matter how tough you are...all it takes is one complication, and..." I trailed off.

"Is that the only reason you don't want kids, Carly?" Wendy asked. "Because you're afraid of what might happen?"

"I don't know," I sighed. "Wendy, I don't want to talk about this anymore. Don't you have class to get to?"

Wendy looked down at her phone to check the time, and her eyes widened. "Oh, shit!" she exclaimed. "You're right! I'll see you later, this conversation is not over! And think about what I said about Matthew!"

"Yeah right!" I called as she rushed out the door. I sighed, picking my stuff off the desk and heading out, only to be stopped by none other than the stupid TA himself. I was convinced that TA must stand for Total Asshole.

"So what'd she say about me?" Matthew asked with an amused expression on his face.

"That you need to get something prescribed for that bump on your face," I replied triumphantly.

Matthew rolled his eyes, still with that smart guy almighty expression plastered across his smug face, and he reached out to grab my hand. I glared at him, jerking my hand away.

"Don't touch me!" I hissed.

"Couldn't help but notice you're not wearing your ring. And couldn't help but overhear your conversation."

"Yeah, why am I not surprised you're eavesdropping?" I shot back. "So I put my engagement on hold. Big deal. It's what's right for us. For me and Brad. I love him, I don't like you, you have no chance, get it through your head Matthew!"

He shook his head. "Sorry, can't do that. I want what I want. And when I want something, I'll do whatever it takes to get it."

"Glad you think of me as an object, that's such a turn on," I said with a roll of my eyes.

Matthew just shrugged. "Caught your set on Saturday. Interesting. I think there's a lot more trouble in Carlyville than you let on."

"I am just fine, thanks. Now leave me alone!" I shoved past him, heading for the door.

"Don't you want to talk about your History test?" he called, and I whirled around, glaring at him.

"What are you getting at?"

"Oh, nothing. One of the perks of being a TA with an extremely busy, and extremely bitchy prof, is that you get to grade papers. And sometimes that comes in handy."

I felt my stomach drop, and I tried to steady myself as I looked up at him, opening my mouth to say something, but no words came out. Oh god, I wasn't being paranoid. My dropping grades were not because of my own stupidity; something else was going on.

"What did you do?" I asked in a soft voice, and he just smirked at me.

"Well, I couldn't really do much with your essay questions, and frankly, you managed to screw those up on your own, but your multiple choice?" he laughed a little. "Never take a test in pencil, sweetheart."

"You asshole," I spat. "How could you do something so fucked up?"

Matthew shrugged. "Like I said, I want what I want. Now, you have two choices, Carly. You can either quit pretending and admit to yourself what you really feel, or..."

"I have already admitted to myself how I feel," I interrupted him. "I despise you, and that's 100% truth, no pretending there!"

"Or," he went on with a roll of his eyes. "Things can continue to go downhill."

I stared at him, unsure of what to say. "I...I'll tell Professor Montgomery."

"Like she'll believe you. You know how many female students throw themselves at me, Carly? A lot. Even your little redhead friend Wendy. And Montgomery's hated you from day one. She sees you for what you are. Shallow. Stupid."

I tried to ignore how bad his words stung. It wasn't the first time I'd heard that before.

"If I'm stupid and shallow, then why are you pursuing me, Matthew?"

"Because you're hot," he said simply. "And fun to mess with. And you're my little project for the semester. But like I said, Montgomery's not going to believe you."

"I'll tell Brad, and he'll beat you senseless."

"You gonna tell him that we kissed, Carly?" he replied. "Because I'll be sure to point that out. And let's say for some reason he does believe you, he'd get expelled from school. And he wouldn't be able to get into any other ones. He'd be fucked. So, like I said..." Matthew took a step closer to me, reaching for my waist, but I took a step back, and he frowned. "This will only get worse for you, you know that, right?"

"No," I said with a shake of my head. "This will only get worse for YOU, Matthew!"

"Tell that to your grades," he said with a shrug.

I didn't respond, just shoved past him, running out the door as fast as my legs could carry me, and then into the girls' bathroom. He couldn't be dumb enough to follow me here, right? I headed into a stall, shutting it and locking it, sitting down and pressing my feet against the door, trying not to cry, but I failed.

Oh god, I had really messed up, and now it was about to bite me in the ass. Why had I ever flirted with him? Why had I ever talked to him? Why was this happening to me? He was sick! And I had no idea what he was capable of doing!

And he was right, if I told Brad, he'd find out Matthew kissed me, and then it'd be over between us. Just because we weren't engaged anymore didn't mean I wasn't still crazy in love with the guy.

Oh god, what could I do?


	35. Chapter 35: Beware! Criminal

**A/N: Seriously dramatic towards the end, and yes, the next few chapters are going to get very rough. Don't say I didn't warn you!**

**Chapter Thirty Five:  
>Beware! Criminal!<strong>

~*Freddie*~

I opened the apartment door with a sigh, my head down, staring at the ground, but I spotted Sam on the couch, waiting.

"Well?" she asked. "How'd it go?"

I just shrugged, flopping down on the couch next to her, looking down at my shoes.

"Oh god," she sighed. "That bad, huh? I'm sorry, baby." I felt her put her hand on my back comfortingly, rubbing up and down, and I looked over at her.

"Why are you sorry?" I asked. "You knew this would happen."

"What?" she exclaimed.

"You knew I would get it," I replied, a grin spreading across my face, and I dropped the facade, bouncing on the couch a little. "You are looking at the newest summer intern for Cisco Systems!"

"Oh my god!" Sam shouted, grabbing me and pulling me into a fierce hug. "Oh my god! I knew it! I knew you would get it!" She bounced up and down happily, her arms still around my neck, before pulling away and thumping me on the chest. "Asshole! Don't do that to me! You scared me!"

"Sorry, baby," I said with a laugh. "Can you believe this? Cisco! Cisco wants me! Whoooo!"

"This is so incredible!" she cried. "I knew you would get it! Smart and sexy, what a combination, huh?"

"Yeah, something like that," I replied. "Man, I thought I'd have to wait like a week to hear back, but they didn't even interview anyone else! They looked at my grades, and the reference from April's dad...and I'm IN! Can you believe this?"

"When do you start?" she asked.

"May," I replied. "Like, two days after school lets out."

"Man," she sighed. "That kinda sucks. I'm gonna be sitting around the house all day, all pregnant, and you're gonna be working. For free."

"Well, this is really important, sweetheart," I replied. "This is a big deal."

"I know! And I'm so happy for you, but...you'll be working," she said, her bottom lip poking out. "And I'll miss you."

"Well, you know it'll happen eventually. And when you get done with law school, you'll be working too," I pointed out.

She shrugged. "I guess so." Her eyes lit up suddenly. "Okay, so guess what?"

"What's up, baby?"

"Funny you should say that," she said with a smirk. "The word baby."

"Don't tell me, you're pregnant," I teased, and she laughed, rolling her eyes a little.

"I felt the baby," she said simply, and my eyes widened.

"Really?" I asked, taking her hand in mine, and she nodded happily.

"It was like, this little flutter, inside me. It feels so cool," she whispered.

"Aw...baby, that's incredible," I said, kissing her. "I can't wait until the baby gets big enough I can feel it too."

"This is really happening," she said softly. "It won't be too much longer..."

"I know, and I can't wait," I responded. I kissed her again, tangling my hand through her hair, and her arms went around my neck, pulling me closer. Oh man, what an awesome day this had been. First with nailing the internship, and then the realization that Sam had felt our baby move for the first time. The whole idea of it was incredible.

"Baby," she murmured against my mouth. "I really wanna take this suit off you right now..."

I groaned when I realized what time it was. "Sam, you have class."

"I don't care," she replied, pulling away to kiss over my neck. "I want you now..."

"God, baby, I want you so bad too, but...you can't miss class. You've already missed one this semester, from our little road trip."

"Are you telling me no?" she asked, pulling away, her hands on her hips, and I just let out an annoyed sigh. I loved Sam to death, but she was anything but patient. When that girl wanted something, she wanted it right then!

"I'm telling you later!" I replied.

"But I want you now," she replied, trying to kiss me again, and I pulled away, causing her to give me an evil glare. "Freddie!"

"Sam, get your butt up. I'm going to change, and you're going to class. I'll fuck you senseless afterwards, but you are going to class."

"Ugh, fine!" she shouted, standing up to go grab her books. I left her grumbling to herself, laughing a little, as I walked into the bedroom and quickly changed clothes. It was amazing how just a simple suit could make the girl go completely nuts. I mean, she always wanted to rip my clothes off, but if those clothes happened to be a suit? Forget it, girl was all over me.

I walked back out to find her rifling through the fridge.

"Have you eaten today?" I asked, and she nodded.

"I'm hungry again. The morning sickness is almost completely gone, and it's been replaced by this overwhelming..."

"Need to feed?" I asked with a laugh, and she glared at me. "It's fine, baby. Growing baby needs food. Hurry up, grab something to go, okay?"

"We're almost out of juice," she commented. "And it's our week to go shopping."

"Well, we'll go after you get done with class, okay?"

"You think that's safe? Me going to the grocery store right now? The bill's gonna be outrageous."

I just waved her off. "Don't worry about it, baby. Now come on, get a move on. You're gonna be late."

"It's just Symbolic Logic," she gruffed. "It's an easy class."

"Doesn't matter how easy it is, if you don't show up, you don't pass. End of story."

"Fine," she replied with a roll of her eyes.

"Come on, grumpy girl," I said, grabbing her hand and dragging her out the door, grabbing her bag from her and throwing it over my shoulder. "Don't be so moody. I just got a kick-ass internship, you should be happy."

"I am happy," she replied. "But...you know how I get when you dress up."

"I know, baby," I replied, kissing her. "If you want I can put it back on when we get home."

"Promise?" she asked, and I laughed.

"Sure. If you wear that little black thing I like."

"Okay," she replied.

"And the stockings."

"Yep."

"And the shoes."

"Alright!" she laughed. "Jeez, you're worse than me!"

"Haven't you figured that out by now?" I growled, kissing her passionately before we stepped onto the elevator, and then it was back on again. I barely had time to react before she shoved me against the elevator wall, kissing me passionately and grinding into me. I groaned against her mouth, one hand traveling down to her ass and squeezing a little, pulling her against me, the other tangling into her hair. We had this thing about making out in places it was very easy for us to get caught in. Or maybe it was just this thing about not being able to keep our hands off each other. I couldn't tell. But damn, it was fun!

~*Brad*~

"Carly, are you sure you're okay?" I asked as she sat on the couch, looking forlorn. "It was just one bad test, you'll be fine."

"I guess," she said softly. I shut my laptop, walking over and sitting down next to her.

"Don't be sad. Anything I can do to make you feel better, babe?"

"I don't know."

I gave her a Look. "This is only about the test? You're not upset about this morning, are you?" I asked. "Because I promise you, I'm not upset, and I think this really is for the best, and..."

"Brad," she interrupted me. "It's not about this morning. Or the engagement."

"Then what is it? It can't just be one test."

"I think I'm gonna drop the class," she replied.

"What? Why? Carly! You're halfway done!" I exclaimed. "Why would you want to drop it? You'll just be behind!"

She shrugged. "I can take something else over the summer. World Religion, maybe? I should have taken than instead."

"It's still history, babydoll," I reminded her gently. "You're really bad about running away from your problems, and you can't do that anymore."

She gave me a Look, and I sighed. "Look, I know, total hypocrite. Every time something goes wrong, I run back to the bottle. But I've stopped that! And you need to stop this! You can't quit!"

"But..."

"No buts, Carly! You'll get through this, you just have to hang on until May, and then you're done! A little over three months!"

"Brad, you don't get it!" she cried, sounding exasperated and hurt all at the same time. I sighed, taking her hand.

"Then explain it to me, babe."

Carly took a deep breath, and shook her head.

"Carly, just tell me! Whatever it is, I'll listen!"

She sat there for a moment, staring at the ground, before looking back up at me. "Okay, so..."

The door burst open just then, and Sam bounded in with several large bags of groceries, Freddie right behind her.

"What goes on, people?" she asked.

I sighed, a little annoyed because Carly didn't talk about stuff often, and Sam had just interrupted her, but I decided to let it go. "Not much, Sam. What's up?"

"Oh not much. Other than feeling little baby Benson move!" she yelled out excitedly.

Carly's head snapped up, and for a moment her bad mood seemed to melt away. "Sam! Oh my god! That's awesome! What did it feel like? Did it feel weird?"

Sam wrinkled her nose. "It kind of...tickled a little. Like...this fluttery feeling. It was so cool. Okay, so that's not all!"

I looked over at Freddie, noticing the happy expression on his face. "Dude, don't tell me..."

"I NAILED the interview!" he exclaimed. "And I got it!"

"Oh kick ass!" I yelled. "Damn dude, I knew you would get it!"

"Freddie, that's amazing!" Carly added. "When do you start?"

"May," he replied. "This was a great day, you know that? Awesome day!"

"Maybe for you," Carly grumbled, and Sam looked at her curiously.

"What up with you?"

"She got a D on her history test," I put in, and Sam gave her a sympathetic look.

"Sorry, Carls. That sucks."

"Yeah, just a little," she replied.

"So...in light of that, are we still going out?" Sam asked, and I looked over at Carly, who just shrugged.

"Out?" Freddie asked. "First time I've heard of it."

"That's because you're not invited," Sam said breezily, and Freddie gave her a shocked look.

"What?" he cried, and Sam laughed, turning around to kiss him, her arms still full of groceries.

"I'm kidding, honey. Ugh, I gotta put this stuff down before my arms fall off. Shay, coffeehouse or are you too depressed now?"

"I don't really wanna go now," she said softly.

"Why?" I responded. "Because of a dumb test? Is that all, or do you just not want me to go to your little sacred spot?"

"Brad!" she cried, looking at me. "It's not that, okay...I...ugh, nevermind. We'll go, it's fine."

"Dude, I'm not going out with Carly Killjoy, forget it," Freddie stated as he helped Sam put away the groceries. "Sam, don't eat those! You have to wash the fruit first!"

"Fascist," Sam shot back, and Freddie rolled his eyes, before looking at me.

"Don't make her go if she doesn't want to go. Nobody will have fun then."

"Yeah, I guess you're right," I replied with a roll of my eyes. "Babe, are you sure you don't want to?"

"Yeah, I'm sure," she replied. "Can we just stay in? Movies? Popcorn? Snuggles?"

I had to smile at that, and I leaned forward to kiss her on the forehead. "Snuggles are nice."

"I'll play you my new song," she offered, and I nodded.

"Okay. That works. But when you feel like going out again, I want to go! I want to see what you've been up to!"

"I thought you liked that we were separate people," she pointed out, and I shrugged.

"To a point, but that doesn't mean I can't take an interest in what you're doing."

"Yeah, I guess you're right," she agreed. "I'm just glad we're not arguing anymore."

"Yeah, it's nice," I replied, kissing her on the forehead. "I hate that it had to happen, but I think it was a good decision."

"You think what was a good decision?" Sam asked, hopping on the counter and jumping a little when Freddie poked her in the side. "Hey!"

"Nosy!" he said, and she rolled her eyes.

"Anyway, what's going on with you two? You said you didn't have time to talk this morning, but you have time now, so spill! Carly, why are you not wearing your ring?"

Carly looked over at me, and I shrugged. They'd find out eventually, might as well tell them now, right?

"Um, Brad and I decided to call off the engagement," she said finally.

Sam and Freddie shot worried looks at each other before looking back at us.

"Wait, what?" Freddie exclaimed. "When did this happen?"

"This morning," I replied. "Look, we just...we figured out it wasn't the right time. We're still really young, we don't have to leap headfirst into domestic bliss like you two did."

"Told you they weren't ready," Sam grunted under her breath, and Freddie poked her again. "Quit poking me!"

"Gotta be the first time she's said that," I said with a grin. "And it's fine. You're right. We weren't ready."

"So what now?" Sam asked. "You guys aren't gonna..you know, break up?"

"No, of course not," I replied with a shake of my head. "Just...take things slow, no rush. We'll revisit the issue in a few years I guess."

"Wow," Freddie said with a shake of his head, and I gave him a look.

"What?"

"Well...nothing. I don't want to say it."

"No, say it!" Carly said.

"Nope. It'll just piss you off."

"Say it, Benson!" I gruffed, and he rolled his eyes.

"Fine. I was just thinking, pretty mature decision on you guys' part. For once."

I had to roll my eyes at that. Freddie was trying not to be so condescending these days, but sometimes the poor boy just couldn't help it. "Thanks Dad."

"Whatever," Freddie grunted.

"You're gonna have to get used to being called that, baby," Sam pointed out, and Freddie just gave her a smile, leaning forward to kiss her.

"You're right. I do. Now, let's get the rest of this stuff put away and then...get dressed," he gave Sam a mischievous look, one she returned, and Carly just looked at them strangely.

"Get dressed? I thought we agreed we're not going out!"

"Oh, we're not," Freddie said with a laugh, and Carly just groaned, burying her face in my shoulder.

"Why do I ask questions?"

I laughed, kissing her on top of her head. "I dunno, but stop doing it."

"I need to be fed before I'm ravaged," Sam pointed out and Freddie shrugged.

"So eat. What do you want?"

"Sushi, sunny side up eggs, sausage, bologna, and a large Peppy Cola to wash it all down with."

"Not happening," Freddie said flatly. "I'll buy you all of those things the day you push my kid out, but until then, you're not eating any of that stuff."

"You're so mean!" Sam cried, her hands on her hips, and Freddie rolled his eyes.

"Yes, meanest guy ever, wanting our baby to be healthy. Now, you said you were hungry. You want a sandwich? I'll make you a sandwich."

"Bologna?" Sam asked hopefully.

"Sam!"

"Ugh, fine! Turkey. Lots of turkey. And pepperjack."

"Okay," he replied.

"And mayo."

"Uh-huh."

"And mustard."

Freddie sighed, forcing a smile. "The regular, or the dijon, baby?"

"Uh...what about the spicy mustard? And some pickles!"

"Okay..." Freddie grumbled.

"And some banana peppers!"

"Oh god," Freddie moaned to himself, rifling through the grocery bags, and I just laughed.

"Cravings have finally struck?"

"You have no idea," Sam replied pitifully. "I want to eat everything in sight."

"Everything?" Carly asked, and Sam nodded.

"You're looking pretty tasty yourself there, Carls," Sam teased, then froze when she heard Freddie and I burst into laughter. "Oh god, I didn't mean it like that!"

"Too late, it's out there," Freddie laughed. "You sure you didn't mean it like that, baby? You know I'm cool with you experimenting."

"In the room!" Carly shouted.

"Oh no, it's okay, babe, you can experiment on Sam too," I replied, nudging her a little, and she rolled her eyes.

"You guys are such perverts!"

"Well you two make it way too easy for us!" Freddie shot back, rustling around the kitchen. "Okay, Sam. Whole wheat, turkey, pepperjack, spicy mustard, mayo, pickles, and banana peppers. Good?"

Sam wrinkled her nose. "I didn't want wheat."

"Ugh, Sam!" Freddie whined, sounding agitated with his wife's pickiness. "Fine, I'll remake it, on white."

"Wait!" Sam cried, and Freddie looked at her. "Can you do one slice of white and one slice of wheat?"

Freddie opened his mouth to say something, but shut it quickly, gritting his teeth. "Yes, baby. Anything else?"

"I want some lettuce on there too. And some tomatoes."

"Okay. That it?" he asked, and she nodded.

"Alright, half white, half wheat, add lettuce and tomato." He turned his back to her to finish making her sandwich.

"Wait!" Sam cried, and I watched Freddie's shoulders stiffen, his head hanging down.

"Yes, dear?"

"Can you add some olives? And some cheddar?"

"The green olives or the black olives?"

"Both. And some onion."

"Aw, man..." Freddie whined. "You're killing me, baby."

"Fine!" Sam barked, hopping off the counter. "I'll do it myself!"

"No, Sam, it's fine, baby, I'm sorry. Just chill. Go sit down, okay?"

"After I get my juice," she replied, looking through the shopping bags carefully, and then frowning when she came up empty-handed. "Uh...where's the juice?"

"Dammit," Freddie moaned, his fist coming down on the counter. "I knew we forgot something!"

Sam let out a sigh. "It's fine. I'll just drink lemonade."

"Don't drink the lemonade with Splenda in it, it's supposed to be..."

"Bad for the baby! I know!" Sam shouted. "Good lord, Freddie! You're coddling me again!"

"And you're being demanding again!"

"I am not demanding! Take it back!"

Freddie turned around to look at her, an amused expression on his face as he crossed his arms over his chest. "Are you demanding that I take back that you're demanding?"

"No...I...aargh!" Sam yelled, stomping her foot, and Freddie rolled his eyes.

"Really, sweetheart? Sit your pretty ass down so I can feed you. You're getting all grouchy again."

"I am not grouchy," she grumbled.

"Yeah, okay!" Freddie responded.

"At least I don't have my underwear in a bunch like you do! You're so damn uptight!"

"I am not uptight!"

I looked over at Carly, who just gave me a frustrated look, and we both stood up, heading to the stairs.

"We'll just leave you guys alone to fight in peace," I stated, but they ignored us. I just shook my head, taking Carly's hand and pulling her up the stairs with me as Sam and Freddie continued to argue.

"Well one of us has to be uptight, Sam! Oooh look at me, I'm Sam Benson, let's have a big party all the time!"

"Oooh look at me, I'm Freddie Benson! And my socks always have to match my underwear!"

"Sam!"

"Freddie!"

"You are such a brat!"

"You are such a nub!"

"You're acting like a child!"

"You dress like a child!"

I rolled my eyes; they were still yelling, and now they weren't even taking turns, they were yelling at the same time, and you couldn't understand a word they were saying. It was just a blur of shouting that ran together to create noise. Those two never seemed to run out of energy! They were either super happy all over each other, or super pissed off and at each other's throats! It was maddening!

Carly and I had almost made it to our room when we heard a loud banging noise and a crash, and her eyes widened as she looked at me.

"Oh god, Sam's throwing dishes again," she sighed. "We gotta make sure they haven't gone completely postal!"

"Carly, just let them handle it! They do this all the time!"

"No! They've been fighting a lot today, I don't want them to go overboard!"

"Ugh, fine!" I groaned, following her as she rushed down the stairs. She reached the bottom, craning her neck around the corner, before letting out a loud gasp. I rushed down after her, looking around the corner as well and rolling my eyes.

They weren't fighting at all, they were making out on top of the kitchen island, Sam laying across it and Freddie leaning over her, the two of them engaged in a very passionate liplock, hands all over each other. The loud banging and crashing had been all the sandwich stuff being knocked off the island before they'd started doing what they were doing now.

"Man!" Carly whined. "They better clean that up! And now we have to buy more olives!"

"It's fine," I replied with a shake of my head. "But something's really wrong with those two."

Carly gave me a look. "You've known them for three years and you're just now noticing?"

"Well, no..." I replied, rolling my eyes when I heard Sam moan as we walked upstairs. "Hurry up, let's get the door shut and the movie on, drown out all this noise."

"Yeah," she responded, clearly annoyed. "I'd go downstairs and yell at them, but there's clearly no point. They'll just do it again tomorrow. Somewhere else in the apartment."

I looked around our room suspiciously. "You think they've ever done it in here?"

Carly looked around, then glanced up at me in horror. "Oh god, I hope not!"

"There's no way we can tell, right?"

"No," she said with a shake of her head. "But I'm gonna start locking this door when we leave. Just in case."

"Probably a good idea," I replied.

~*Sam*~

"I think they're mad," I said with a laugh as I finished mopping up the rest of the olive juice that had spilled everywhere when Freddie knocked everything off the kitchen island, grabbing me and setting me down on top of it before grabbing the back of my head and kissing me hard. I'd continued to rant against his mouth for nearly an entire minute, but he'd finally managed to get me to shut up, and we'd had one hell of a makeout session up there before he carried me to our room and got all the frustration out of our systems.

Okay, so arguing wasn't the best thing in the world, but the sex right afterwards? When we were both still a little pissed off at each other? Oh man, it was hot. I loved angry sex!

"They'll get over it," Freddie said. "But they'll probably be glad to get us out of here soon enough, you know?"

"Probably," I agreed. "So...did my sandwich survive?"

Freddie nodded. "It's on the other counter."

I quickly finished mopping before rushing over to the other side of the kitchen. Or at least I tried to. The floor was still a little wet, and before I knew it, my feet were over my head.

"Oof!" I hollered as I landed on my back, looking up at the ceiling, a little dazed. "Ow..."

"Sam!" Freddie exclaimed, scrambling across the kitchen and quickly pulling me to my feet. "Are you okay, baby?"

"I think I bruised my butt bone," I whined miserably, and Freddie just laughed.

"Aww...poor baby. C'mere," he replied, pulling me into his arms and kissing me. "You gotta be more careful, sweetheart! I don't want you or the baby getting hurt!"

"I know," I sighed. "I guess my reflexes aren't as sharp as before..."

"Just try to be careful, okay?" he replied. "Go sit down, I'll get your food for you, okay?"

I nodded, dragging myself over to the kitchen table and sitting down, wincing as my ass came in contact with the chair. Man, that hurt! Maybe I did bruise my butt bone!

Freddie sat the food down in front of me with a glass of lemonade, pushing my hair back to give me a quick kiss on the neck. "Love you. Sorry about earlier, I..."

"It's fine," I replied with a wave of my hand. "I was being a little...picky. And..."

"Shrill?" Freddie finished, and I glared at him. "Sorry."

"Don't start with me, Mr. Benson," I threatened, picking up my sandwich and digging in.

"Good lord, baby!" he exclaimed. "Hungry?"

"Starving!" I responded. "Sometimes I wish my mouth was bigger so I could just cram in more food."

"Nah, your mouth's just big enough," he said with a smirk, and I laughed.

"Pervert."

"You love it."

"You're right, I do," I replied. Before I could say anything else, a frantic knock came at the front door, one that was loud, rushed, and showed no signs of stopping. The knocking quickly increased to a banging, and I shot a worried look at Freddie.

"Who could that be?" I asked, and Freddie shrugged, standing up.

"Dunno. Just sit there, I'll get it," he replied, walking across the living room to pull open the door. As soon as he did, a streak of blonde came whizzing inside, and I looked up in surprise. It was Brad's little sister!

"Heather?" Freddie asked. "What are you doing here?" His jaw dropped when he took a look at the state she was in, hair disheveled, makeup a mess, crying hysterically. "Heather, what's wrong?"

I immediately abandoned my sandwich and rushed over to find out what was going on. She didn't look good, that was for sure, she looked like something was really, really wrong! She was so upset, I could tell something really bad had happened to her, and I didn't like it. It reminded me a lot of another fourteen year old girl I used to know...me.

"What happened, Heather?" I asked softly. "Are you okay?"

"No!" she sobbed. "I...where's Brad? Is Brad here? I need Brad!"

"Okay, okay!" I said in a soft voice. "Calm down, it's okay. Freddie, go get Brad, now!"

"On it," he responded, running up the stairs, and I turned my attention back to Heather.

"Heather, what happened?"

"I...I need to talk to Brad!" she gasped out. "Oh god, oh god..."

"Did something with your dad?" I asked, and she shook her head furtively.

"No! Oh god! You can't tell my dad, he's gonna kill me! Oh my god!"

"Okay, Heather, you gotta calm down! Sit down, okay? Just sit. Brad will be right here, he's upstairs, and..."

"Brad!" Heather screamed, totally ignoring me. "BRAD!"

I looked above me as I heard a bunch of thumping upstairs, and then Brad came rushing down the stairs, quickly followed by Carly and Freddie. Brad didn't even bother to walk down the last few stairs, he leapt down them, quickly rushing over to Heather.

"Heather? What's wrong?"

"I...oh god..." she sobbed. "Brad..." She buried her face in his chest, and he put his arms around her, looking at us in horror.

"What happened, sweetie? Tell me," he said in a soft voice.

"I should have listened to you," she said sadly. "I should have did what you told me to."

Freddie, Carly and I all shot worried looks at each other. This did NOT sound good, and it didn't take a total genius to see where she was going with this.

"You have to tell me what happened," Brad said firmly, pulling away to look at her. "Tell me what happened, okay? Somebody get her a cloth for her face, please!"

"I'll get it," Carly said softly, rushing into the kitchen. "Whoa!" she cried out, and my eyes squeezed themselves shut as I heard the thud of Carly falling. I spun around quickly to find Carly flat on her back.

"Carly!" I exclaimed. "Are you okay?"

"No," she croaked out. "Who mopped?"

"I did," I said weakly. "Sorry."

"I'm fine," she replied, sitting up and brushing herself off. She carefully crossed the rest of the kitchen, getting a washcloth and wetting it before carefully going back across the kitchen. Brad had gotten Heather to sit down by now, and he took the cloth from Carly, rubbing it over Heather's face.

"Thanks babe," he said, looking up at her. "Are you okay?"

"Yeah, just got the wind knocked out of me," she sighed, shooting a look over at me, and I just shrugged helplessly. "So what happened?"

Brad focused his attention back on Heather, who just sighed sadly.

"I should have listened to you," she said again. "I...I was with Griffin, and we were in his room, and we were making out, and then things got really...heated. And then like...right before...it happened...I told him to stop, that I wasn't ready!"

I watched Brad's eyebrows go up and pure anger flash across his face, one of his hands curling into a fist, clenching and unclenching repeatedly. I sighed, covering my face with my hands. Oh my god! Griffin was dead! What a sick fuck! It was too bad I was pregnant at the moment, because I wanted to kill him! I glanced over at Freddie, who just shook his head angrily, his arms crossed over his chest, looking just as angry as I was. Carly just looked mortified, horrified, and a little bit scared. I could tell what she was thinking. She'd dated the guy, been alone with the guy, and she was actually the same age as Heather when they'd dated. That could have been her!

"So he kept telling me to relax and it would be fine, but it wasn't fine! And I wanted him to stop, but he wouldn't! And it hurt, and...oh god! Brad...I don't know what to do! I didn't wanna go home! I'm sorry! I know you must hate me right now, but I didn't know what else to do, and..."

"Shhh," Brad said, hugging his sister tightly. "Heather. It's okay. I don't hate you. I love you. You know that. I'm not angry."

"You're not?" she sniffled.

"Not at you," Brad gruffed. He sat there for a moment, holding Heather against him as she continued to cry, and I knew he was thinking hard about something. I had a pretty good idea of what he was thinking about, and honestly, I was thinking the same thing. He finally looked up at Carly, clearing his throat.

"Babe?"

"Yeah?"

"Can you take Heather upstairs? Clean her up? If she wants to lay down, put her in our bed, okay? Stay with her."

Carly nodded. "Okay, but..."

"Gotta talk to Freddie about something," he said in a low voice, and Carly looked at him worriedly.

"Brad..."

"Just do it, okay?" he responded in a firm voice that implied he didn't want to argue. Carly just sighed, nodding again.

"Alright. Come on, Heather. Let's clean you up. Sam, do you wanna come?"

I gave her a Look. "What do you think, Carly?"

She rolled her eyes. "Fine. So we're back to this." She turned her attention back to Brad's frightened and broken little sister, taking Heather's arm and walking upstairs with her. Brad looked over his shoulder, watching them go upstairs, and as soon as he heard the bathroom door shut, he stood up, looking at us.

"Brad, what are you thinking?" Freddie asked.

"You know what I'm thinking, man," Brad replied, and Freddie shook his head.

"Brad, this is a bad idea."

"Was it a bad idea when we did it for her?" Brad responded, looking at me pointedly, and Freddie just sighed.

"That was different. She almost died."

"He raped my sister, Freddie. He deserves it, just like Bill did."

"Do you remember what happened in that ravine, Brad?" Freddie shouted. "Do you remember what happened to me? I turned into a fucking monster! As much I love Sam, and I'd do it all over again if she was ever in danger, it is SCARY when you turn into that! I lost a part of myself that day that I'm never gonna get back! You do not want to go down that road, Brad! Think about it, man!"

Brad shook his head. "I'm not gonna do what we did to Bill," he said in a low voice, and Freddie looked confused.

"Then what..."

"I'm gonna kill him," Brad growled, and my eyes widened.

"Brad..." I warned, and Brad glared at me.

"Don't start with me, Sam! You know how bad this is! You know how bad this is gonna mess her up! I have to do something!"

"You can't kill him, are you nuts?" I replied. "You'll go to jail!"

"I don't care!" he shouted, his eyes flaring with anger that almost bordered on evil. "He's fucked. He's so fucked."

"Brad! Come on!" Freddie shouted, grabbing his shoulders and shaking them. "Don't do this! We can't act like this anymore! We're not fucking kids any more!"

"Why not? When bad shit happens, we deal with it, remember? You're supposed to have my back on this!"

"I do have your back!" Freddie yelled. "But there's other ways of dealing with this!"

"Like what, Freddie?"

"She could press charges, Brad! He'll go to jail, as a rapist, as a child predator! You know what they do to pedophiles in prison?"

Brad shook his head. "You can't talk me out of this, Benson. You're supposed to be my best friend."

"And as your best friend, I am asking you not to do this!" he shouted, and Brad just shook his head, glaring at Freddie.

"Fuck you," he hissed, turning around to run up the stairs. "Heather!" I heard him yell. "Tell me what apartment he's in!"

Freddie shot me a worried look, one I read perfectly. Yes, Griffin needed to get the shit kicked out of him, and he needed to go to jail, but Brad was in a really, really dark place right now, and if things went too far, he'd never be able to turn back. If we didn't pull him back now, we'd lose him forever. I knew that, and Freddie obviously knew that too. With a final pained look, Freddie took off up the stairs, chasing after Brad.

"Brad! You can't do this!" he shouted.

I looked around, sighing, trying to to figure out what to do. I had every violent urge that I'd pushed deep down coming back up. I knew what it felt like to be victimized. I knew what it felt like to be that young and be that scared. I'd never been raped, but I'd come close, I couldn't imagine what Heather was dealing with right now.

I could hear Freddie and Brad arguing upstairs, and I looked over at the front door, weighing my options.

Fuck it, this had to be done, I thought to myself as I walked out the front door and headed for the elevator.

~*Carly*~

"Brad, stop!" I yelled as I followed Brad down the stairs, Freddie right behind me. "You can't do this!"

"Think about what you're doing man, there is no going back from this!" Freddie shouted as Brad ran down the stairs, leaping down from about four steps up onto the ground and heading into the kitchen, rummaging around.

"What are you looking for?" I asked worriedly, and Brad didn't answer, just went underneath the sink. "Brad!"

"This," he responded, finally popping up and looking at me. The 'this' he was referring to was a thick steel pipe, about six inches long, and I knew exactly what he planned to do with it. Oh god, no. I thought all the violence, the vengeance, the bad, I thought it was over. Why did it have to come back? Bad things brought out the worst in my friends. They'd done things that blurred the lines between good and evil. We all had. But I'd never physically hurt anybody. And Brad had done a good job with not getting into fights. And he was about to go right back into that!

"Brad," Freddie stated, pushing me aside lightly and stepping in front of me. "Put the pipe down. You can't do this."

"Fuck you, I'm doing it," Brad replied. "Whether you have my back or not."

"I CAN'T have your back on this, Brad!" Freddie yelled. "I can't go to jail! And if we do this, that's where we'll go! I have Sam and the baby to take care of, I can't be involved in this!"

"She's my sister!" Brad yelled.

"I get that, man! But we need to call the cops! There's other ways of dealing with this!"

"No!" Brad shouted. "I've seen the legal system fail before! He'll get away with it! Fuck that!"

"Brad..." I said.

"Carly, stay out of this, babe. I love you. But I can't just sit by and let that bastard walk away from this!"

"There's another way!" Freddie shouted.

"There is no other way!" Brad yelled back, starting to walk out of the kitchen, but Freddie blocked his way out.

"Dude, get out of my way," Brad threatened, smacking the pipe against the palm of his hand, and Freddie shook his head.

"You're not gonna hit me with that," he replied.

"And how do you know that?" Brad responded.

Freddie shrugged. "Because you would have done it already."

"You're not gonna stop me, Benson. Go back to your wifey. Where you belong."

And that statement, Freddie looked behind him, and that's when we both noticed Sam wasn't in the living room any more.

"Sam?" Freddie called. "Sam? Where are you?" He looked at me. "Did she go upstairs?"

I shook my head. "I don't think so! Sam!"

Freddie's eyes landed on the front door, which was cracked a little bit, and his eyes widened. "Shit," he grunted, before running towards the door, sticking his head out and yelling down the hallway. "Sam!" He turned around to look back at me, a panicked expression on his face. "Sam!"

While Freddie was occupied with a Sam induced panic attack, I turned back around to try to talk some sense into Brad, and that's when I noticed he wasn't there any more, and now the back door was standing wide open.

"Oh, NO!" I cried. Brad was gone, and I knew exactly where he was heading and what he was planning to do. Freddie had run upstairs, and quickly ran back down, looking angry.

"Carly, what apartment is Griffin in? Does Sam know?"

"I...I don't think so!" I replied. "Oh god, Freddie! This is so bad!"

"Yeah, no shit, Carly! You know how Sam gets about this sort of thing! She's pregnant! With my baby! She doesn't need to be involved in this! I gotta go find her!"

"Freddie..."

"Carly!" he yelled, grabbing my shoulders and shaking them. "Tell me what apartment he's in! This is serious!"

I started at Freddie, a little freaked out, and he sighed, taking a deep breath. "I'm sorry, Carly. I don't mean to scare you. But this is serious. Tell me what apartment Griffin's in."

"4-G," I replied softly, and Freddie nodded.

"Thank you," he replied. "Stay with Heather. I'm gonna find Sam, and try to catch Brad before he does something really stupid."

I nodded. "Freddie, I hope you get to him before..."

Freddie just gave me a sympathetic look. "Yeah, me too. Take care of Heather."

With that, he ran out the door, leaving me to sit on the couch by myself. I needed to get back upstairs and calm Heather down, but first I needed to calm myself down, because I was absolutely hysterical.

God, please don't let my friends go down this path again.


	36. Chapter 36: Blood on the Ground

**A/N: Short, but oh-so-dramatic! And things are only going to get more intense from here on out!**

**Chapter Thirty Six:  
><strong>**Blood on the Ground**

~*Sam*~

I banged on the apartment door as loud as I could managed, so angry I couldn't see straight. I couldn't believe what was happening. This was so bad, Brad was about to do something really stupid, and I had to cut him off before he managed to get there. As angry as I was, with Griffin, with this whole situation, and as much as I agreed with Brad about beating the guy to a pulp, I couldn't let him do it. Too much was at stake. We weren't kids any more, we couldn't pull stupid stuff like this and expect to get away with it any longer. I continued to bang on the apartment door, sighing with relief when it opened.

"Sam? What are YOU doing here?"

"Just shut up for a second," I said, trying to catch my breath.

Brad's father glared at me. "Sam, I don't know what this is about, but if this is another one of your tricks to get me talking to Brad..."

"This has nothing to do with Brad!" I shouted. "Okay, maybe a little, but more to do with your daughter!"

At the mention of his daughter, Mr. Harrison's eyebrows went up. "What are you getting at? Heather's in her room."

I shook my head. "No she's not. She's upstairs, in our apartment."

"What?" he exclaimed in shock, his face morphing into an angry expression. "I swear, this is the third time this month she's snuck out! Brad is such a bad influence on her, I swear..."

"Will you shut up for a minute already?" I hollered, ignoring the way his eyebrows went up. "Brad was trying to talk some sense into the girl, until she stopped talking to him, over a guy! An older guy! One we know pretty well, and he's bad news."

"Go on," Mr. Harrison pushed me.

"She was with him tonight, and things got out of hand. I think you know where I'm going with this. Brad is on his way over there RIGHT NOW, and he's going to do something really bad! He's going to screw his entire life up! You have to help him! I don't care what you think about him, he's your SON! Do not let him do this! You can arrest Griffin for what he did, put him in jail, and you can keep Brad from doing something stupid!"

Mr. Harrison took a deep breath, and I could tell he was bristling with anger.

"Do you know where he's headed?" he asked finally.

"Yeah, I do," I responded with a nod. "Are you gonna help me or not? Are you going to help your children?"

"Hold on," he replied. He shut the door in my face, and I could hear a bunch of yelling, and a moment later the door opened again, and Mr. Harrison walked out, a pair of handcuffs on his belt, his holster on, as he stuffed his badge into his back pocket. "Take me there."

"Okay. It's the 4th floor. Come on. We'll take the stairs, the elevator's too slow."

"Aren't you pregnant? You shouldn't be coming," he responded as he followed me to the stairs, and I turned around to glare at him. No, he did not just play the pregnant card with me! I was getting really sick of this, having a baby inside me did not suddenly turn me into a weakling. Sam Benson was no weakling, baby or no baby!

"Did you forget who you were dealing with, Mr. Harrison? Brad's one of my best friends, I refuse to stand around and do nothing while he throws his entire life away. Now hurry up!" I barked.

Mr. Harrison followed me down the stairs to the 4th floor, and I shoved the door open, walking down the hallway. I could hear a bunch of rattling and crashing, and my stomach dropped, because I knew Brad had already gotten there. Oh, god. I took off in a run down the hallway, with Mr. Harrison right behind me, and I skidded to a halt in front of one of the apartments. The door was standing wide open, and that's where the noise was coming from. The second I walked in, I let out a gasp, my hands covering my face.

Brad had gotten there alright, but things hadn't quite turned out the way he figured apparently. Carly had been right, Brad didn't stand a chance again Griffin in a real fight, and Brad was laid out on the ground, obviously unconscious, and Griffin was crouched over him, continuing to hit him. Brad's face was bleeding, his eyes rolled back in his head, mouth hanging open, and Griffin was still hitting him, looking crazed.

"Get off him!" I shrieked, stepping forward, then letting out a surprised yell as I felt Mr. Harrison grab my arm and yank me back.

"Move!" he shouted, pushing me back, and I backed out of the apartment, hitting the wall. I swear everything was going in slow motion, and it was absolutely terrifying. My view was blocked by Mr. Harrison's back, and I felt my stomach drop when he walked further into the apartment.

"Get off my son!" Mr. Harrison shouted, and that's when I saw him reach for his gun, pulling it out of its holster, Griffin standing up and turning around at the same time.

The loud sound of gunfire was deafening, but I definitely heard my own scream when I covered my eyes and sank down to the floor, absolutely in shock.

Oh, my god.

~*Freddie*~

"Dammit!" I shouted, hitting the elevator button frantically and pacing back and forth angrily. In my flurry to find Sam, I'd hit the wrong button on the elevator and got off on the 3rd floor, not even paying attention, and for some reason, I couldn't open the stairwell door, so I had to run back to the elevator and push the button over and over.

I was freaking out. Things were about to really go downhill now. Not only had Brad really reached his breaking point, but I couldn't find Sam! I knew that girl, I knew she was going to go to Griffin's and give him a piece of her mind, probably even try to help Brad, but that was dangerous. She was pregnant, she wasn't as good of a fighter as she used to be because she'd softened up over the years, and Griffin was obviously dangerous. I was worried sick. Why does this shit keep happening? Why do we keep getting put in the middle of EVERYTHING?

The door to elevator finally opened and I got on, making sure to press the '4' button this time, and waiting quite impatiently for the elevator to go up one more floor, sighing with relief when the doors finally opened and I rushed out, running down the hallway and around the corner.

I totally wasn't prepared for what I saw. At the other end of the hallway, I saw my wife suddenly stumble out of an apartment backwards, pressing against the wall of the hallway, before covering her eyes and letting out a scream.

"Sam!" I yelled, and that's when I heard a gunshot go off. Close range. Like it was coming from the apartment. Oh, fuck!

I took off at top speed, running towards Sam and grabbing her, pulling her to her feet. "Baby, get up."

"Oh, god!" she yelled. "Holy shit!"

"Move, now!" I hollered, dragging her away from the open apartment door, further down the hallway. I came to a stop, holding her shoulders tightly and forcing her to look at me. "Are you okay? Sam?"

She looked dazed, an empty expression in her eyes, and my hands went to either side of her face. "Baby, come back to me. Baby..."

"He shot him!" Sam yelled, a panicked look on her face. "He fucking shot him!"

I looked back toward the apartment worriedly. It was all quiet now, and I needed to find out what was going on.

"Stay here," I told her, but she grabbed my arm, yanking me back and shaking her head.

"No. No."

"Baby, stay right here," I told her, gently pushing her against the wall. I was half afraid she would pass out, so she needed to have something solid to rest against. "I'll be right back."

"Freddie..."

"I'll be right back!" I shouted, walking away from her. I tried to walk slowly and quietly toward the apartment, so as not to be heard, and just barely edged my head in, shocked when I saw Brad's father standing there, holding a gun in his hand. I looked over at Sam in disbelief, who just shook her head, still looking dazed.

She hadn't gone to confront Griffin, she'd gone to get Brad's father to prevent Brad from doing something stupid! I walked into the apartment a little ways, and my hand went over my mouth in shock. Brad was on the ground, bleeding, unconscious, but it hadn't looked like he'd been shot.

Just Griffin. In the chest, close to his shoulder. He was laying on the ground, not moving, the white shirt he was wearing soaked through with blood. I looked over at Mr. Harrison, trying to find my voice.

"What the hell did you do?" I asked finally, the sound coming out in a croaking noise.

"He hurt my daughter," he grunted, looking at Griffin's lifeless body. "He hurt my son."

I nodded, backing out of the apartment and walking back over to Sam. I was trying to keep my composure, so as not to freak her out, but inside, I was freaking out! This was bad!

"Baby, go upstairs," I told her. "Call 911."

She shook her head slowly. "No. Not without you."

"Baby, Brad's hurt! He's hurt bad! I need you to go upstairs! I don't want you involved in this!"

"NO!" she screamed, grabbing onto my arm.

"GO UPSTAIRS!" I roared. "NOW!"

She backed away, a hurt and slightly fearful look on her face, and I sighed, grabbing her hands.

"Baby, don't look at me like that. I'm sorry I yelled. But I need you to go upstairs, do you understand? You don't need to see this! You're gonna have flashbacks and...you don't need the stress! And Carly needs to know what's going on! But we need to get EMS over here, now!"

"Not without you," she cried. "Freddie..."

"Sam, he's not gonna shoot me," I said flatly, leaning forward to kiss her softly. "Please, baby. Go upstairs."

She just looked at me hesitantly, and I walked her to the elevator, giving her a gentle shove inside and reaching inside to push the '8' button.

"Freddie!" she yelled as the doors closed.

"Call 911!" I yelled back. I waited for the doors to close, before rushing back over to Griffin's apartment, running inside and shoving past Mr. Harrison, who was just standing there. I couldn't read the look on his face, it looked like a mixture of shock that he'd just shot Griffin, and acceptance. I definitely wasn't down with that, and I definitely wasn't cool with him just standing there while his son was unconscious!

"Do something!" I yelled at him. "You're a fucking cop, man! You should be used to this shit! Your son's unconscious and you just shot a twenty year old kid!" My attention went back to Brad, slapping his face lightly. Man, he was in bad shape. He had a gash on his forehead, his lip was split, Griffin must have really done a number on him. Maybe we weren't as tough as we both thought. "Brad! Brad wake up, man! Come on wake up!" I checked to see if he was still breathing, he was, but I noticed the pipe was laying next to him and it had blood on it, and a quick look over at Griffin I noticed he didn't have a gash on his head like Brad did. Fuck. He must have had a concussion.

I left Brad laying on the ground to go over to Griffin, who was just laying there, bleeding profusely. It was eerie. It was dead silent in here, the only sounds I could hear were my own frantic breathing. Oh god, he wasn't breathing. Just bleeding. I hesitantly pressed two fingers to Griffin's jugular, holding them there for a second, and pulled away in horror, looking up at Mr. Harrison, so in shock I fell back on my ass.

"He...he's dead!" I shouted. "You killed him!"

"He hurt my kids," Mr. Harrison responded.

"Quit saying that!" I yelled, standing up. "You should have arrested him! Not shot him! That's not your fucking job! Put the gun down! Help your son!"

Mr. Harrison finally put the gun back in his holster, walking over to Brad and dropping to his knees, checking to make sure he still had a pulse.

"He's still breathing."

"He's lucky," I grunted. "I'm going to wait in the hall, Sam called 911, they should be here soon."

I left Mr. Harrison in there with Brad, with Griffin's body. Oh god, I'd just said body. This was unreal. I'd never even seen an actual dead body, not even my father's because I refused to look in the casket, and this...was indescribable.

I wasn't even sure what happened, not between Brad and Griffin, not between Griffin and Mr. Harrison, and especially not between Griffin and Heather. I hated to say it, but Brad had warned Heather NOT to get involved with an older guy, especially one like Griffin. And now we had a broken teenager in our apartment, an unconscious teenager in Griffin's apartment, and dead twenty year old too. I didn't know what the repercussions of all this would mean. I didn't know what they would do an off-duty Detective who'd just shot a kid at point-blank range. I didn't know what was going to happen to Brad.

This could NOT be happening.

~*Brad*~

God, my head hurt.

That was the first thing I was aware of when I woke up, and then I was confused as to where I was. I lifted a hand to my head, frowning when I felt stitches, and I finally opened my eyes, looking around, and then I realized I was in a hospital room.

Oh, shit.

"Brad?" I heard Carly ask, and I looked to my left to see her sitting next to my hospital bed, staring at me intently.

"Hey," I said softly. "What...what happened?"

"Are you okay?" Carly asked, sounding worried. She reached toward me, grabbing my hand and holding it tightly. "You had a concussion. You were unconscious."

I growled, slightly annoyed. This was NOT how it was supposed to go. I was NOT supposed to be the one laying in a hospital bed!

"I'm gonna kill that guy," I grunted, and Carly let out a sob, covering her face with her free hand. I looked at her in surprise.

"What?" I asked. "What's going on?"

"Brad...he...Griffin's dead," she said in a tone barely above a whisper, and I just stared at her in shock.

"What?" I yelled. "How is that possible? I barely hit him before he got that pipe away from me and started hitting me with it!"

"Your dad. Sam got your dad. He shot him. Griffin's dead."

My eyes widened as Carly's words began to sink in. My dad got involved? Why? Had Sam clued him in on what happened? What was going on now?

"Where is my dad?" I asked, and Carly shrugged.

"The station."

"So he's working?" I asked in surprise, and Carly shook her head.

"They...they can tell it wasn't self defense, Brad. He just...shot him. Cops can go to jail for that too."

"He's IN jail?" I cried, trying to sit up, and groaning when I realized I couldn't. Carly shook her head, her hand going to my shoulder and pushing me back so I'd lay down.

"I don't know if he's been arrested, but he's at the station. That's all I know. The cops showed up at our apartment, and...I don't know anything else."

"Well where's Heather?" I asked.

"She's here. With your mom. When the police took the report, all that stuff came out, so she had to get a rape kit done on her."

"What about Bryson and Leah?"

"Freddie's mom's working the night shift, she's got them, in the cafeteria," Carly replied. "Don't worry about your family, they're okay, Brad."

"What about Sam and Freddie?"

"At the station, giving witness statements. Sam was there. She...she saw it. She saw your dad shoot Griffin. And he's dead!"

"I get that, Carly!" I said. "He's dead, okay? I get it!"

"No, you don't!" Carly shouted. "This is a big deal, Brad! Griffin's dead! Your dad's in major trouble! Your sister...I don't know. She's going to have major problems now, just dealing with this! And I don't know what's going to happen with you! I don't know if they'll press charges on you for attacking him in the first place, I don't know anything!"

I sighed, nodding a little. "Man...this is bad, isn't it?"

"Yeah, it is," she agreed. "It's really bad."

"What do we do?" I asked, and she just shrugged, taking my hand again.

"I don't know. But I'm here, okay? I'm not going anywhere. They have to keep you overnight, for observation, and you can't go back to sleep. I'm supposed to keep you awake now. Now that you're up."

I nodded, looking up at the ceiling, taking a deep breath.

"Brad?" Carly asked, and I looked at her.

"Yeah?"

"Were you really gonna kill him?" she asked softly, and I just sighed.

My rage had worn off, and it had been replaced by shock. Shock at what had happened, and shock at what I was going to do. Freddie was right, going down that path, losing yourself to some evil buried deep inside you, it wasn't good. I hadn't had much of a chance to do much damage to Griffin, I was so frantic, so angry, that I mistepped, he shoved me down, got the pipe out of my hand, and that was it. But if that hadn't happened? Who knows what I would have done?

"I don't know, Carly. I just...I lost it."

She nodded. "Yeah. I can't say I blame you though."

"You don't?" I asked in surprise.

"She's your sister, Brad. You were trying to protect her. But...if you would have gone through with it...you can't turn back from that. You've already done things in the past...the fight with Caleb...Bill..."

"Freddie did most of the work on that," I gruffed, and Carly shrugged.

"Didn't you dislocate his shoulders?" she asked. "Didn't you hit him too?"

"Yeah," I grumbled. "But...Freddie just lost it. He didn't even lose it, really, he was calm the entire time. It was freaky. Scary kind of. Like he'd mapped it all out in his head."

"You lost it, tonight," Carly said softly. I nodded.

"I get it now," I muttered.

"Get what?" she replied, and I shook my head.

"He tried to tell me. He tried to warn me about losing myself. And I didn't listen."

"But you didn't do it, Brad," Carly reminded me, and I shrugged.

"But I was going to. If he hadn't got that pipe away from me. I...I was going to beat his brains in, Carly. That's bad."

"And your dad shot him instead," Carly murmured, and I nodded, slightly troubled by that.

Maybe my dad and I weren't so different after all.

And THAT was a terrifying thought.

~*Freddie*~

I looked through the glass at Sam, who just gave me a look similar to a lost puppy, before the detective came up and shut the blinds, making me growl with irritation. I paced back and forth angrily, spinning around to bark at a cop a few feet away from me.

"Let her out of there!" I yelled. "She didn't do anything!"

"Calm down, son, we have to question her, she was there. She saw the whole thing," he replied casually, looking over a file.

"She's pregnant, you idiot!" I hollered. "How much more do you need to get out of her? The whole thing was over in two minutes! She doesn't need to be in there!"

"I see you haven't calmed down one bit since the last time you were here," the cop remarked, and I just glared at him.

"I see you're still a dick," I shot back, and he gave me Look.

"Calm down. And as soon as we're done with her, you're next."

"When are we going to be able to go home?" I yelled. "We've been here three hours!"

"Look, we still haven't done the official report yet. The detectives are trying to get certain information out of her, before we do that."

I looked at him in shock. "You're coaching her. On what to say."

"You're a smart boy," he replied, amused.

"But...you can't do that! That's obstruction of justice!"

"Kid, you just said she's pregnant. Fast forward a few years. Some piece of shit did that to your daughter, how would you act?" he responded, before looking around quickly and then taking a step toward me. "And what do you think we had to do with you two?" he hissed. "Scrambling around to cover your asses over Detective Powers, at Harrison's order! We take care of our own, deal with it!"

"And I take care of my own," I grunted. "Let my damn wife out of the interrogation room, NOW!"

I was having so much trouble trying to wrap my head around this. One the one hand, they were right. Brad's father was just trying to protect his children. The same way I went to great lengths to protect Sam. On the other hand, I didn't kill anyone. Of course, if Brad and Spencer hadn't pulled me back, I may have. I was inches away from it. But I didn't kill anyone. Mr. Harrison just SHOT Griffin, and now it was like he never existed. I didn't know if Griffin was really a monster, or had just lost his head with Heather. But now we would never know.

This was so hard to process. Part of me completely understood Brad, his father. But another part of me was horrified. Was it wrong, or was it necessary? And that brought up the point of what I'd done, nearly three years ago, was that wrong? Or was THAT necessary? Could I have dealt with it another way? Was I just as bad as Brad's father? Or were we bad at all?

God, ethics were a very slippery slope. It wasn't contingent on who was getting hurt, Sam or Heather. It wasn't about that. I couldn't tell if any of us were right or wrong now. I'd tried making peace with myself when I did what I did, rationalizing that I did it to protect Sam, but I wasn't so sure now. And I couldn't tell if I was trying to protect Sam, or taking out my anger at myself that I hadn't been able to protect her when it happened.

The door to the interrogation room finally opened, and Sam walked out, looking exhausted.

"Baby," I said, my arms going around her. "You okay?"

"I dunno," she whispered. "This is bad."

"Yeah," I agreed. "What did they say?"

"I..." Sam was cut off suddenly when a cop grabbed my arm and pushed me towards the interrogation room.

"You're next, buddy!"

"Dammit!" Sam yelled, kicking the wall.

"I'll be out as soon as possible, baby," I told her, and she nodded.

"Will somebody get me a damn donut?" I heard her yell as the door shut.

I sat down at the table, glaring at the Detective sitting across from me.

"Freddie, I'm Detective O'Malley. Coffee?"

"Why the hell not?" I grunted. "There better not be sugar in there though," I warned him as I snatched the cup off the table, and he gave me an amused look.

"Trying to watch your girlish figure?" he asked.

"Nah, trying to make sure I don't DIE," I hissed. "Diabetic. And I don't have my insulin, so you have about thirty minutes before I need to go back to my apartment, or I will pass out. And if that happens, the little blonde you just interviewed? She'll rip you apart."

Detective O'Malley laughed. "She is pretty feisty. She'd make a good cop if she didn't have such a cluttered juvey record."

My eyebrows went up. "You pulled her file?"

"Oh we pulled yours too. So you were the one behind the Powers attack."

"That was supposed to be expunged," I said, eyeing him carefully.

"Oh, it was. But we still keep tabs on this sort of thing. An unofficial record, if you will. Now, back to business, Freddie. See, Harrison a good detective. A great detective, actually. Bit of a hero cop, but you know that. And you know he was only trying to protect his kids, but...when the media gets a hold of this? A cop killing a twenty year old kid, at point-blank range? It's not gonna be good. The jury will be tainted before we can even pick them out."

"So there is going to be a trial?" I asked. "He's been arrested."

"Unfortunately. But he'll get off."

"How can you be sure?" I asked, and Detective O'Malley shrugged.

"Like the saying goes, we take care of our own. Just going to take some creative maneuvering on our part. Mostly with the witness reports. That's where you and your wife come in. Especially her."

I sighed, leaning back in my chair. "Sam doesn't exactly bend to the will of other people. She's pretty damn strong."

"But she's willing to help, that she said. Of course, she was a little hesitant to sign the report." He slid the paper my way, and I read over it carefully, my eyes widening.

"This never happened. Griffin never laid a hand on Brad's dad. He didn't get the chance. This isn't true."

"It says on the paper it is, that's all we need."

"But you guys are supposed to record everything," I pointed out. "It won't match."

"Equipment failure," he said with a shrug. "Now, we're going to talk about what happened, and in...our own words, you're going to tell me what happened, and then you're gonna sign the witness report. Got it?"

I shook my head. "Nope. I'll cooperate within reason, but this is beyond reason. I'm not going to lie."

"If you don't, that little stunt you pulled a few years back? The Powers case? That might just be re-examined."

I stared at him in disbelief. "You can't do that. It'd pull Detective Harrison in too."

"No, just you. And your friends...Spencer Shay, and...Gibby Gibson?" he asked, making a face as he read over a file. "It'd be a shame for you to have to go to jail, what with a kid on the way, and such a bright future. Assault on a police officer? You'd never get out."

I took a deep breath, shaking my head. This was unbelievable. I couldn't believe this was happening. As much as I was still on the fence about this whole thing, I didn't want to see Brad's father go to jail, but what I did want was for things to be fair. A fair trial, one that wasn't fixed. And I didn't want to lie!

But what choice did I have? I guess I always knew what happened in the ravine would come back to bite me in the ass one day, just not like this. I sighed, looking up at him.

"Fine. I'll sign the witness report. But I will NOT lie on the stand. You put me up there, this whole thing falls apart."

"Oh, don't worry about that," Detective O'Malley responded with a wave of his hand. "It's fine. We know you won't lie on the stand."

"Good, because..."

"But she will," he interrupted me, pointing toward the door, and I knew he was talking about Sam.

I shook my head. "You're wrong. Sam's not like that anymore. She's a good person."

"Sam's a smart girl. She understands things. And besides, you can't turn a bad girl good. You should know that by now."

I didn't respond, just shook my head. He didn't know Sam. I don't know what he said to her, but I'd get it out of her soon. As soon as I got out of this damn place.

"Let's just get this over with," I growled.


	37. Chapter 37: In the Company of Wolves

**A/N: Just wanted to say thanks to my amazing reviewers, you guys keep me going! I don't want to name exact names in case I forget a few people, but you know who are, I love you guys!**

**Chapter Thirty Seven:  
>In the Company of Wolves<strong>

~*Brad*~

"Sam and Freddie are on their way," Carly told me as she walked back into the room. "I snuck you in a Peppy Cola."

"Thanks, babe," I replied. She sat back down next to me, popping open the can of soda and putting in a straw, before lifting it to my lips. "You're pretty good at this whole nurse thing," I commented, giving her a smile, and she shrugged.

"I try. How's your head?"

"It hurts," I replied. "So what's taking them so long? Sam and Freddie, I mean?"

"I guess witness reports take awhile?" she replied. "And then they had to go back to the apartment, you know, so Freddie wouldn't go all comatose. But Sam called me, they'll be here in like eight minutes. She's pretty shaken up."

"Did she tell you at all what happened?" I asked, and she shook her head.

"Just that your dad...you know. And she said she'll tell us what happened at the precinct when they get here."

"Man, I really hope they don't charge him," I commented, and she nodded.

"I really hope they don't charge YOU!" she said pointedly.

"So what do you think about all of this, Carly?" I asked her, and she hesitated.

"It...it got out of control, didn't it? I mean, like I said, I understand why it happened, but...I didn't think it needed to go that far. He needed to be in jail. Not dead."

I nodded. "I understand where you're coming from, but...it happened, right? Now we have to deal with it."

"Yeah," she said softly. "I just don't know HOW much we're going to have to deal with, and on what level."

"Me neither, babe."

We sat there in silence for a little while, and then I looked up suddenly when I heard the door open, revealing Sam and Freddie.

"Yo," Freddie said. "What up?"

I shrugged. "You tell me. Apparently I missed most of it."

"A lot," Sam sighed, sitting down on the chair that was on the other side of my bed. "Are you okay, Brad?"

"Yeah, I'm fine blondie. Just a concussion."

Sam laughed. "Just? Those things are pretty nasty. Been there, remember?"

"Yeah, I remember..." I trailed off.

"Of course, I could really feel it, most of the pain was centered on my shattered ribs, and..."

"Enough, Sam!" Freddie growled, and Sam shot him a Look, but kept her mouth shut.

"So...so what happened at the station?" I asked, and Sam shrugged.

"Uh...lots of questions," Sam said softly. "And we both had to sign witness reports. But I think it's going to be okay. Your dad will get out, and..."

"Out?" I cried, sitting up suddenly, and Freddie and Sam looked at me in surprise.

"Carly didn't tell you?" Freddie asked. "He's in jail."

"What, like...county?" I asked. "They can't put him in there! He's put half those guys behind bars!"

"Calm down, he's just in a holding cell at the station, until they figure out what's going to happen. They haven't even given him a bail yet."

I sat there for a moment, thinking. "So what has he been charged with?"

"Manslaughter," Sam said softly. "I mean, it's better than murder one, or even second degree, but it's still pretty serious..."

"Yeah, no shit..." I replied. "He's going to have a really high bail, you know that?"

Everyone looked over at Freddie wordlessly, and he sighed.

"I know what you're getting at, Brad," Freddie responded.

"Yeah, and?" I pushed, and he just nodded.

"Done. See, and you guys called me a miser. Be glad I'm a miser, because you guys wanted to go crazy with the money we were making, and I said no. And now because I said no, we have a massive pile of cash, perfect for dealing with this kind of thing!"

"Yes, Freddie, we get it. You're always right. You love hearing that, don't you?" Carly asked, and Freddie shrugged.

"Kind of. Okay, but moving on...as soon as we find out the bail, we'll deal with it. Alright? Now, when are you going to get out of here?"

I groaned. "I have to stay overnight. For observation."

"Oh goodie. That's always fun," Freddie grunted. "At least you don't have to constantly get poked over and over."

"Well, whatever," I replied. I heard a soft knock at my door, and we all turned around.

"Bradley?"

"Mom!" I exclaimed. "What are you..."

"I came to check on you!" she replied, stepping inside the door. I looked over at Carly in shock, who just shrugged, looking as surprised as I was. Holy hell! My mom was here! Aside from running into her at Sam's doctor that day, I hadn't seen the woman since the day I decided not to go to the academy.

"We'll just...go. Give you some privacy," Freddie said, grabbing Sam's hand and pulling her to feet.

"Yeah, I think I'm gonna go too," Carly added, standing up.

"Stay, babe," I told her, and she shook her head.

"No. You need to be alone with your mom."

"He won't be alone," my mom replied. "I brought some people to see you."

My eyes widened, even more in shock, my breath catching in my throat. Oh god, please, please please. "You mean..."

"Your father can't tell me what to do while he's sitting in a jail cell," she replied.

Sam reached out and grabbed Carly's arm, yanking her towards the door. "Come on, Carls. Your boy's about to cry..."

"I am not!" I yelled, and Sam just gave e a smirk, before walking out the door with Carly, scooting by my mom, who just stood there, staring at me, before speaking softly.

"I'm sorry, Bradley. Honey, I shouldn't have put this off for so long. But your father, he..."

I held my hand up. "It's alright mom. I know how dad can be."

"But he was trying to protect you, you know that, right?" she asked.

"And Heather."

"Yes, and Heather. But you too. He loves you Bradley, he's just very..."

"Disappointed?" I finished, and she nodded. "I'm a little disappointed in myself, the way I turned out, but I'm working through it."

"You'll be fine, honey," she replied. "I'm glad you're okay."

"How's Heather?"

"Still shaken up. She's talking to a counselor right now..."

"Does she know? About Dad? And Griffin?"

My mom shook her head. "We haven't told her yet. She doesn't even know you're here."

"You should probably tell her. I know she's got a lot to deal with herself, but..."

"We will. After this night's over."

"We?" I asked. "Dad's in the slammer," I reminded her and she just sighed.

"I meant you and I, Bradley. This separation business has gone on long enough. Bryson misses you, this acting out that Heather's been doing...it's because you're not around. And it's only going to worse now. Heather needs her older brother in her life. They all do."

I took a deep breath, trying to steady myself. Damn Sam, I hated when the girl was right, but I was seriously trying not to cry right now. My mom just gave me a smile, turning around to say something outside the door, and then Bryson walked in. He looked like he'd gotten a little taller, I hadn't seen him in a few months, but what really shocked me was what he was carrying, my baby sister, Leah.

Oh man. I hadn't seen Leah since the day I'd told my dad I wasn't going to the academy. Two years ago. I didn't even recognize the little girl Bryson was carrying. Leah was three now, she still had those big blue eyes and that adorable pouty mouth, but her hair had gotten a lot longer, done up in adorable little blonde pigtails. She was wearing a pink jacket that was so puffy she couldn't even put her arms at her sides, over a light pink sweatsuit with butterflies on it. She looked so damn cute. God I missed that little girl.

"Hey little dude," I greeted Bryson, and he just looked at me worriedly.

"Brad, are you okay?" he asked, and I nodded.

"I'm fine, just...had to take care of some things, that's all."

"I know," Bryson replied sadly. "I mean, I don't know, because NO ONE WILL TELL ME WHAT'S GOING ON!" he yelled pointedly, looking at our mother, but I just shook my head.

"Don't yell at her like that, Bry. You're too young to get this right now, okay?"

"I'm not that young," he said flatly.

"You're nine, dude."

"I'm almost ten!"

"Whoopty-doo, you're still too young!" I replied. "Now drop it."

Bryson let it go, focusing his attention on Leah. "Lee-lee, you know who this is, right?"

I sighed, leaning back. "She probably doesn't even remember me."

"BWAD!" Leah shouted, squirming a bit in Bryson's arms, and he put her down, smirking as she bounded over my bed, trying to climb up. She gave up quickly, climbing onto the chair first and then launching herself on top of me. I laughed as she threw her arms around me, laying her head on my chest. I hugged her tightly, kissing her on top of her head.

"Lee-lee."

"Bwad Bwad Bwad."

I nearly melted at that. I loved the hell out of my baby sister, and I'd missed her a lot. I was amazed, two years had gone by and she'd still remembered me? It was incredible! My god, she'd gotten so big, she'd grown up so much. I was really trying to hold it in now, and failing miserably. Leah lifted her tiny head up to look at me.

"Bwad, you have a boo-boo," she observed, poking at my stitches.

"Ouch!" I said, pulling her hand away. "Don't touch."

"Otay," she replied, laying her head back down. "Bwad I missed you."

"I missed you too, Lee-lee."

"Will you come home now?"

I sighed, my hand going to rub up and down the little girl's back. "I can't move back in, Lee-lee, but I'll be around more now." I looked up at my mom. "Right?"

She nodded. "Definitely."

~*Sam*~

"Do you think we should have told him?" I asked Freddie in a soft tone of voice as we walked down the hallway. Freddie shook his head. Carly was walking a few feet behind us, lost in thought, and we didn't want her to hear us. We were still trying to figure this whole thing out.

"Not right now. He's got enough to deal with, and I don't know how he'd react anyway."

"What do you mean?" I asked, and he frowned suddenly.

"That we're putting up resistance? After what happened with you?" I stared at him for a second, so long that Freddie had to grab my arm and jerk me to the side to keep me from running into a beam. "Careful!" he chided, and I rolled my eyes.

"But...are we putting up resistance?" I asked, and Freddie looked at me like I'd just said something in Sanskrit.

"Sam!" he hissed, looking over at Carly to make sure she wasn't listening to us. "They are blackmailing us. They're blackmailing me! Do you not get that? Blackmailing us to get us to LIE!"

I shook my head. "I have to lie."

"Why?" he responded. "Because of what that detective said to you? It was just an empty threat, Sam!"

"No, it wasn't!" I shot back. "I've dealt with Detective O'Malley before, I know what he's like!"

Freddie looked at me, surprised. "How do you know him?"

"He arrested me. When I was thirteen. Vandalism."

"That's the guy?" Freddie hissed. "But you ended up getting cleared for that!"

"That's the only thing I got cleared for," I said with a roll of my eyes. "Insufficient evidence, nobody ever saw me do it, just went on a whim. Because I was in the area. But yeah, he's an asshole. You do NOT fuck with O'Malley, Freddie. And...yeah. He's right. If all this gets back out, it's over for us. And Spencer. And Gibby! You're gonna have to bite your tongue on this one, Freddie."

"But..." he started, and I shook my head.

"Besides. I owe Mr. Harrison. Do you hear me? I owe him big time! Just like I owe Spencer. If I refuse to do this, that whole case is going to be re-opened, Spencer will go down too, and he saved my life, Freddie. You and the boys got revenge, but Spencer SAVED MY LIFE. I'm not gonna pull him into this. And like I said, I owe Mr. Harrison, so..." I shrugged. "I gotta do what I gotta do."

"Sam," Freddie said, taking my hand. "You put all that stuff behind you. Lying, stealing, all of that. All that progress you made, do you want to throw that away?"

"No, I don't!" I replied. "Not at all! But if it means saving your ass, and Spencer's, and Gibby's, then yeah, I'll do it! And anyway, it's already done, Freddie!"

"No it's not!" Freddie shot back. "It's started, yeah, but it's not done. You are going to have to lie on the stand, Sam. In front of a jury, in front of a judge, they'll make you swear before God, so think about that! And think about having to look Griffin's parents in the eye while you do that! Griffin did NOT attack Brad's father. You know that, I know that, and Mr. Harrison knows that. He deserved to be in jail, not dead."

"And what about what Bill did to me?" I asked. "Did he deserve that? Or did he deserve to just be in jail?"

"He is in jail, Sam! Military prison. For something he DID. He was a draft dodger. That's what he got put away for. Not for what he did to you."

"No, he just got beat within an inch of his life for what he did."

"And he deserved it, Sam!" Freddie cried, and I shrugged.

"And maybe Griffin deserves to be lying on a concrete slab in the morgue for what he did."

Freddie shook his head slowly, staring at me. "You don't mean that. I can tell."

"Well I'd better get used to saying it, right?"

"What do you think should have happened, Sam? You're the law student, you study this shit, what do YOU think should have happened? I did to Bill what he did to you, almost exactly! Right down to the broken bones. Griffin didn't kill anyone. We don't even know..." He trailed off, letting out a deep sigh. "Forget it."

I stared at him. "We don't even know what, Freddie?"

"We don't know exactly what happened between him and Heather."

I glared at him, shocked. "I can't believe you just said that."

"Sam...I..." he trailed off, taking a deep breath. "I know what it feels like to lose control. When you're in the heat of the moment. I've done it with you before."

"And you stop when you get like that!" I replied. "He didn't, Freddie! That's the difference. He didn't stop. He didn't give her the choice. She's fourteen!"

"And she knew better than to get involved with an older guy, especially one like Griffin, Sam! You know I'm right on this!"

I sighed, shaking my head. "Look, I get what you're saying, but...you don't know what it's like to be that young, and that scared, and..."

"No, baby, I get it. I know what it was like for you. I know what it was like for your sister. I understand that. But what I'm saying is, I don't agree with how this is playing out. I'm going along with it because I have no choice! But it shouldn't have been like this! Griffin should be in jail, not dead!"

"Mr. Harrison was trying to defend Brad! And you don't think Brad should have beaten him senseless?"

"No, I completely agree with you on that part, Sam. I wanted to do it myself, but we can't do that and expect to get away with it any more! We're not kids, and we didn't have anyone backing us up this time! And now look at what's happened! Look at all the fucking damage!"

"But it's being taken care of!" I replied. "They're gonna get Brad's father off, things will go right back to the way they used to be."

"No, they won't, Sam. And we're getting pulled into something we had NOTHING to do with!" Freddie responded. "I had to lie, you're going to have to lie over and over. In a court of law. And that's something you WANT. You want a career in law, and that's all about to be tainted for you! You're going to go into it knowing how corrupt the system is!"

"And I'm going to fix the corruption!" I shouted, and Freddie grabbed my arm.

"Don't you get it?" he hissed. "We are a PART of the corruption. We are contributing to the corruption. Do you not get that?"

I shook my head. "Griffin should have known better."

"And Mr. Harrison should have known better too. Think about this for a second, I don't know if Heather knows yet or not, but when she finds out Griffin's dead, she's not going to be happy. Regardless of what happened to her. She's going to feel guilty. And feeling responsible for someone else's death? Carrying that weight on your shoulders? I cannot even begin to describe to you what that feels like. It's horrible. And I felt it every fucking day for eleven years. And now she's going to feel it too!"

"It wasn't her fault, Freddie," I said with a shake of my head, and he nodded.

"Just like it wasn't my fault my father died. But I felt it anyway. It tears you apart. And the girl has been through enough already, she doesn't need to do deal with that too! And she's going to blame herself for her father being in jail too!"

"What do you want me to do, Freddie?" I asked, my hands going up in the air, completely forgetting we were trying to be quiet. "You want me to refuse? So you can go to jail? Is that what you want? You want to spend your life in jail? You want me to try and raise this baby by myself, with a father in jail? Is that what you want?"

"No, Sam!" Freddie shouted. "I don't! And I don't know what to do! I know what has to be done, but I don't want to do it! And I don't want you to do it either! I don't want us involved with this! Dammit, Sam! We keep getting pulled into shit, and I'm TIRED of it!"

"I'm tired of it too!" I yelled. "But I don't know what else to do! We can't act like nothing's happening, we have to deal with this!"

"Maybe I don't want to deal with it!" he shouted. "Maybe I..." he paused suddenly, taking a deep breath, and I looked at him in concern.

"Freddie?" I asked, but he didn't respond, just kept sucking in gasps of air. "Freddie...oh god."

"I can't fucking breathe," he said between breaths.

"Fuck, not another panic attack, sit down baby." I pushed him against the wall, and he slid down it slowly until he reached the ground, his head hanging down.

God, not this again. He hadn't had a panic attack in months! I knelt down in front of him, rubbing his shoulders, trying to get to calm down.

"Baby, look at me. Breathe. Slowly."

"I...I can't...fuck...this is so bad...I can't."

"Oh god, is he okay?" Carly asked as she rushed over, a worried expression on her face.

"Panic attack," I said in monotone, focusing my attention on Freddie. "Breathe, baby. Come on. Relax. It's okay. Relax."

Freddie closed his eyes, taking in deep, rhythmic breaths, slowly, and he finally managed to calm down, looking up at me.

"I can't deal with this," he said finally.

"We have to," I responded softly. "Baby, we have to."

"What's going on?" Carly asked. "Freddie, why are you freaking out? We're gonna bail his dad out, it's gonna be fine, it's..."

"Carly!" I replied, looking up at her. "Not now. Okay? You don't know everything that's going on!"

"Then explain it to me, Sam. Because your husband looks like he's going to have a heart attack, and I don't know why!"

I looked back at Freddie, who just shrugged, finally standing back up and pulling me to my feet. "Tell her."

"I don't think that's such a good idea," I replied, shaking my head, and he glared at me.

"Tell her! She needs to know!"

"Know what?" Carly cried. "You guys, what happened?"

I took a deep breath, crossing my arms over my chest. "At the station, I may have said some things that weren't true. And they may have went on the police report. And Freddie did the same."

"What?" Carly exclaimed. "Why? Why would you do that, Sam? Why would both of you do that? Freddie! You never lie!"

"Because I had to, okay?" he shot back, and Carly looked at me wordlessly.

"Look, the witness report says that I took Brad's father to Griffin's apartment because Griffin had set Brad up for something. To get attacked. And he let it slip to me."

Carly stared at me, shocked. "Brad and Griffin aren't friends. Why would he go there and fall for a set up? Did they think about that? And you don't talk to Griffin."

"According to the report, we're friends. We're all friends. Until Griffin raped Heather, that is. Anyway, the report says that Griffin wanted to get Brad before Brad could get Griffin, I knew about it, so I took Brad's father there. And Brad was on the ground unconscious, that part's true, but then Griffin attacked Brad's father. And that's why he shot him. That's what the report says."

"But that's not what happened?" Carly asked, and I shook my head.

"No! We walked in, saw Griffin beating the shit out Brad, and his dad just open-fired on him! And then he was dead!"

"God..." Carly said, looking down at the ground, before looking up at me quizzically. "So...so why would you guys lie like that?"

"Because they wanted us to, Carly! The way it happened, Brad's father has...maybe a 50/50 shot at getting off. But the way it's written in the report? It makes it look like self-defense. He'll definitely get off for that."

"But that still doesn't explain why you guys lied!" she exclaimed. "What's going on?"

"Because if we don't, my juvey record gets opened back up," I replied. "Bye-bye job opportunities. And...if we don't..."

"The ravine," Freddie put in. "What happened in the ravine gets re-examined. All of it. The attack, the drugs, all of it, Carly. And you know what that means. I go to jail. Everything falls apart."

"Oh my god," Carly whispered, her hand over her mouth.

"Don't worry, you're fine," I told her, putting my hand on her shoulder. "Your name didn't get brought up."

"But I planted stuff too," she whispered. "Oh my god."

"It's fine, Carls. They didn't name you. But..."

"Spencer," Carly said suddenly, and I nodded.

"Yeah, Spencer goes down too. And Gibby. I can't let that happen. And...Freddie would go to jail. They all would. I can't do that."

"So...you both lied, on the witness report, and that's it, right? It's over?" Carly asked, and I shook my head.

"No. I'm the key witness, Carly. I saw all of it. And that means..."

"You get put on the stand," Carly finished, and I nodded. "And you have to lie all over again."

"Yeah! I don't want to do it, Carly. I mean...I owe Mr. Harrison, big time. But...I don't want to do this. I'm not like that any more. I'm not a liar. I've changed. A lot. But I have to. I have to do this. For Freddie, for Spencer, for Gibby, and most of all for Mr. Harrison. If I don't...then it's like a slap in the face to all of them."

"That's not true, Sam," Carly said with a shake of her head. "It's not fair they're bringing what happened into...this."

"You're right, it's not," I agreed. "But I have to go through with this. And Freddie doesn't want me to, but HE DOESN'T GET IT!" I yelled at Freddie, who just shook his head.

"I get it, alright? I fucking get it, Sam! But that doesn't change the fact that I don't want you to go through this! You've been through enough! And..."

"And what?" Carly asked.

"Nothing. I wanna beat the shit out of that detective. The one that took the report. He..."

"What?" Carly asked. "What did he do?"

"I don't want to talk about it," I said softly. "Just re-hashing bad shit, okay?"

"Okay," Carly said softly. "I just...I wish you didn't have to deal with this."

"I know, Carly. Believe me, I know. If you could understand for one second..."

"Actually," Carly interrupted me. "I understand blackmail. I understand it perfectly."

"What?" I asked, surprised, and Freddie and I both stared at her. "What does that mean?"

"Nothing. I'm dropping History. Tomorrow. After Brad gets out of the hospital."

"Okay, I'm confused. One, what does dropping History have to do with blackmail, and two, why are you dropping? You're almost done, Carly!"

"The TA," she replied, crossing her arms over her chest and looking like she was about to cry. "He..."

"What, Carly?" Freddie asked. "What's wrong?"

"He changed my answers on my test!" she cried. "That's why I failed. Because I turned him down, and slapped him. And he says that if I don't give him what he wants, it's just gonna get worse! And I don't know what he's capable of, you guys! I don't know how he got my number, he keeps showing up at random places all over campus, and...if I tell Brad, who knows what'll happen? What if...what if what happened tonight happens again? Brad SNAPPED. I don't want him to do that again!"

Freddie and I looked at each other in shock, our eyes wide. That little fucker! I was going to kill that damned TA!

"And plus, if I tell Brad, Matthew's going to tell him that we kissed! And then it'll be over between us! Oh my god! This is so bad! I mean, today was horrible! First the whole thing with Matthew, and then Heather, and now Griffin's dead, and..."

"Shay!" I hollered, grabbing her shoulders and shaking them. "Calm it down! I can't have both of you having panic attacks!"

I stepped away, glaring at both them. "You two are gonna have to man up on this shit! We don't do this, remember?"

"Do what?" Carly asked.

"FREAK OUT!" I replied. "This is bullshit!" I began pacing back and forth. "You know something? We're all getting soft. All of us. Myself included! We all thought the bad days were over, but guess what? They're back! We can't pretend it didn't happen." I looked at Carly pointedly. "And we can't run from our problems." Another pointed look at Freddie. "We have to face them head on."

"So what does that mean, Sam?" Freddie asked.

"It means we man up! We're fucking adults, we should be able to handle this shit!"

"We shouldn't have to handle it, Sam!"

"Well we do!" I yelled. "Whether you like it or not, Freddie, we DO! And I'm gonna deal with it. The only way I can." I gave him a determined look. "Now you listen. From now on, what it says on that paper? It happened. I'm gonna take the stand, do what I gotta do, and then it's done. And the Bill shit? It goes away forever."

"Sam..."

"Freddie!" I snapped. "This is important! We have to do it the way they want it! We don't have a choice! I'm not letting you go down for this shit! End of discussion! I just have to lie for five minutes, and it's dead. Like Griffin."

"Sam!" Carly exclaimed, and I shrugged.

"No use in denying it, Carly. He's dead. It's over. And pretty soon, this whole thing will be over. Now, your TA situation?"

"Yeah," she asked. "What should I do?"

I sighed, letting out a deep breath. "Drop the class."

"And what if it doesn't work."

"Then I'll handle it," Freddie spoke up, and we both looked at him, surprised.

"What are you gonna do?"

"I haven't thought that far yet. But don't worry. My days of beating the shit out of people are over. It always comes back to bite me in the ass. I'm done with that." He turned to look at me. "Sam, I need food, and I wanna go talk to my mom."

"Don't you dare say anything about this, Freddie," I warned him and he shook his head.

"I'm not. I just want to see how she's doing, that's all."

"Okay," I replied. "Carly, go check on Brad, okay?"

"He's with his family," Carly said with a shrug.

"Carly...I know the engagement's off the table for now, but it might not be forever. So one day those people might be your family. So go mingle," I replied, and with that Freddie took my arm, leading me down the hallway.

As we walked through the cafeteria, I kept replaying over and over what the detective had said to me. He explained why I needed to lie so that the case would go off like a shot, and even though I knew I owed Brad's father for everything he had done, I'd refused at first.

But then they pulled my file. My juvey file, and the police report cataloging the whole Bill situation. O'Malley gave me the in-depth report of exactly what Freddie had done to Bill. And then he explained how long Freddie would be put away for for doing that.

I was still trying to hold onto the hope that he was bluffing, until he mentioned that if the Bill case got turned over, my mom's appeal would go through flawlessly. And Bill? He'd get out, and get time served for the draft dodging business. Special treatment for years of good service as a good policeman. What a joke. Bill, good.

I'd held out, as long as I possibly could, but then they pulled the one card they needed to win the whole game, and I hadn't stood a chance.

I didn't know there were pictures on record. Pictures of what had happened the night Bill attacked me. But there were. High-res pictures. Cataloging each and every minute detail of my injuries. I saw the burns, the bruises, my head, the way my arms were twisted and bent back. But the worst part had been looking at my ribs. I was amazed I didn't throw up then and there. But it was disgusting. Most of them were caved in, two of them had broken clean through my skin. It was enough to make me sick.

And it was enough to put the fear of God in me. Or in the case, the fear of Bill. With Freddie on the line, and the chance of Bill and my mom getting out very real now, I'd signed it. I'd caved like a pansy and signed it. And now I couldn't get those photos out of my head.

I hadn't told Freddie about them. The last thing I wanted was for him to go postal on another cop and screw everything up for himself. And for us. And for the baby.

I was trying to hold it together, do what I needed to do. I owed Brad's father. I kept telling myself that over and over. It was the only way I was going to get through it. Whether Griffin deserved it or not, lying on the stand like that? The idea of it bothered me. I'd tried so hard over the years to get all that bad stuff out of my system. The one thing keeping everything from falling apart was going back to the person I'd tried so hard to stop being.

Oh, irony. You sick fuck.

~*Carly*~

I watched Freddie and Sam walk down the hall, and I just sighed to myself worriedly. This wasn't good. Any time Sam went all tough girl on everyone it meant she was dealing with some really rough shit. Who knows what was going through her head?

What I did know was that...man, we were a bunch of stupid kids for thinking all that stuff with Bill wouldn't come back to haunt us one day. Now it was being used as a bargaining chip. Sam lying on the stand to prevent her husband from going to jail. It wasn't right. And what if something else happened in the future, where it could be used against them again? And Spencer! He was involved too! Everyone's ass was on the line now, all of it hinging on whether Sam lied on the stand or not. It was so hard to process.

And I was still having trouble wrapping my head around EVERYTHING. Brad flipping out like that, honestly scared me a lot. He seemed to be okay now, but...it was disconcerting, to say the least. I never worried about Brad hurting me. He had this thing about guys attacking women, it drove him crazy, and he wouldn't put up with it. He'd even once told me that sometimes Freddie and Sam made him a little nervous, the way they got rough sometimes behind closed doors. Not to mention the way his parents were.

Ugh, I couldn't believe Brad's dad was in jail. Now, him shooting Griffin to protect Brad AND Heather? That I got. 100%. But couldn't he have nailed the kid in the leg or somewhere that it wouldn't have killed him? It would have been better if he went to jail. Or got the crap kicked out of him, and THEN went to jail. I remember when all the Bill stuff happened a few years ago, Freddie had said, "there are worse things than death." Maybe he was right. Justice wasn't really being served, it was being doled out in a corrupt way. A corrupt way that had pulled my two best friends into it.

But, like I said, I was still torn. The most frightening thing of all had been the realization of what Griffin had done. Heather was fourteen. When I dated Griffin, I was fourteen. I'd been alone with him. In his room. On several occasions. It could have been me. I was grateful that I'd gotten out when I did. Because I couldn't get over his obsession with Pee-Wee babies. I guess for once in my life, my shallowness had come in handy for something!

Ugh, Carly, don't make jokes now, this is serious! Brad is in a hospital bed, Sam is dealing with all kinds of bad stuff in her head, and Freddie just had a full-blown panic attack! And Griffin is in the morgue, dead. How could things have gotten so messed up?

Ugh, and there was STILL the whole thing with Matthew to deal with. I was very, very nervous about this. I knew I had to drop the class, but what if it didn't work? What if he still pursued me, still followed me around? What else was he capable of doing?

And now I couldn't even tell Brad, because I was afraid he'd go postal again, and I was terrified he'd find out that Matthew kissed me! I was over a barrel, totally.

God, everything was falling apart around me, and we were only two months into the year. Fan-freaking-tastic!

With a sigh, I turned back around to head back to Brad's room, looking through the window. Brad's mom was sitting on the foot of his bed, Bryson was sitting on the chair next to his bed, just talking away. But the sweetest part was Leah, just laid out on top of Brad, her little head tucked underneath his chin. She may have even been asleep.

As close as Brad and Bryson were, and as much as he loved Heather, Brad had always had a special place in his heart for little Leah. His parents spent so much time at parties, working, and...being in the room, that Brad had taken on a lot of the responsibilities of caring for Leah himself. They were so close, so attached to each other, until the falling out with Brad's father, and it had absolutely killed Brad. He loved her to death. And now they were together again.

It was so incredibly sweet. Brad looked so content right now, even though he was laying in a hospital bed, his head stitched up, father in jail. He kept toying with one of Leah's little pigtails as he and Bryson talked. He'd make a good father one day.

I frowned suddenly. Well damn. Where the hell did THAT come from? Why was I thinking about Brad being a father all of a sudden? Maybe it was all the stress. That had to be it.

We'd agreed, no talking about marriage, no talking about kids. Not until we were ready. And jumping back and forth like that, in a matter of weeks? Nope, not happening. He wouldn't take me seriously. I wasn't even taking myself seriously right now, at least not in that regard.

Right now, I had other things to do deal with. Brad's injuries, all the drama that was sure to come in the next few weeks. We had Brad's birthday coming up, Freddie's mom's wedding, and now apparently a trial.

Fabulous.


	38. Chapter 38: While All the Vultures Feed

**A/N: I hope you're all enjoying my drama cake! Layers and layers of delicious drama, one on top of the other, all blending together as one! LOL, forgive me, it's nearly 4 AM, and I'm a little loopy. Last chapter of the night, will start fresh tomorrow! Anyway, this gets a little intense in the beginning, and no, things will not be slowing down soon, but everyone just hold on, because you know I never end a story on a bad note!**

**Chapter Thirty Eight:  
><strong>**While All the Vultures Feed**

~*Sam*~

I winced in pain as I felt myself hit the ground, the heavy weight on my back almost unbearable.

Fuck, this was really going to hurt, I thought to myself. I tried to get up, but couldn't. I couldn't move. It was so heavy. It hurt so bad. My head hurt. Everything hurt.

I let out a shriek of pain at the stinging sensation I felt at the back of my neck, but I couldn't move. It was like I was frozen. Why couldn't I move? Oh god, WHY COULDN'T I MOVE?

Then there was that voice. That evil, taunting, chilling voice that made my blood run cold.

"That was the worst mistake you ever could have made, little girl," Bill said with a laugh. And then it happened. That swift kick to my side, the one that hit so hard it flipped me onto my back. And then he brought his boot down again, and the little bit of air I had left in my lungs was squeezed out as I felt...and heard...that terrible crunching, cracking noise, the pain unbearable.

"AAAAAAAHHHHHHHH!" I let out a scream so hard it hurt my throat.

"Baby? Sam!" I felt two arms at my shoulders, and I quickly sat up, my eyes popping open, and both of my hands flying to my ribcage. I realized I was sitting in the dark. I was in bed. It was a dream.

"Sam?" Freddie asked again, his hands going to either side of my face to turn it towards him. One of my hands left my ribs, going to his chest and pushing him away.

"Don't," I whispered in a choked voice. I didn't want to be touched right now. That dream. It was so real. I'd had many before, but this one was really real, like it was happening all over again. I pushed my shirt up to get closer to my ribs, running my fingers over my scar. Where they'd broken through my skin. The blood. There was so much blood. It had hurt so bad. It'd taken so long to heal, it...

"Sam, baby..." I heard Freddie say as he leaned over to turn the lamp on, before going back to me. "Did you have a nightmare?" He put his hand on my back, but I pushed him away again.

"Stop!" I yelled. "Just stop!"

"Sam!" he cried, his voice sounding pained. "Baby...come on. It's me."

I was quiet, still feeling my ribs, and Freddie sighed. "You had the dream again, didn't you?"

"It was so fucking real. It hurt. It fucking hurt."

"Baby, it's okay," he whispered, trying to touch me again, sighing when I pushed him away again.

"Baby, please! I can't stand seeing you like this! Stop pushing me away!"

"I can't help it, okay?" I cried, not even looking at him.

"Baby," Freddie started, and I still didn't look at him. "He's not going to get out. That cop was just trying to scare you, okay? He..."

"I saw the pictures," I blurted out, and Freddie stopped talking, staring at me.

"What?" he asked. "What pictures?"

"The pictures. The pictures cops take for evidence in abuse cases. I saw them. I saw my face, I saw the burns. I saw the way my arms were all twisted and just hanging from my shoulders...just...just fucking hanging. Just skin holding them on."

"God..." Freddie growled. "That fucking son of a bitch. I swear to god..."

"And...and...my shoulder. And my arm was broken...and my ribs. My fucking ribs. Oh my god. They..." I took a deep breath, trying to calm myself.

"Baby, stop it," Freddie told me, tentatively placing his hand on my back, but I jerked away again.

"Why are they doing this?" I whispered. "Why are they fucking doing this? What if it's not enough? What if I lie and they still want more? What if they let him out anyway? What if..."

"Sam, stop it," Freddie replied. "He's not going to get out. You know that. And even if he could, the guy can't hurt you. I told you. I made sure of it. I fucked him up, baby."

"I got better!" I shouted. "He could have too!"

"No, he couldn't have," Freddie said flatly. "I...nevermind."

"He can get out, Freddie!" I shouted, getting off the bed and standing up. "And...oh my god. The pictures. You should have seen them, they were so bad, they..."

"I saw you the night it happened!" he replied. "I never want to see it again!"

"You didn't see my ribs!" I yelled. "You didn't see them! They were crushed in, and broken, and sticking out of my skin, all jagged, and there was blood! When it happened! There was blood everywhere! I couldn't move, and my shoulders were twisted back and it hurt so bad, my ribs...they fucking hurt, and I was just lying in this pool of my own blood, it was all over me, and..." I trailed off as I felt my stomach turn, my tongue go stiff. Oh, god. Not this again.

"Sam?" Freddie asked, sounding slightly panicked as he got off the bed and rushed over to me. "Baby?"

"I..." I started, but that's all I got out before I fell to my knees and threw up all over the floor, before I started to cry. "Dammit! Damn it! Look what I fucking did! Look what that fucking bastard did to me. Fuck..." I was beyond crying now, it was full blown sobbing, and Freddie dropped down to his knees.

"Baby, it's okay. Come here..." he started, but I shoved at his chest hard.

"Stop it! Just stop! Don't fucking touch me!" My hands were shaking. My whole body was shaking. I leaned against the wall, and I tried to hug my knees to my chest, but it was getting harder to do because the baby was getting bigger.

"Baby, please calm down!" Freddie cried. "Please! You can't get this worked up! The baby!"

"Oh my god. The baby," I sobbed. "What if he gets out? He'll hurt my baby. Oh god. Oh god..."

Freddie stood up, and I didn't look up at him. I couldn't. I just stared off into space, still crying, gasping in surprise when I felt Freddie's arms go around me and pick me up.

"Put me down!" I shrieked, but he ignored me, laying me down in the bed.

"You need to get off the floor," he said in a calm voice. "Now lay down, I'm gonna go get the cleaning stuff. I'll be right back, okay?"

I didn't respond, and he just sighed, walking out of the room and shutting the door behind me.

I just kept crying. Why did I have that horrible dream? And god, why was I pushing my husband away? I didn't mean to, I just kept thinking about the attack, and I was so scared. I was trying so hard to be tough, but those photos had really gotten to me.

I didn't think I'd ever get it out of my head.

~*Freddie*~

I was absolutely furious as I walked into the kitchen, opening the cabinet and pulling out the bottle of spray cleaner before I grabbed a roll of paper towels and a mop. That stupid son of a bitch cop. Who the fuck did he think he was? What kind of asshole pulls out jarring photos from a brutal attack to show a pregnant woman, while threatening her with blackmail? This had gone WAY too far, and I didn't know how to fix it.

Sam was so hysterical after her dream that she'd even pushed me away. I couldn't calm her down. I couldn't comfort her. And that worried me. I wondered if we were going to have to go through this all over again. The three weeks she had been in the hospital after the attack had been a living nightmare. Even with all the mind-numbing drugs she was on, she'd still have terrifying dreams that would cause her to wake up in a panic, screaming, fighting. One day she'd been so upset she'd actually managed to hit me in the face, and even with a bad arm that had recently suffered a dislocation, damn did it hurt. But I'd stayed by her the entire time. In the beginning, she did what she'd just did. Pushed me away, would let me get near her after the nightmares hit. But I didn't give up. The first three weeks had been terrible, nightmares every night, sometimes several in one night. Then they became more few and far between. She'd still have one occasionally, even after all these years, when she was stressed or upset, but nothing like this. She'd been so upset she threw up. It must have been really bad. She was probably reliving the entire thing now that she'd seen the photos. I'd never even seen them, and I didn't want to.

I wanted to march over the police station and beat the shit out of that Detective, that's for sure! But definitely not a good idea, and it wouldn't change the fact that my sweet girl was hurt, and that's what I needed to focus on.

I headed back into the bedroom to find Sam laying on the bed where I'd left her, still crying, but she'd abandoned running her hands over her ribs, so that was a good sign. And she wasn't crying as hard as she was before. But now she was holding onto her stomach, and that worried me a little. She'd been through so much stress today, I didn't want it to have any repercussions on her health or the health of the child growing inside her. She didn't seem to be in pain, just upset. I decided to give her a moment, concentrating on cleaning up the mess on the floor. Good thing we had hardwood instead of carpet. The mess didn't bother me, I was more concerned with getting Sam to calm down. Still wanted to clean this up though, if I didn't, she'd likely feel worse. She hated throwing up. I thought back to the day I'd taken her to get her stuff from her mom's trailer and she'd thrown up in my car, how absolutely mortified she'd been. Yeah, I definitely needed to finish cleaning this up. Would just bring back more bad memories for her.

I finished quickly, throwing away the paper towels in the bathroom trashcan, before coming back out and sitting down on the bed next to her, but I didn't try to touch her. It wouldn't do any good right now. She'd just push me away again and get more upset.

She laid there for awhile, not speaking, and her crying slowly subsided to little whimpers and gasps. I just sat there, staring at the ground, waiting for something else to happen.

About two minutes went by before I felt something on my lower back, and I turned to see Sam running her fingertips over my skin, staring at me from where she was laying, her other hand holding onto her stomach.

"I'm sorry," she whispered, sniffling a little.

"It's okay," I responded softly. "Baby, it's okay."

She nodded, still touching my back, and I reached behind me, slowly, until I ran my hand over hers lightly. As soon as I did that, she grabbed my hand so hard it hurt, yanking me down hard so I fell on my back, throwing herself onto me so quickly I didn't have time to steady myself, knocking the wind out of me, holding onto my shoulders for dear life. I put my arms around her, rolling us over so we were laying on our sides, grabbing her leg and throwing it over me, my other hand tangling into her hair, stroking it.

"Baby," I murmured, kissing her forehead. "My sweet sweet baby. Come back to me."

She didn't respond, just buried her face in my shoulder, crying all over again.

"Freddie..." she gasped out. "Freddie..."

"Sweetheart, I got you. Nobody's gonna hurt you. Freddie's got you."

"It was so fucking real," she cried. "It was like I was there again. It was like it happened again. It hurt. It hurt so bad. Like my insides were being ripped apart. Oh god, it hurt..."

"Shhh," I whispered, planting little kisses all over her face. "It was a dream. Not real. Just a dream."

"Not when it really happened," she replied in a soft voice. "It hurt. And those pictures, they..."

"They brought it all back," I finished, still angry over the whole issue.

"Yeah," she whispered. "Yeah. I was so scared. When it happened. I was so scared. I couldn't move. I couldn't think. I couldn't breathe. It hurt. And I was so scared. I thought I'd never see you again, and..."

"Baby, it's over," I whispered back. "It's over. He can't hurt you again. He won't hurt you again. I won't let that happen. I won't let anyone hurt you. I got you."

"Don't ever let me go," she said in a hushed voice. "Please. Don't ever let me go."

"I won't, baby. I'm never letting go."

"Hold me."

"I am."

"Tighter."

I pulled her against me a little more, wrapping my arms around her completely. "Better?"

She nodded against my shoulder, shifting a little so she had her head against my chest, and I heard her sigh softly. She was listening to my heartbeat. That always calmed her down. I let one of my hands go under her shirt, rubbing over her back softly.

"Want me to turn the light off?" I asked, and she shook her head.

"No," she replied. "Leave it on."

I sighed, holding her a little bit closer. "Okay, baby."

"Tell me a story."

I kissed the top of her head, continuing to rub her back. "Sure, baby. Once upon a time, there was a Prince, who was very much in love with a beautiful Princess. She was absolutely gorgeous, with long blonde hair, the sweetest laugh, and this really bad addiction to pork."

Sam laughed a little, and I breathed a sigh of relief when that happened, and continued my story.

"The Prince loved her very much, but he always worried about her. She acted tough all the time. She pushed people away, because she worried about getting hurt. The Prince had no idea why she worried so much, but one day, he found out why. The Princess was really, really hurt. By...by a dragon. A mean, evil dragon. The dragon was supposed to be for protection, a clan of dragons designated to protect the entire kingdom against the monsters. But they weren't good. They were just as evil as the monsters they fought. They acted like the rules applied to everyone but themselves, that they could do anything they wanted. But they couldn't. And this one dragon? Man, he fucked with the wrong Princess. So the Prince gathered up his knights, and they laid in wait. For the dragon to come."

I continued to stroke Sam's hair as I told her my story, and I feel her muscles, which had been as tightly wound as a bowstring, finally begin to loosen up as she relaxed against me, one hand trailing lazily up and down my arm.

"When the dragon came, one knight lured him into a canyon. The dragon thought he'd make a meal out of that one knight. Honestly, that knight was a little bit on the goofy side. Very uncoordinated, and for some reason everything he was around tended to catch on fire."

Sam let out a laugh and looked up at me, shaking her head slightly. I just smirked at her, and she laid her head back down.

"So...yeah, people tended to take this knight for granted. The dragon certainly underestimated him. The dragon followed the knight through the canyon, running through tunnels, over rocks, around corners, this way and that, until he came to a pass. And as soon as that happened, the Prince sprang forth, wielding...a club. A powerful club. Made of iron. He brought it down hard on the dragon, across the skull. Hard enough to break bones. Even dragon bones."

Sam gasped a little, but continued to listen, her fingers digging into my arm a little.

"The Prince's best friend, the noblest knight he knew...albeit a little on the weird side, and had this thing for...maiden on maiden action...leapt atop the beast, and tied his wings back with an unbreakable...chain. So the dragon couldn't escape. And that is when the retribution began. The Prince hit the dragon, beat him. Burned him with flames of agony. Stomped out the dragon's one hope of producing little baby dragons, if you catch my drift. Then he let the knights have a turn. All the knights. The goofy one. The one who liked to see fair maidens go at it. Even the newest knight, who had recently been promoted from court jester. They all had a turn. But then something else happened."

"What happened?" Sam whispered, and I looked down at her, kissing her on the forehead.

"The knight felt something dark from within, emanating inside him. Creeping up. Growing. Like a tangled vine around his very soul. A part of him he never knew existed. He gave into it. He lost himself for a moment. But before he could finish the job, slay the dragon, his knights stopped him, because it would be better to have this dragon in a cage. For all eternity. To feel the pain and damage that dragon caused. And luckily, they brought the Prince back. Back to himself. He returned to his Princess, nursed her wounds, fixed her broken spirit. And the dragon remained in the cage, under the spell. The dragon will NEVER be released." I looked down at her.

"Do you hear me, Princess? The dragon will NEVER be released. The spell will NEVER be broken. No matter what that clan of horrible, misguided, EVIL dragons tell you. That dragon will never escape," I said through gritted teeth.

She looked up at me, her eyes locked with mine, and she was silent for a moment.

"What if the dragon does escape?" she asked in a soft voice.

"Then the Prince will slay him. For real this time. And anyone who dares to fuck with my Princess again!"

She nodded a little, still staring at me, before scooting up the bed a little, pressing her lips against mine, her hands going into my hair, kissing me passionately.

"I love you," she gasped. "So much."

"Don't lose sight of that," I responded. "Don't be afraid of me. When you get like this, you don't need to push me away, baby. I will calm you down. I will you make feel better. I will bring you back. I promise. When this happens, please don't push me away."

"I'm sorry," she whispered. "I'm sorry."

"It's okay, sweetheart," I replied, kissing her again. "It's okay."

She took a deep breath, laying her head down against my chest again. "You can turn the light off now," she murmured, and I reached over to do just that, quickly wrapping my arms back around her. She sighed against my chest, running her fingertips up and down my arm. Within minutes, I felt her hand stop moving, and I realized she was asleep. Finally. I kissed her lightly on the side of her head, before closing my eyes.

I didn't care about the repercussions, when we finally got Brad's father out of jail, I was going to have a major talk with him about what happens to people who fuck with my wife. But before that, I needed to give my Uncle Milton a little phone call and clue him in on what was going on.

~*Brad*~

"Be still!"

"Mrs. Benson!" I growled, trying to jerk my head away and groaning with desperation when she wouldn't let me. "I'm fine!"

"No you're not, Bradley! Now hold still, I just need to clean between your stitches."

"Owww!" I hollered as I felt the alcohol-soaked q-tip come into contact with the skin around my stitches. "That hurt, dammit!"

"Bradley!" my mom shouted. "Do not swear at Mrs. Benson!"

"I can't help it!" I shot back. "Carly, stop laughing! It's not funny!"

Carly was laughing hysterically, so hard she was bent over, her hair falling in her face.

"Stop laughing!"

"I can't!" she gasped out. "Oh god, I can't. This is priceless. I didn't realize how much I missed watching Freddie's mom fuss over him, but this is even better!"

"I'm almost done!" Mrs. Benson cried, and I just groaned helplessly, before shooting a look over at Carly.

"Freddie's going to be just tickled by the fact that Robert was the attending physician," I said, and she nodded.

"Yep."

"Dr. Robert," Marissa corrected me. "And why is that?"

I just shrugged, not wanting to go into detail with a crazed nurse who currently had a cotton swab jammed between my stitches.

"He...you know he's still having trouble with this whole marriage thing, Mrs. Benson," Carly commented, and Marissa shrugged.

"He'll have to get over it. I waited ten years, and I found someone. I love Robert."

"We know, Mrs. Benson, but...Freddie..." Carly trailed off, biting her lip. "He is doing better though. Ever since Sam took him to California, to see...Mr. Benson's I guess...grave."

"I'm glad," she said softly. "He's been holding onto that guilt for too long. Blaming yourself for someone else's death, it's not healthy."

Carly and I exchanged worried looks, and I could tell we were both thinking the same thing. Would Heather feel that way? Would she blame herself for Griffin's death?

I still didn't know how I was feeling about the whole thing. It'd been less than twenty four hours, I was still processing it. I had every intention of doing it myself, in my crazed and frantic, angry state, but I'd calmed down now, and I realized I truly didn't want to go down that path, but if I had to be honest...yeah, I wasn't feeling too bad about it. I warned the guy to leave Heather alone, he didn't, and more to the point, he'd hurt and damaged my sister. She had enough problems anyway. Heather had always been the wild child of the family, the true rebel, and a lot of it went back to some deep-seated emotional issues. My family was pretty sure she may have been bi-polar, but when my parents had taken her to a psychiatrist, he'd said it was difficult to diagnose children with mental disorders. I hoped to god it wasn't true, something she'd just grow out of, but now, with what had happened now, I couldn't be sure. We'd have to watch Heather carefully. Be there for her. Make sure she didn't do anything stupid.

I hoped my mom would uphold her end of the bargain, that she would finally stand up to my dad and not keep me as the unwanted, wayward son any longer. But I hoped she wouldn't have to. I still didn't know exactly what happened, but the way it was implied, my dad had been trying to protect me too, not just Heather. Maybe there was hope for us yet.

"Okay, well, you're all cleared," Marissa said, pulling me out of my thoughts. "You can go now."

"Awesome!" I hollered, standing up.

"But Carly needs to drive," she added, and I nodded.

"On it, Mrs. Benson," Carly replied, jangling her keys at her. "Although I guess pretty soon I'll be calling you Mrs. Conners, huh?"

"Mmhmm. In three weeks. I hope you'll all be at the wedding," Marissa said.

"Oh we'll be there. To make sure Freddie's head doesn't explode," I stated, and Carly glared at me.

"Brad!" she hissed.

"What? I have a concussion. I'm not responsible for what I say!"

"Well in that case, maybe we should keep you in here for another day," Marissa said with a knowing smile, and I looked at her, horrified.

"No no, that's not necessary."

"Yeah, it's not the concussion talking, Brad's brain has always been that messed up," Carly said with a smirk, and now it was my turn to glare at her.

"Very funny," I grunted. "C'mon babe, let's go. I need real food. Deep-fried. Greasy. Probably on a biscuit."

"Sure thing, SAM," Carly replied with a roll of her eyes. I ignored her latest remark, walking over to my mom and hugging her.

"Bye mom. I'll...see you later? Hopefully?"

"Of course. Tonight. We'll talk. We'll...talk to Heather. Dinner?"

"Um, sure," I said, slightly surprised.

"I'll make the meatloaf," she said.

"Oh, hells yeah! I missed the meatloaf, you have no idea how bad!" I yelled, ignoring the look she and Marissa both gave me for yelling 'hells yeah'.

"And bring Carly," my mom said.

"Seriously?" Carly asked, surprised, and my mom nodded.

"Of course. We don't really know you that well, and you've been with Brad for a long time."

"Yeah, I have," she said softly. "I love him."

"Awww...you love me," I teased, poking her, and she gave me a Look.

"It is debatable, you know," she said in a flat tone of voice, and I just shrugged.

"Not as long as I still have these sparkling baby blues," I said with a wink, and she just shook her head, laughing.

"Come on, let's get you out of here before you say anything else weird," she replied, grabbing my hand.

"Okay. Later mom. Bye Mrs. Benson...or Mrs. Connors. Whatever. Bye Freddie's mom!"

"Goodbye, Bradley," she replied in a tone I couldn't figure out if it was annoyance or amusement.

Carly and I walked down the hall together, fingers interlaced, and Carly stopped suddenly.

"What?" I asked, my eyebrows lifting in surprise when she kissed me suddenly.

"I'm glad you're okay," she whispered. "I was worried. When Sam came back and told me you were unconscious..."

"Well, I'm fine now. Bastard just got a lucky shot, that's all."

Carly bit her lip, looking down at the ground.

"What, Carly?"

"Look, I...I know what he did. To your sister. And I know that hurts. And I know you're angry. But...he's dead, Brad. Don't say things like that."

"Carly, him being dead doesn't magically erase all his horrible qualities. He was not a good guy. You dated him. What if that would have been you?"

"I've thought about that, okay? And it's scary. But...he's dead. It's over for him. And...there's two people who've lost their son. Even though he was a piece of shit, they still loved him. And they're going through a loss. So have some respect, okay?"

I just shrugged, not wanting to get into a fight, and especially not over Griffin. "Fine. Sorry babe."

"Now let's go. Get you some food. I have to go to the school and take care of some things, but I'll drop you off at the apartment first."

"That's fine," I responded. "Because I have something to take care of myself."

"What?" Carly asked, looking at me curiously. "What are you going to do?"

"My dad's still in that holding cell," I replied.

"Okay, so?" she asked, and I shrugged.

"He can't walk away from me if he's stuck in a box. I'm gonna make the old man listen to me. It's great that he stepped in instead of letting me get the shit kicked out of me, but...there's still a few things I'd like to say to him."

She nodded. "I understand. But...you think he'll get out today? I'd hate for him to get angry with you, and you not be able to go to dinner at your mom's tonight."

"I don't know if he will or not. Probably not though. But it's anyone's guess."

"Yeah," she said with a nod.

"Let's just hope the trial goes smoothly."

"Ugh," I heard Carly make a disgusted noise, and I looked at her in surprise.

"What?" I asked.

"Nothing," she replied. "Let's go. I'm a little hungry myself."

After we got some food, we headed back to the apartment, and Carly quickly hopped into the shower and changed clothes while I sat downstairs and checked my email. A few minutes later, she came down, and I looked over her outfit, my eyebrows raised.

Black sweater, black jeans, knee-high black boots over the black jeans, a black newsboy cap, and to top it off, a black leather jacket.

"Off to guide another soul to the underworld?" I teased, and she rolled her eyes, shoving at my shoulder.

"Shut up," she laughed. "I like this outfit. You don't like it?"

"No, it's sexy. You look all sleek and jungle cat-ish in it. But...it's an awful lot of black, Carly. More so than usual, even."

"Well, I just...I don't feel like being messed with today. And this outfit makes me feel like a bad ass."

I gave her a Look. "And who would mess with you, Carly?"

"I...nothing. Never mind. I'm just being silly I guess." She kissed me softly, pulling away and giving me a smile. "I love you. I'll be back soon, okay? Text me or call me. Let me know how it goes with your dad."

"I will. Love you babe. Have a good day."

"I hope I will," she said in a soft voice, before walking out the door and shutting it, not giving me time to respond.

Well, that was cryptic. I could tell this had nothing to do with the whole Griffin thing. Something else was up, but what? I looked over towards Sam and Freddie's room. The door was still shut, and by the looks of things around the kitchen, they hadn't gotten up. Maybe they were still asleep. It didn't sound like they were up to anything else.

With a shrug, I headed upstairs to shower and change clothes. It'd be nice to get this bloody t-shirt off me, and no, I did not mean it in a British slang type of way. My shirt was covered in my own blood. Not a fan. It took me about fifteen minutes to get ready to go back out, and as I came down the stairs, I noticed Freddie was in the kitchen, rifling around for food.

"Hey man!" I called, and he turned around to look at me, giving me a small smile.

"Hey dude. So they let you out, huh?"

"Yep. Overnight observation, and they said I was well enough to go home."

"Obviously they forgot to do the psychological screening," Freddie cracked, and I glared at him.

"Very funny. You and Sam don't have class today?"

"I don't have class until three. Sam's a little under the weather."

I frowned. "Is she sick?"

"You could say that," Freddie grunted, reaching into the fruit basket and grabbing a banana.

"She seemed fine last night," I replied.

"Well, you had a concussion last night, so...maybe you weren't paying attention," Freddie offered, and I gave him a Look.

"Okay, Carly's being cryptic enough, what's up, man?"

"Nothing," Freddie said firmly. "Just gotta take care of my wife, that's all."

"Okayyy..." I trailed off. "Well have fun with that. I'm off."

"They cleared you to drive?" Freddie asked in surprise, and I shrugged.

"Not really, but I feel fine. It was probably just a mild concussion."

Freddie shook his head. "I saw you on the ground. It was NOT a mild concussion."

"Fine, you wanna drive me then?"

"Where are you going?" Freddie asked.

"The precinct. If my dad's still locked up in there, it gives me the perfect opportunity to finally talk to him."

Freddie frowned, shaking his head. "I...I don't think that's such a good idea, dude. Me taking you, I mean. Not you going."

"Why?" I asked, utterly perplexed. Why was everyone being so vague today?

"Because I need to stay with Sam."

"She'll be fine for twenty minutes, dude," I said with a wave of my arm, and Freddie glared at me.

"No," he said in a low voice. "She won't. Just take a cab, okay? Don't drive."

"Ugh, fine. Hope the little woman feels better!" I called as Freddie gathered up the food he'd gotten and headed back to the bedroom.

"Thanks," he responded before shutting the door.

I just rolled my eyes. Okay, Freddie had a point, I should probably take a cab. I quickly grabbed my jacket before heading out the door and towards the elevator.

~*Carly*~

I walked out of the registration office, sighing with relief. Well that had been easier than I thought it would be. It would be such a relief, being out of that class. I didn't care if I had to take a class over the summer, the peace of mind that came with it, no amount of time, money, or college credit could compare. I would have enough on my plate with Brad right now, the last thing I needed was to continue dealing with Matthew.

I walked down the hallway, heading for the exit, when a voice rang out.

"Hey, Carly!"

I froze, my head hanging in defeat. Speak of the devil. Himself. In the flesh.

I turned around to glare at Matthew. "What do you want?"

"Oh, do you really want me to say it again?" he teased, giving me a smile that I'm sure was meant to be sexy, but instead just looked like pure evil to me.

"I'll pass," I replied. "In fact, I'd rather you not speak at all. Or think. Or breathe. Come to think of it, I'd rather you not exist."

"Aw, is that any way to talk to your future boyfriend?" he asked, and I rolled my eyes.

"No, but that is exactly how I talk to my current stalker."

He rolled his eyes. "You call it stalking, I call it obsessive shadowing."

"Yeah, because that sounds a lot less creepy," I replied.

"Missed you at The Beanery last night, my little super star."

"Had more important things to deal with," I shot back, turning around to walk away.

"More important than your career as a budding rockstar?" he asked, keeping up with me. "Well, in your case more like a popstar. Those fluffy, adorable lyrics."

"Your mom's fluffy and adorable," I grumbled, continuing to walk to my car.

"Very original," he replied with a roll of his eyes. "You ready to drop the act? You know, so your grades don't drop?"

"Oh, don't worry about that, Matthew. I dropped the class," I said, looking at him victoriously.

"Well, aren't you smart?" he shot back, and I just shrugged, leaning against my car. "But I think you underestimate me, dollface."

"Don't call me dollface, and what the hell are you talking about?"

He shrugged. "You'll see. By the way, tell your boyfriend he has a really cool phone. Really enjoyed looking over it last week when he set it down in the lounge."

My eyes widened, and I looked at Matthew in horror, who just laughed. "Yeah, see. Now you're getting it. Or you will get it. Soon."

"What does that mean?" I asked, feeling a panic welling up in me. I knew exactly what was on Brad's phone. Pictures. Revealing pictures. Revealing pictures of me! Revealing pictures of Carly Shay, host of iCarly, the world's most popular webshow. Oh god.

"You'll figure it out soon enough. Now, I'm not unreasonable, so I'll give you twenty four hours to think about it. If not? Well, then you can tell your fans to be prepared for a very special, very uncensored edition of iCarly."

"You bastard," I said with a shake of my head. "You really fucked up this time."

"No, I think you'll find that you did. By not taking my offer the first time. Have a nice day, Carly. Oh, by the way, enjoy summer school. I'll be there too."

One last smirk over his shoulder, and he walked away, leaving me leaning against my car in shock. So overwhelmed I could stand up straight. My entire body was shaking, and it wasn't from the cold. Oh god! What do I do?

I couldn't go to Sam and Freddie, they had too much on their plate, I'd feel too guilty! But what other option did I have? I pulled my phone out as I unlocked my car, dialing Freddie. It rang a few times, and then Freddie picked up.

"What's up, Carls?" he asked, and I just let out a sob. The line was silent for a moment, and then Freddie spoke again. "Carly? What's wrong?"

"I...I went to drop the class," I said.

"And? They wouldn't let you?"

"No, they did. But I ran into Matthew again."

Freddie let out a groan. "Oh, fuck. What happened?"

"He...somehow he got ahold of Brad's phone, last week, in the lounge."

"Oh shit. I know where you're going with this. Pictures?"

"Yeah..." I said softly.

"Naked pictures?"

"Yes."

Freddie was quiet for a moment. "Okay. I'll take care of it."

"What are you going to do, Freddie?" I asked worriedly.

"Don't worry your pretty head, Carly. I'll take care of it. I gotta go. I gotta try and catch up to Brad."

"No!" I cried. "You cannot tell Brad about this! He'll go postal!"

Freddie let out a laugh, and I rolled my eyes. It was the "oh, you silly little thing who cannot possibly understand my genius" laugh he made when I wasn't following his train of thought, and even though I needed his help, it still annoyed me.

"Who said anything about telling Brad?" he asked. "Look, I've gotta go. Can you do me a favor and hurry up and get back so you can keep an eye on Sam?"

"Why? What's wrong with Sam?"

"Uh...she's not in a good place right now. Mentally. Just hang out with her, okay? I don't want her to be alone for very long."

"Alright. I should be back in twenty minutes."

"Sounds good. I'll see you soon, Carly. And don't worry. I got this."

"Okay," I replied. "I hope you're right."

I heard Freddie snort on the other end of the phone. "Hi, I'm Freddie. Have we met?"

"Freddie!"

"Later, Carly."

With that, he'd hung up, and I let out a deep sigh. Man, I loved Freddie to death, but god he was such a know-it-all sometimes! I had no idea what he had up his sleeve, but I hoped it didn't involve him beating Matthew up, and I really hoped it would work.

I sighed, starting the car up so I could head back to Bushwell and find out what was up with Sam.


	39. Chapter 39: Promises, Promises

**A/N: Happy to announce I've finally joined the rest of the western world, I now have a twitter! Yay! If you follow me, I promise I'll follow you back! My name's the same on there as here, eleanorr1gby ! Hope you enjoy this chapter, and the ones to follow!**

**Chapter Thirty Nine:  
><strong>**Promises, Promises**

~*Brad*~

"So...why exactly did you change your mind?" I asked Freddie as we drove down the street, and he shrugged.

"Just needed to take care of something, that's all."

I gave him a strange look. "Take care of what?"

"Nothing."

I sighed, rolling my eyes. "Dude, what's going on?"

"Nothing."

"Alright, something's going on, man!"

"Why would you think that?"

"Dude!" I hollered, punching him in the shoulder. "Tell me what's going on! I hate being left out of the loop! There's all this...loopiness going on, and I wanna be in it!"

"Dude, you're plenty loopy," Freddie said with a grin, and I just glared at him.

"Very funny. But that's not what I meant."

Freddie sighed as he pulled in outside the police station, parking the car. "Don't worry about it, man. Just something I gotta do. Go talk to your dad. Try to make it quick, I don't want to leave Sam by herself too long. I mean, Carly's on the way back, but..."

I frowned suddenly. "You talked to Carly? She didn't call me."

"Well, I just needed her to keep an eye on Sam."

"What is going on?" I hollered. "I know something's up! Something's up with Carly, and something's up with you and Sam!"

"Dude, don't worry about it," Freddie said again. "Just deal with your dad."

"And what are you going to do?" I replied as we got out and began walking inside.

"Need to talk to someone about something real quick, that's all."

"Who?"

"Detective O'Malley."

I gave him a Look. "Uh, dude, that's not a very good idea. I know O'Malley, he's kind of a dick."

"Yeah, Sam mentioned that. And he made that pretty obvious himself," Freddie grunted as we walked to the front counter.

"May I help you?" the cop asked, looking Freddie up and down, before she turned to me.

"Bradley!"

"Good morning, Suzette. How goes it?"

"Can't complain. Here to see your dad?"

"Yep."

"We haven't seen you in awhile," she responded, and I shrugged.

"Uh, I've been really busy with...school," I replied lamely, and she just looked like she didn't care one way or the other. "Well, follow me, I'll take you there."

"Wait!" Freddie cried, and Suzette gave him a Look.

"Yes?"

"I need to speak with Detective O'Malley. Is he in?"

"Yes."

"Well, you tell him Freddie Benson needs to speak with him. Immediately."

Suzette glared at him, before looking over at me. "Is he serious? Walking in here and demanding to see O'Malley?"

"Don't mind Freddie, he's a little..."

"Uppity?" she finished. "Yeah, we remember dealing with him."

"I am not that bad!" Freddie shot back, and I just laughed a little.

"He's fine. Whatever he wants to speak with O'Malley about, I'm sure it's important."

"But..."

"Suzette," I said, giving her a Look. "My dad's not gonna be locked up forever. Do your job."

She sighed, rolling her eyes. "Oh, fine." She sat back down, picking up the phone. "Detective O'Malley, some kid named Freddie Benson is here, says he needs to speak with you. Yes sir." She hung up, glaring at Freddie. "He'll be right down. Bradley, come with me, I'll take you to the holding cell to see your dad."

"Thank you," I replied, before looking over at Freddie. "See ya in a bit, dude."

"Yep," Freddie replied, waving me off.

I followed Suzette downstairs towards the holding cells, where they kept prisoners before transferring them to the jail. But they wouldn't be transferring my dad. It was generally accepted that it was a bad idea to put a cop in the general population of a jail, especially one responsible for putting more than half of them in jail. My dad was good at his job. Too bad he sucked at being a good father.

"Here he is," Suzette said, patting me on my arm before walking away, leaving me face-to-face with my dad. I hadn't seen him since the day he ordered me to stay away from Bryson and Heather. Last night didn't count, what with me being unconscious and all. My dad and I stared at each for a moment.

"Well, well, well," I said. "I bet when you pictured this, you'd be standing on this side."

My dad just glared at me. "Bradley..." he warned, and I just shrugged.

"Sorry. Couldn't resist. So...in the slammer, huh?"

"Obviously."

"Any word on when you're going to get your bond issued?" I asked, and my dad shrugged.

"The magistrate's taking his sweet time. Guy's kind of a bastard."

"I take it you two don't get along?"

"Not really."

"Ever think maybe YOU'RE the bastard, Dad?" I asked, and he gave me an evil look. I acted a little bit flippant, lazily pacing back and forth. "Well, whatever. Since you're in here, and you won't be going anywhere soon, I figured you'd have to listen to me. For once."

"Bradley..." he warned, squeezing the bars. "I will not be in here forever, you know that."

"Yeah, but you'll be in here long enough to listen to what I have to say," I responded. "Okay, so...where should we start? Oh yeah, thanks for passing along the drunkie gene. Really appreciate that."

My dad laughed bitterly. "Why am I not surprised you have a problem with self control?"

Well that stung a little bit. I just brushed it off, giving him a Look. "I got it from you. You pretend to be the very measure of self control. But you're not. I've seen you lose it. I've seen you lose it with the drinking, I've seen you lose it with mom, and hell, you lost it with me, that day you sucker punched me. But here's the thing. I may have had an issue with self control, but I'm only nineteen. And I'm working on it. It'll be fixed. But you? You're running low on time here. And you've got four kids, another one on the way...you've already really messed up two of us. Heather's fucked, Dad. Do you know that? She's fucked."

"Heather has problems," my dad replied. "She needs to be in treatment."

"No, she needs support!" I shot back. "And acceptance for who she is! Just like I needed it, and you refused to give it to me!"

"You threw your life away, Bradley!" my dad shouted. "You had so much potential, and you threw it away, to play with cameras!"

"I want to be a filmmaker. That's my dream. That's my goal. It's what I do. It's what I'm good at."

"You..." my dad started to shout, but trailed off, shaking his head. "I tried so hard with you. You were bred to be a Marine. A good Marine. You were smart enough to rise up the ranks, make a career out of it. Make me proud."

"Well, maybe I wanted to make ME proud!" I replied. "I spent my entire life doing everything you told me to! I got straight A's my whole life, I took care of Heather and Bryson and Leah. I was the perfect Catholic boy. I was the perfect son, dad!"

"Yeah, you WERE the perfect son!" my dad hissed. "But now? I don't know who you are."

I shook my head. "See, dad, that's the thing. Who I am now? This is me. This is the real me. Everything else was just an act. You have to accept it. I accept you, for what you are."

"And what is that, exactly?"

"A bitter old man. Who throws his weight around using threats and intimidation to get what he wants. I know how you are with mom! I don't care what you think, you kept a mother away from her child. That's fucked up."

"You're not a child anymore, Bradley."

"Well, now you're finally getting it," I shot back. "But I'm still her son. You kept a mother away from her son. That is low, even for you. And my brother and sisters? Man. You should have known better. I spent so much time babysitting those kids, always being around them, you should have known the damage it would cause not letting them see or talk to me. Yes, Heather has problems. Bryson too. But you just compounded them. And you know something?"

"What's that?"

"I haven't seen Leah in two years, up until last night. And she remembered me. She was just a baby when I left, and she STILL remembered me. Whether you admit it or not, that's a big deal. And it means you can't just erase me. I'm not going to put up with it. Mom's not either."

"Your mother knows better," my dad gruffed, and I shook my head.

"No, NOW she knows better. She's not going to deal with this any more. Now, I'm not super well-versed in law, but I can just bet your bond is going to be outrageous, especially if the magistrate hates you as much as you say he does."

"And?"

"Let's just say the financial gods have been very generous with iCarly. And we're willing to put up the money to bail you out. But that's all contingent on one thing."

My dad gave me a look, shaking his head. "I don't do conditions, Bradley."

"Dad! You're in a jail cell! You don't have a choice! Now, as I was saying, before you so rudely interrupted me..."

"You're enjoying this, aren't you?"

"Still interrupting. And yes, yes I am. If you don't lighten up on mom, and my brothers and sisters, I'm not gonna do this. You don't agree with how I choose to live my life, I get that. But it's MY life. Deal with it!"

"But you..."

"I know, I had so much potential. Did you ever think for once my potential did not lie in becoming a trained killing machine for the US Government? I'm good at what I do. And I'm going to sell my screenplays. I WILL make it. On my own terms. And then I'll say I told you so."

"I hope you're right, Bradley."

"I will be," I said with a fervent nod. I paused for a moment, looking at him carefully. "So...thanks. For not letting me get beat senseless and all that."

My dad shrugged. "Would have been embarrassing. My son gets beaten up by a delinquent? I don't think so."

I rolled my eyes. "Thanks, dad."

"You were really gonna kill that guy?"

"If he hadn't knocked the pipe out of my hand," I responded, and my dad just rolled his eyes, making an annoyed sound. "What?"

"I've told you a million times, you never LEAD with the weapon. Start with your fists, they can't take those from you. You only pull the weapon AFTER you've got them where you want them."

"Uh, thanks?"

"I figured you'd fair better than you did, son," my dad gruffed. "I tried to teach you, and you've finally started to bulk up..."

I just groaned. "I told you. Lucky shot."

"Sure you're not off your game?"

I shrugged. "Well, I haven't been going to the gym as much as before. Freddie's been a little bit busy lately, he's had his hands full with Sam."

"Not surprising. There's no one else you could spar with?"

"Well, there's Tom, but...if I get to close to him I'm afraid I'll get a contact buzz."

My dad shrugged. "Well, whatever."

I stared at him for a second, a smile creeping across my face. "Are we...talking?"

"Well, I don't have any magazines in here."

I rolled my eyes. "Yeah. I can see this is going to take awhile."

"What's going to take awhile is you convincing me that making movies is a good career choice."

I just smirked at him. "No. It won't. When you get out, I'll show you a few things. Things I've done. If you want."

My dad shrugged. "Maybe. If I have time."

"Well, just think about it okay?"

"Maybe," he said again, and I just sighed.

"Okay. So...so you're not gonna cut me out anymore, right? It's not fair, Dad. I know I disappointed you, but...you're punishing everyone else too. Come on."

My dad sighed, drumming his fingers back and forth on the bars. "I suppose not. But I swear to you, if any of your bad habits rub off on Bryson or Leah...the partying, the drinking..."

"Dad!" I hollered. "I don't drink, okay?"

"Bullshit. You think I never noticed the way my beers used to slowly disappear from the fridge when you were at home?"

I shook my head. "I don't drink anymore. I got out of control. I go to meetings now."

"Meetings? Really?" he asked, surprised, and I nodded.

"Twice a week. Been meaning to go to Mass too, but...there's been a lot going on lately. And it's only going to get worse."

"Always time for Mass, son."

"Yeah, but what's the point if it doesn't stick? I don't want to just play a role. I'm done with that. I did it for too long. When I'm ready to go back, I'll go back."

"Well, don't make it too long," my dad responded.

I nodded, looking at the ground for a second, before looking back up at him, a grin on my face.

"So, I should probably prepare you for life on the outside..."

"Bradley..."

"Mom says we have a new daddy now..."

"BRADLEY MICHAEL HARRISON!"

I just laughed, shaking my head. "Good to have you back, Dad. I'll see you later."

"Where are you going?" he asked.

"Gonna go find Freddie, and then stir up some trouble in the Magistrate's office."

"Bradley..."

"Don't worry, one well placed phone call to Freddie's uncle and I'm sure it'll move along quickly. I'll let you know what's up."

"Bradley..."

"Later dad. Don't drop the soap," I called over my shoulder as I walked away. I headed out the double doors, leaning against the wall and smiling to myself.

Well that was fun. It was the most shit I'd ever been able to talk to my old man in my life! And the way he'd reacted, well, that was good. For my dad I mean. He was still a nasty son of a bitch, a grumpy old bastard. But for him? This was progress.

Maybe there'd be hope for us after all.

~*Freddie*~

I stood waiting at the counter for what felt like forever, when I finally spotted that smug detective walk up. I was finally beginning to get the nickname for detectives. Dick. Yeah, he definitely fit that.

"Mr. Benson," he said coolly. "What can I do for you?"

I shrugged. "Got a little proposal for you."

He laughed a little. "A proposal, huh? And what makes you think I'd be interested? We already have your wife willing to do whatever we tell her to do."

I tried to ignore that comment, but he caught the way I bristled up and smirked at me.

"You'll be interested. Your office may be a better place to talk."

"Well then. By all means, follow me."

I followed him down the hall to his office, walking inside and sitting down.

"So what can I do for you, Freddie?"

I shrugged. "Blackmail's illegal, right?"

Detective O'Malley looked at me with an amused expression on his face, sitting down at his desk.

"You'd have a hell of a time proving it, you know."

"I wasn't talking about this," I responded, gesturing between us. "Detective Harrison's son, Brad."

"Good kid, til he lost his way."

"Yeah, whatever, he's fine. But his girlfriend, on the other hand. She's having a little bit of a problem with some creepy TA. Blackmailing her."

"And how is he planning to do that?" O'Malley responded.

"Putting pictures on the internet. Revealing ones. I'd like to have your help on this one. You know, the internet is a national, international thing. Crosses state lines. I know how much you'd hate to have the FBI on your turf after you refused to help me on this."

"And what's the pay off for us, Benson?"

"You mean besides having the feds crawl up your ass? And they will."

"What makes you so sure about that?"

I leaned forward, my elbows resting on his dark wood desk. "Milton Benson."

At the mention of my uncle, his eyebrows went up. Man, having a superior court judge as a relative sure came in handy; I'd forgotten how much. He had the power to do a lot. Stir up trouble, get badges revoked. He had a flawless reputation as being a good guy, and also being a bit bull-headed in the courtroom. No one dared to mess with him.

"Milton Benson?" O'Malley repeated.

"Yeah. He's my uncle. Now, I really don't want to pull him into what's going on right now, because it'd pull everyone down, Brad's father included. But I will if I have to. One phone call to him, this place will be crawling with feds, and you'll be doing security at Chuck E. Cheese. But it'd be a shame if we had to go down that road, huh?"

"Go on with it. What do you want?"

"This TA? I want you to arrest him. For stalking. And blackmail. Carly is really, really scared of this guy."

"You sure do care a lot about Bradley's girlfriend," he observed. "Something on the side?"

I had to laugh at that. "No. My roommate. One of my best friends. Known the girl since I was twelve. I'd go almost as far to protect her as I would my wife. So, you do this for me, take the guy down, I'll give you what you want."

"And what's that? Like I said, your wife gives us all the ammunition we need."

I shrugged. "Look, I don't know much about the legal system, but I do know the DA is going to rip her apart on the stand. Pull her juvey file to discredit what she says. As much as I hate to see that happen, we have no choice. Because if Sam refutes what she said on the report, she'll go to jail too. For obstruction of justice, lying to a police officer, whatever. So, it'd be nice if you had someone else to corroborate her testimony, am I right?"

"Couldn't hurt," O'Malley gruffed.

"Someone with a flawless record?" I added. "Because I know what happened with the Bill situation is not on any official record. Just something you bastards kept in your back pocket for an opportune moment."

"We did you a favor, Freddie. All we ask is that you return it. By the way," he leaned forward to glare at me. "Not a good idea to call the guys who are holding all the cards bastards."

"I'm holding the cards now, buddy," I shot back. "One phone call and this thing gets ripped to shreds, and you know it."

O'Malley sat back, glaring at me, but he didn't say anything. We were both over a barrel here, and he knew it. If I clued in Uncle Milton, the whole case would get re-investigated, and Sam and I would both get in trouble for lying on a witness statement, even though we'd been coerced into it. But also, O'Malley would go down. Brad's father would go down. And any of the other crooked cops who'd helped them would go down as well. Everyone had a lot to lose in this, but I was willing to risk it all. Partially to save Carly's ass, and the welfare of the show, because if those photos got out, we'd lose affiliates and sponsors in the blink of an eye, and I couldn't risk our sole source of income on the way. But I was also doing this to throw my own weight around, show that cop he couldn't completely push me around.

"Just do it," I said. "Just get the guy. Take his computer for evidence, that's probably where he's holding the photos. Put a restraining order on him. He'll get kicked out of school, lose his spot as a TA. Everything will be ruined for him. For fucking with my friend."

"That's all you want? We go after this guy, and you agree to testify and corroborate your wife's testimony?" He sounded dubious.

I shook my head. "Of course not. There's more."

"Of course. Why wouldn't there be?"

"I want those photos, and I want those files. The entire file. The ENTIRE record of everything that went down. With the attack, what we did with Bill, all of it," I replied. "That was fucked up, what you did."

"She wouldn't budge."

I shook my head. "Doesn't matter. She'd just watched a guy get shot, went through hell, and then you made her re-live a brutal attack that almost killed her by showing her those photos. You have no idea how much she went through...how much BOTH of us went through, because of what happened to her. And you just rub it in her face? While she's four months pregnant? What the hell is wrong with you?" I snapped. "You're supposed to serve and protect, not belittle and intimidate. I want those files, and I want those photos."

"Fine," O'Malley said with a shrug.

"I want the hard copies, and I want the digital files too. And I want them wiped from the hard drive."

"That's evidence. We can't clear out evidence."

I shrugged. "You guys cleared out a whole room of evidence for us almost three years ago. I don't think anybody's going to miss a closed case, O'Malley. You give me those files, help Brad's girlfriend, and I take the stand. If not?" I shrugged. "I call my uncle. And then shit really gets going."

"You do realize if that happens, you and your wife get in trouble too?"

"Risk I'm willing to take." Of course, I was bluffing, completely, but he didn't need to know that.

He stared at me for a long moment, trying to read my expression, but I just kept looking at him with a stone-cold face, a poker face as Sam would say.

"Fine," he finally said. "I need all the information you can give me on this TA." He reached into a desk and pulled out a file, rifling through it. "Here." He tossed a pile of photos my way, along with a file folder and I looked down at the photos, quickly looking away. The one on top was a close up of a gash on a forehead that was unmistakably Sam's. Even with all the blood, I still recognized her beautiful hair. I grabbed them, flipping them over so they were face down. I did NOT want to see them.

"Give me something to put these in," I said, frowning when I realized I was ordering a detective around, and then smirking a bit...because I was ordering a detective around. Yeah, motherfucker. Freddie Benson plays the game too.

He rolled his eyes, tossing a manila envelope my way.

"Now the digital copy."

"It's on the computer in the evidence room," he said with a frown.

"Then I'd suggest you move your ass, O'Malley. I have my uncle on speed dial. Besides, forget my uncle, I'm pretty sure Brad's father doesn't really know how...persuasive you were on this. I don't think he'd like it. He is higher up than you, right?"

"Well, yes, but..."

"Then get off your donut-munching ass, and get me that file. Off the system, removed from the hard drives. Permanently. So you can't rub this in her face again."

With a sigh, Detective O'Malley stood up, heading for his door, which he held open, looking at me pointedly. I stood up, breezily walking past him, and he just shook his head.

"You've got balls, kid."

"Yeah. For days," I replied. "Now get a move on," I said with a wave of my hand. A final shake of his head and a grunt, and O'Malley headed on down the hallway.

I smirked to myself, before letting out a sigh of relief. I couldn't believe I'd had the balls to do that. Talking to a detective like that. Turning the tables on him. But I had two people I was thinking of, Sam and Carly. Carly would feel better after we got that creepy TA off her ass, and Sam? Well, I had a plan on how to handle her. I always did.

I leaned against the wall, waiting for O'Malley to come back, and a few minutes later, he did, carrying a CD that he better have burned with the files.

"It's off the system," he grunted, thrusting it into my hand.

"Thanks."

"And you're on the witness list? You'll go through with it? Not fuck up with testimony?"

"I keep my word," I said flatly. "If those pictures ever come back up again, if that case ever gets brought up again, I WILL call my uncle, and there will be hell to pay."

"Duly noted," he grunted, walking away, and that's when I noticed Brad walking up, frowning as O'Malley shoved past him. He just shrugged, walking toward me.

"What the hell was that about?" he asked, and I shrugged.

"Nothing. You ready to go? I need to be getting back to Sam."

"Uh...almost," he replied. "Just one more thing I gotta do."

"Well can't you get a ride back from one of the cops? I really need to get back to Sam."

"I kinda need your help on this one."

"My help?" I asked with a frown. "Why?"

"Need to go talk to the magistrate. Apparently he and my dad have beef."

"Why does that not surprise me?" I asked, and Brad shrugged.

"Feel like throwing your weight around? Or in this case, your uncle's weight?"

I laughed. "I dunno man, that's a lot of weight. Uncle Milton's a pretty big dude."

"I know. Saw him at the vow renewal, remember? Come on, just help me with this. If we don't I'm afraid my dad will never get a bond set for him."

I sighed, my head leaning back. "Fine, but after that, that's it. I gotta go check on my wife."

"Dude, she'll be fine," Brad said, making a face. I looked down at the pictures I was holding in my hand.

"Yeah, she will."

~*Sam*~

"So...so often do you and Freddie change your sheets?" Carly whined as she sat on my bed uncomfortably.

I rolled my eyes. "Relax, Shay. We haven't done it where you're sitting at since the last time Freddie did laundry."

"Oh, good," Carly said with a sigh relief.

"...just avoid the foot of the bed."

"The foot?" Carly exclaimed. "What? Why? Why not just do it in the middle of the bed like a normal person?"

"Uh, first of all, Freddie and I are not normal, we've been over this many times..."

"You got that right..."

"And secondly...you guys have never done it like that?" I asked in surprise. "You guys need to shake things up."

"Done it like what?"

"Brad sitting on the foot of the bed, you straddling him."

"But what if I fall backwards?" Carly responded, and I rolled my eyes.

"Trust me, he won't let you. Can we not talk about this right now?" I replied, curling into a ball, hugging my pillow close to my chest. "And change the channel. I'm sick of Girly Cow."

"Jeez, sorry," Carly grumbled, picking the remote up and changing the channel. "Okay, you still haven't told me what's wrong. And if Freddie's making me babysit you, something's obviously wrong. And you missed class! Are you sick, Sam?"

"Not exactly," I said with a groan. "Though I am feeling nauseous."

"I thought the morning sickness was gone," Carly replied quizzically, and I nodded.

"It is."

"Then why..."

I sat up suddenly, looking at her. "Remember last night? When I was telling you about the detective? Blackmailing us to testify?"

"Yeah," Carly said softly. "He really got you that upset?"

"He told me he'd get Bill's case turned over. And he'd get out."

"Sam!" Carly exclaimed. "You know that's not true! He may be able to get the drug shit turned over, but not the draft dodging! And if they so much as thought about appealing that sick bastard, I'd call Colonel Morgan AND my dad, and they'd both shit frisbees! And you know Brad's father knows high-ranking military people too, and..."

"I know that, okay?" I snapped. I sighed, laying back down. "And it wasn't what he said."

"Then what..."

"It was what he showed me."

Carly frowned, looking confused. "What does that mean?"

"In assault cases, they take photos of every injury. Every single injury. They have to take photos before they can even treat the injuries."

Carly gasped, her hand covering her mouth. "Oh my god. You saw them? The photos?"

"Yeah," I said softly. "They were horrible. My arms, my face. And...oh god, my ribs, they were just...shattered. Crushed. Parts of my skin were just shredded where they'd come through. It was disgusting."

"Sam," Carly said, her hand on my shoulder. "I'm so sorry. Are you okay?"

"Do I look okay?" I snapped. I sighed, leaning my head back. "Sorry. But no, I'm not. I had the dream again. And it was more vivid than I can remember any other dream being. I got so upset I...I pushed Freddie away, over and over...and then I puked. All over the floor. It was disgusting."

"Sam..." Carly whispered. "I'm sorry."

I shrugged. "Freddie calmed me down eventually. I hope he's not mad at me for doing that. Pushing him away I mean. Or puking."

Carly shrugged. "He didn't get angry that day you puked in his car. And when you were in the hospital, you were freaking out like that on a daily basis, and he still didn't give up. Why would he give up now? He loves you."

"I know," I sighed. "God, he's such an amazing guy. I don't deserve him."

"Sam, yes you do! You guys are perfect together, he..."

"There is no woman on earth who could possibly deserve Freddie Benson," I responded. "I just lucked out."

"Well, Freddie thinks you're worth it. And Freddie thinks he doesn't deserve you."

I laughed, shaking my head. "Boy must have done something really bad in his past life to get stuck with me."

"Sam!" Carly scolded me. "Come on! You guys are in madly in love. You're perfect for each other."

"I know," I responded. "Just saying. He's so good. Nobody could really deserve him. And...the baby? If the baby's anything like him, no one will deserve them either. When the baby grows up, I mean."

"God," Carly groaned. "You're going to be one of those impossible mother-in-laws, I can tell."

I just shrugged. "And that kid's poor teachers..."

"Oh my god!" Carly whined, laughing a little. "Sam, uber-mom. Scary." She paused, looking at me and giving me a smile. "But cool. Really cool. I just hope..."

"Hope what?" I asked, and Carly bit her lip, thinking.

"I just hope the delivery goes okay, you know? I mean..."

"Carly, I'll be fine. I'm in pretty decent help. Strong like bull."

"My mom was strong," Carly commented softly. "But..."

"Is that what the whole no-kids thing is about, Carly?" I asked. "Because of your mom?"

"I dunno," she said with a shrug. "Maybe."

"Carly!" I said, grabbing her arm and shaking it. "Don't worry about that! I'll be fine! And if you ever decide to have kids, you'd be fine too! Besides, you and Brad would have some mighty pretty babies..."

Carly gave me a look. "Sam. Brad and I aren't talking about it. We've put the issue on hold. So you don't get to talk about it either."

"Oh, fine," I grumbled. "I'm just saying." I laid back, staring at the TV absentmindedly and running a hand over my stomach. The baby was being super active today. I'd been feeling the fluttery feeling on a nearly constant basis for the last two hours. Not that I minded, the fluttery feeling was kind of cool, and it was just a sweet little reminder of the sweet little mini-Freddie or mini-Sam growing inside me.

Carly and I laid there in mine and Freddie's bed for a long time, just watching TV and talking about everything and nothing at the same time, but neither one of us wanting to talk about serious stuff right now. Drama was swirling around our entire lives right now, but that didn't mean it had to permeate every aspect of our conversations. I missed Freddie, even though he'd only been gone for about forty-five minutes, but it was nice to have Carly around, just the two of us, hanging out. We didn't get to do that as much as before. I mean, I got it, it came with getting older and having significant others, but sometimes I still missed just being Sam and Carly.

About an hour and a half went by altogether before I could hear the front door open, and a moment later Freddie walked in.

"Hey gorgeous," he murmured, approaching towards the bed. He leaned down towards me, and I could tell he was still a little bit hesitant after how jumpy I was last night. I was still trying to get it wear off. I just sat up a little bit, brushing my lips over his, and he sighed, probably with relief that I wasn't adverse to being touched right now.

"Hey," I said, laying back down. "You get done what you needed to get done?"

"Yep," he replied, sitting down next to me, running his fingers lightly over my arm.

Carly gave him a Look. "And?"

"I got it handled. Matthew will NOT be bothering you again."

She nodded. "Okay. But what's going to happen?"

"They issued an arrest warrant. For stalking. And blackmail. So yeah, there'll be trial probably, but I doubt you'll have to go, because it's a stalking case. And if you do? I'll get Uncle Milton on it. He'll handle it."

I let out a sigh of relief. "I am so damn glad we have that card to play."

"You have no idea," Freddie said flatly.

Carly stared at him for a second. "So...what'd you have to do?"

Freddie shook his head. "Don't worry about it, okay?"

"Alright. I guess," Carly replied. "Where's Brad?"

"He's downstairs. At his mom's."

Carly let out an annoyed sigh. "He hasn't even slept yet!"

"Boy is on some extra shit today, I gotta say. I get it though. Finally getting to see his siblings, talking to his dad. Talking to the magistrate like he was a dog. Okay, that part was both of us. And it was a little fun..."

"You're just in a kick-ass, take names mood," I pointed out, and he nodded.

"Can you blame me?" he replied, and I shrugged.

"I guess not."

Carly stood up, shaking her hair out for a second and pulling her jacket back on. "Well, I'd better get out of here before you guys start doing it right in front of me," she commented, and Freddie laid down next to me, throwing a leg over me, his arms going around me.

"Better hurry," he told her, and Carly rolled her eyes.

"Ugh, I swear, you guys never stop..." she grumbled to herself. "I'm gonna go track Brad down. Later."

"Carly?" Freddie called, and Carly stopped in her tracks, looking at him wordlessly. "You need to clue Brad in on what's going on. He won't be able to get to Matthew now, the kid's gonna get locked up, so you don't have to worry about him filling Brad's head with a bunch of shit, OR Brad killing him. But you need to clue the boy in. He's getting suspicious, and he really starts to get annoying when he's suspicious."

"True," she said with a shrug. "Okay. I will. And thanks, Freddie. For doing this. I don't know what you did exactly, but...thanks. For helping me."

"Not a problem, Carls. Later."

"Bye guys."

"Bye," I called. The door shut, and I looked up at Freddie. "Baby, I...I'm not really in the mood. I can't believe I'm saying that, but...yeah."

Freddie shifted a little so he was laying on his back instead, pulling me to him. "I figured that, sweetheart. Just was trying to get her out a little bit faster. Plus Carly's fun to mess with. I mean, it's almost funny that she and Brad go at it almost as much as we do, and she's still so...squeamish and almost innocent about it."

"Well, they don't go at it almost as much as we do," I replied with a laugh. "Maybe about a third as much."

"True," he replied.

"Freddie?" I asked, lifting my head to look at him.

"What's up, baby?"

"What did you have to do? To get them to go after Matthew, I mean. They don't exactly play fair."

Freddie shrugged. "You're not going to be the only witness now, baby."

"You're going to take the stand?" I asked in surprise. "You're going to lie? You don't lie!"

"I know that, but I gotta do what I gotta do."

I laid my head back down on his chest, slightly shocked. "Wow. You did all that for Carly?"

"Well, not just for Carly. I mean, yeah, it would have sucked for her if that happened, but it would have been really bad for the show too," he pointed out.

"I never thought of that," I responded. "But you're right. So...you did it to help Carly...and save the show?"

"That's not all I did," he replied. "Sit up for a second." I did, and he sat up too, leaning over the side of the bed to grab something off the floor, and then sat back up, a manila envelope in his hand. "Know what this is?"

I shook my head no, and he just sighed.

"They won't be using any more evidence against you, baby," he responded, and my eyes got big.

"Is that what I think it is?" I whispered, and he nodded.

"I got the photos. I got the files. I got the police reports. I got all of it. And I made them delete it from the records. It's gone. Disappeared. They may know what happened, they may know what I did, but now they can't prove it. Now there's no trail."

I was silent for a minute, just staring at him, and he finally broke his gaze, getting off the bed. "Get dressed. Warm clothes."

"Why?" I asked, standing up. "Where are we going?"

"The roof."

"The roof?" I exclaimed. "Why?"

"I do remember a certain someone telling me a few years back that arson only works in places people can't see you that well. Who's gonna see us on the roof?"

"Arson?" I responded.

"Yeah. Well, mild arson really. This is the last piece of the puzzle. I can't erase what's in your head, but the evidence? The records? I can get rid of those."

I just gave him a small smile. "You're going to burn the files, so it's like they never even existed," I said, and he shook his head.

"No sweetheart. You're going to burn them. I think you'll feel better if you do."

I nodded, biting my lip. "I think so too."


	40. Chapter 40: A Crow Left of the Murder

**A/N: So this is kind of a transitional chapter, but it gets very intense towards the end, very detailed. Not for the weak of heart, that is for sure. Longer chapter to follow! PS – Have you followed me on twitter yet? eleanorr1gby, go look it up! **

**Chapter Forty:  
>A Crow Left of the Murder<strong>

~*Carly*~

I knocked softly on the Harrison's apartment door, waiting for someone to open it. This was so weird. I hadn't been back here in two years. I almost felt like I was back in high school. Eventually the door creaked open, revealing Heather. Her eyes looked swollen, like she'd been crying, face all pale, not wearing a scrap of makeup. She was dressed in sweats and a hoodie, the hood pulled up and strands of messy blonde hair hanging out. It wasn't the Heather I was used to seeing. She was usually all made up, perhaps too much for a fourteen year old, and dressed fashionably.

"Hey, Heather," I said softly. "How are you?"

Heather shrugged, leaning against the doorframe. "I'm fine."

"So...so how's it..."

"I know about Griffin," she interrupted me. "I know he's dead. Because of me."

"Heather, it wasn't your fault," I said gently.

"I shouldn't have said anything," she replied. She shook her head, looking at the ground, before looking back up at me. "Come in."

"Thanks." I followed her inside to find Bryson sitting at the kitchen table, drawing up a storm. "Hey Bryson. What are you drawing?"

"Cityscape," he grunted. "Charcoal. You like it?"

I looked over his shoulder, my eyebrows lifting in surprise. I'd seen some of his work from when he was only seven, and it was impressive, but this was even better. He definitely had talent as an artist. It went beyond talented, to approach gifted. Maybe even prodigy level.

"Looks good," I replied.

"Hello, Carly!" I heard a voice greet me, and I looked up to see Mrs. Harrison fussing around the kitchen.

"Hi, Mrs. Harrison. How are you?"

"Well, all things considered, we're okay. Bradley's father finally got his bond posted. Did Freddie tell you?"

"Not yet," I replied with a shake of my head. "He kind of had his hands full with Sam at the moment. But...it's after five, the bank..."

"Bradley and Freddie said they'd take care of it in the morning," she responded. "Of course, they could have gotten him out earlier today, but..." she trailed off, shrugging. "It'd be nice to have one good night with Bradley before Richard gets out, and..." she trailed off again. "Never mind."

"Okayyyy..." I responded slowly, a little confused. Shouldn't Mrs. Harrison be happy her husband was getting out of jail, and want him out as soon as possible? I'd forgotten how weird Brad's parents were. "Well...is Brad here?"

"Mmmhmm. He's with Leah. In her room. Go ahead." she ushered me towards Leah's room, and I opened the door slowly, sticking my head in. "Brad? What are you...oh my gosh." That was all I could get out before I started giggling.

"What?" he replied, giving me a fierce look. "What's so funny?"

"Nice hat," I laughed as I walked in, shutting the door behind me. "Pink is definitely your color."

"I'll have you know this is a tiara," he grumbled, pulling it off his head.

"Bwad! No!" Leah shouted, grabbing the tiara and placing it back on his head. I just laughed again, and Brad shot a goofy grin at his little sister.

"Fine, Lee-lee."

"Hey, Leah," I said, sitting down on the floor next to Brad. "What are you guys doing?"

"Tea party," she responded. "You wanna play?"

I looked at Brad, shrugging, and he did the same. "Sure," I told her. "Do I get a hat?"

"Yes. It's a lubby lady party."

"Lubby lady?" I asked, shooting a look at Brad.

"Lovely lady. She means lovely lady."

"Oh," I laughed. "So you're a lovely lady now?"

"You tell Freddie, and I swear, Carly..."

"Oh, relax. I'm not going to tell him," I responded, nudging him a little bit. "Besides, it's way more fun to keep something like this in my back pocket. For later."

"Carly!" Brad exclaimed.

"Carwy," Leah said, pushing a pink princess hat my way. "Wear dat."

"Okay," I responded, pulling my own hat off, shaking my hair out, and plopping the princess hat down on top of my head. "How do I look?"

"Bootiful," Leah responded. "Tea?"

"Sure," I replied. Aw, this was adorable. Brad in here playing with his little sister. I loved watching him. He seemed so happy now. For all his complaining in high school, Brad was definitely attached to his younger siblings. He'd missed them. "So..." I said to Brad. "How's Heather doing? She seemed a little morose..."

"That's an understatement," Brad grumbled. "She's been laying on the couch since I got here. She's really depressed about this whole thing."

"And what about you?"

Brad shot a look over at his younger sister, frowning suddenly. "Hey, Lee-lee? Go bug Bryson for a second, okay? Carly and I have to talk."

"Is Carwy your girlfwiend?" Leah asked suddenly, and Brad nodded.

"Yeah, Lee-lee. She's my girlfriend."

"Do you hug her?"

"Uh-huh," he replied, poking her, and she let out a squeal, pushing his hand away.

"Do you kiss her?"

"Lots," Brad responded with a grin. Leah looked at me with a surprised smile on her face, covering her mouth with her hands and letting out an adorable giggle.

"Ewww..." she said.

"Ah, you'll get it when you're older, Lee-lee," he responded, rising to his feet. He bent down suddenly, picking up and Leah and tossing her in the air, catching her effortlessly. "Mmmm-mwah!" he said as he kissed her on the side of the head. "There, now I kissed you."

"Eeewww!" Leah hollered, running to her door and pulling it open before running out. Brad just smirked, laughing a little.

"You missed her," I observed, and he nodded.

"A lot. I love that kid."

I just gave him a smile, reaching up to pull the tiara off his head, before pulling the princess hat off my head and smoothing it out. "So...what's the bail set at?"

Brad groaned. "Seventy five thousand. A lot lower than what Freddie and I thought, but..."

"Good lord, that's a lot of money!" I cried, frowning. "I mean, can we...can we handle that?"

Brad gave me a Look. "We can handle it, Carly. I...I didn't realize how much money we were making. Freddie never really talks about it."

"He doesn't like to brag," I said softly. "And it's probably good he didn't say anything, because...yeah. We have a spending problem."

"Yep," he replied.

"So...Heather?"

Brad sighed. "I'm worried, Carly. I'm worried this is really gonna mess her up. Mom's going to take her to a therapist, but yeah. It's going to be a lot for her to deal with."

"Yeah," I said, not sure what else to say. "So...so things went okay with your dad?"

"As good as they could go. I mean, we're talking about my dad here."

"Yeah, that's true," I agreed. "Are we still staying for dinner?"

"Yep." he replied. "That okay?"

"Of course. You need to spend some time reconnecting with your family. But...maybe..."

"Maybe what?" Brad replied, and I shrugged.

"Maybe you want some time with just them?"

Brad shook his head. "No. I want you here with me, Carly. I...I know that they stayed away because of my dad, but...you've never given up on me. You stayed with me through all of it. I love you, Carly."

I just gave him a sweet smile, kissing him. "I love you too, Brad."

"Ewww!" we heard a little voice shriek, and we both looked towards the door to see Leah standing there, giggling. Brad just gave her a grin, then made an "angry face," advancing toward her.

"Tickle monster."

"No!" she responded, and Brad just shook his head, creeping down closer to her.

"Tickle monsterrrrr..."

"No!" she yelled, before taking off into the living room, and Brad zoomed past me to catch up to his little sister. I just shook my head and laughed, heading out of Leah's room and shutting the door behind me.

~*Sam*~

"Don't look at them," Freddie warned me as I went to open the file that contained all the photos and the assault information. "You saw them once, you don't need to see them again. You didn't need to see them at all."

I shrugged. "I know, but..." I trailed off, giving him a Look. "Why don't you let me do that?"

"I can make a fire in a trash barrel, Sam!" Freddie shot back, and I rolled my eyes.

"Just let me do it!" I hollered, grabbing the lighter out of his hands. "Amateur."

"What? What am I doing wrong?" he gruffed, crossing his arms over his chest.

"You're not supposed to just light the newspaper and throw it in there, that's why it's not catching," I explained. "You light different bits of the newspaper, on different sides, and it slowly melds together to create a bigger fire."

Freddie just sighed, shaking his head. "Pity we can't use your talent for setting things on fire for good."

"Eh, I dunno about that. If we ever go camping..."

"Thought you hated camping," Freddie responded, and I shrugged.

"I dunno. Maybe when the baby is older, we can try it?"

Freddie just gave me a smile. "Sounds good, baby. Hurry up and light that thing, I wanna get this done and over with."

"Cold getting to ya?" I teased, and Freddie shook his head.

"No. I want this out of our lives. As quickly as possible," he responded, and I nodded.

"Me too." I went back to my task of finishing up with the fire, and it quickly caught. I looked over at Freddie triumphantly, and he just rolled his eyes, smirking at me. "Okay."

"Alright, so? You just wanna throw the whole thing in there?" he asked, and I shook my head.

"No," I replied softly, before going back to what I was doing before, pulling the files out of the folder.

"Sam..." Freddie warned, taking a step towards me. "Don't read it."

"I have to," I replied softly. I pulled the first piece of paper out, which was a detailed report of what had happened. It was the witness report they'd taken from Spencer. I began reading over it.

"Victim's name, Samantha Puckett, age sixteen." I made a face. "They got my damn name wrong."

"You didn't file for the name change until September, remember?" Freddie reminded me. "It wasn't official."

"Not on record," I replied with a sigh. "Just here," I said, my hand going over my heart. I took a deep breath. "Okay. Victim was found by neighbor, Spencer Shay, age twenty nine." My eyes widened as I read over the first sentence.

"Sam, don't read it," Freddie told me again, and I just shook my head.

"Victim was found shirtless, other clothing torn, face down. Arms were strapped back with a leather belt. Victim was still conscious. Witness described victim in a panicked state, injuries including dislocated shoulders, one broken arm. Victim had large gash on forehead, bruise across back of neck. Multiple burns on face, neck, and back."

"Sam, stop it!" Freddie said. "I don't wanna hear this!"

"I need to hear this!" I shouted, looking up at him. "And maybe you do too."

"I don't want to," he said again, shaking his head. "Stop."

"I can't," I whispered, going back to reading the report aloud. "Victim was found..." I took a deep breath. "In a pool of blood. Left side of ribcage crushed in, two ribs exposed, compound fractures. Witness reports seeing man, approximately age forty five, standing over victim, holding a handgun, type unknown." I rolled my eyes. "It was a Glock."

"A what?" Freddie asked.

"A Glock," I replied. "It's a type of handgun. Spencer doesn't know handguns, and he's the one that gave the report, but it was a Glock. That's what Bill carried. It was large. And silver. He kept it polished really good. He..." I shook my head. "After he kicked me, he hit me in the head with it, and then he yelled at me for bleeding on his gun. And said he'd make me pay for that."

"Sam, please stop," Freddie whispered. "I don't understand how this can possibly be helping you!"

"We've never really talked about it!" I shouted back. "We just acted like it never happened!"

"And I wish it never had!" he shot back. "Please, just stop!"

"I can't stop, Freddie! I can't! I'm just gonna keep reliving it, over and over! You have to let me get this out!"

Freddie shook his head furtively. "I don't wanna think about what that sick bastard did to you, Sam. I don't want to listen to this."

"Then go downstairs," I responded, and he shook his head again.

"I'm not going to do that," he replied.

"You can either go downstairs, or you can man up and deal with this," I replied softly, and he just took a deep breath, nodding.

"Fine. Go on."

"Witness reports being assaulted by attacker, hit in the jaw with handgun, gun pointed at witness, before the attacker fled the scene. Shit..." I trailed off. "I didn't know that. I guess...I wasn't paying attention, I..."

"I think it's safe to say you had a lot on your mind," Freddie grunted.

"Still. He could have shot him. He could have shot me. But...he didn't want that. He didn't want that to be over quickly. He wanted me to suffer."

"How do you know that?" Freddie asked.

"Because he told me. He kicked me, he hit me in the head with the gun, and then he tore my shirt, and he said to me, I own you now. No matter what happens, you will never get me out of your head. If you survive this, I own you. If you die, I still own you. You're mine now." I took a deep breath, shaking my head, trying to keep my emotions in control. God, this was so hard. I felt like I might throw up again.

"Sam?" Freddie asked. "Are you alright? Are you feeling sick?" He put his hand on my shoulder, and I stepped away, causing Freddie to give me a hurt look. "Please don't do this again."

"Just...wait until it's over, okay?" I replied, looking down at the ground, and he just sighed, nodding. I took a deep breath and looked back down at the paper. I had to get through this. Had to keep talking. Maybe once we really talked about, it would be easier to deal with.

"I...after he did that, I tried to get up, tried to crawl away. But the pain in my ribs was...it was unbearable. Like my insides were on fire. I could barely breathe, let alone move, but...I started trying to drag myself away, and...he...he said I was a squirmer, and we needed to fix that. So he took the belt. At first he just started hitting me with it, but then he just wrapped it around my arms, from the back. And he kept pulling, tighter and tighter, until I felt this pop...and...oh god. It...it was this burning sensation, and it almost felt like my arms were gone. Like they weren't a part of me anymore. I swear, it felt like he'd just ripped them off my body. And then he bent down, real close to my ear, and he said, you know something, bitch? I think you're enjoying this." I was crying now, and Freddie just paced back and forth, clearly having a hard time dealing with having to listen to this. God, just keep pushing forward. Don't stop, Sam. You gotta get this out. So you can move on.

"And then it got really bad," I whispered, and Freddie looked up at me.

"It sounded pretty fucking bad before that."

"Yeah, but...he ripped my pants...ripped my underwear. And then he...he..."

"Sam, please!" Freddie shouted. "God, please don't say it. I can't take it. Don't say it."

"He was really angry that I was on my period. It didn't fit into his plan. He just started kicking me again. And hitting me. Called me a bitch. Slut. Whore. Every name you can think of. And every time he kicked me, I would start screaming again. And then Spencer came in. I don't remember much of what happened after that, between him and Bill I mean. But...he came over, he unhooked the belt, and my arms just fell. Just hit the floor. Dead weight. I kept begging him not to turn me over, because it hurt so bad. But he did. He put something over me, I don't know what it was. And after that things just got a little hazy. I don't remember much after that. The next thing I remember was waking up in the hospital, and seeing you." I looked over at Freddie, and he just stared at me, silently.

"And I was scared, but...you were there. And I knew that things would be okay. Because of you. I just remember thinking over and over, the whole time it was happening...the attack I mean, I want Freddie. I want Freddie. And thinking I just wanted it to stop, and I wanted to be in bed with you. I tried to think about other things. I started thinking about us sitting on the couch and watching TV. Isn't that strange? It was like...like an out of body experience."

"I'm sorry, sweetheart," Freddie whispered. "I'm sorry I wasn't there."

I nodded. "But then I was thinking that I was glad you weren't there too. Because of what might have happened to you. That would have been worse."

"No," Freddie replied, shaking his head. "I would have switched places with you in a heartbeat, Sam. I would take on every bit of pain in the world if it meant you didn't have to go through it."

I nodded, looking back down at the paper. "Witness called EMS. EMS came in approximately fifteen minutes later. Victim appeared to be hemorrhaging, before going into shock. Heartbeat stopped for approximately two minutes. Victim resuscitated, heart flatlined second time. Heartbeat stopped for approximately three minutes. Victim resuscitated, moved to ambulance. Witness statement taken at 10:25 PM." I looked back up at Freddie. "That's the whole witness report."

"Get rid of it," Freddie growled, and I stared at him for second, dropping the piece of the paper into the fire without breaking Freddie's gaze, and then pulling out another piece of paper.

"Victim report," I said. "Are you ready for this?"

"Not really," Freddie said with a shake of his head.

"Victim reports no recollection of events that took place," I read, and Freddie looked at me in surprise. "I've never been able to talk about it in detail with anyone. Until now. With you." I threw the paper into the fire. "Okay. The photos."

"Please don't look at them again, baby," he begged, and I shook my head.

"I have to deal with this," I replied. I held up one picture. "This is a picture of my head. I got hit with the gun. It took fourteen surgical stitches to close. But it healed up." I threw the photo into the fire, watching it burn away into nothingness. I held up another photo. "These are the burns I got. They healed too." Another photo. "My shoulders got fixed." Into the fire, burning away. Next photo. "My arm healed." Burn, you son of a bitch. Next photo. "The bruises faded." Now that photo was gone too. My breath caught in my throat as I pulled out the final photo, the most gruesome of the bunch, my ribs. I looked over it carefully, just staring at it, and my eyes traveled up to Freddie's.

"Don't," he croaked, shaking his head. "I don't want to see it."

"Freddie..."

"Sam!" he pleaded. "Please. Don't."

I just stared at him for a second, suddenly ripping the photo in half, then again, scattering the pieces into the ashes.

"Bastard," I whispered, staring at the flames. "He broke every part of me. Of course, the worst thing, they didn't get a picture of that. And they didn't fix it either."

"What are you talking about?" Freddie asked, and I just stared at him for a moment, grabbing his arm and pulling him to me, placing his hand in the center of my chest.

"In here. They didn't fix that. They couldn't," I replied, staring at him. "The only person who could do that was you. And you did. And now I'm not broken any more."

Freddie didn't respond, just nodded. He had this intense, fiery look in his eyes. I knew he was angry, angry at Bill for what he'd done to me, and upset at having to listen to me talk about it, to REALLY talk about it. But there was something else there, behind all that. More intense than sadness, more intense than anger. It was something I didn't really recognize. Hints of protectiveness, but something else. Something dark.

The sun was beginning to set over the tall Seattle buildings, casting shadows over us, the fire from the metal barrel flickering, casting an orange glow over us as we stood on the roof. It was just me and Freddie, alone, but the entire time, it had felt like there was someone else here with us. Or something else. It was a heavy feeling. Dread. Despair. A weight that had been holding us down. A creature lurking in the back of our minds. A monster. I had already gotten all the bad stuff out of my system. Burning the photos. Reliving it. Talking about it. But that look in Freddie's eyes, the way he was breathing heavily, his jaw in a firm line. Something else was going on.

"What did you do to him?" I asked, and Freddie looked away. I felt his hand drop from my chest, and he took a step back. I quickly grabbed his chin, jerking it back to force him to look at me. "What did you do to him?"

"I fucked him up," he said in a gruff voice. "I fucked him up bad."

"Tell me how you did it," I replied.

Freddie took a step back, taking a deep breath, crossing his arms over his chest. "We waited in an alley. Next to a ravine. Spencer lured him back there. I had a bat. A metal one. I waited for Spencer to run past, then him, and I hit him in the back. He fell, but he got back up. Pulled his gun on me."

I gasped, lifting a hand to my mouth, and Freddie shook his head.

"Brad's dad had already switched them. So it wasn't loaded. Bill thought it was. He pulled the trigger, nothing happened. Then I hit him again. In the head. Brad jumped on top of him, wrapped my belt around his arms, yanked them back. Lifted him off the ground by them. But I told Brad it wasn't tight enough. So he pulled on it harder, and then we heard the pop."

I knew what 'pop' he was talking about, I'd heard it myself. The noise was jarring, but the actual feeling of it was unbearable. I didn't respond, just stared at him. His eyes were locked with mine, and he didn't waver from staring at me the entire time he was talking.

"After that, I got his cigarettes. Spencer got one, Gibby got one. Lit one, took a few puffs, stamped it out on his neck. And then I slapped him. Hard. Bitch slapped him. Because he's a bitch. After that, I hit him with the bat again. He went down. I told Brad to pick him back up. And he did. I hit him again, and he fell again. I told Brad to pick him up again, and Brad got a little nervous about that, but I just yelled at him and told him to pick him up again. He did."

God, Freddie wasn't kidding when he said the whole thing brought out his dark side, and I could tell it was only going to get worse.

"Then I hit him in the gut, with the end of the bat, and then lower. He almost fell again, but I told Brad not to let go of him. No matter what, to not let go of him. He didn't. He was wearing a button up, and I took the end of the bat, down his shirt, gave it a tug, and it popped all the buttons off. I took Gibby's cigarette from him, stamped it out on his chest. Then I hit him again. Everyone was getting a little nervous then. I took Spencer's cigarette, burned Bill's stomach with it. Hit him again. Then I gave the bat to Spencer. Spencer only hit him once, in the shoulder, and I said that wasn't good enough. So I took the bat from Spencer, and I gave it Gibby. Gibby didn't want to do it, he wasn't cool with it. I...I yelled at Gibby. Called him a pussy. Told him to man up. Gibby hit him hard. Harder than Spencer. I punched him, in the face...I think I broke his nose, and then I told Gibby to hit him again, and he did. But then he wanted to pull back. The guys were telling me I was going too far. I told Brad to drop him. Bill fell. And I handed the bat to Brad. Told him to take a few swings. Brad was really hesitant at first, but then I yelled at him again, and he got in a few good shots. Way more than Spencer and Gibby."

My eyebrows went up, and I was absolutely in shock. I'd heard a bit about what had happened that day, but only a little. Getting a full play-by-play was a little bit daunting.

"So then Brad's got the bat, and he says it's enough, but I wasn't done. Brad wouldn't give me the bat. So I just started kicking him. Kicked him hard. In the ribs. Stomped on him. He was on his side by then, and I kicked him in the stomach. Then the chest. He was just laying there, screaming. Coughing. And then I started kicking him in the face. That's when Spencer and everyone else stepped in. Tried to drag me away. I...I was like this other person. I just lost control. They started to pull me away, but I broke free, ran over to the guy, and then...I...I started stomping on him. You know where. I'd be surprised if the guy has anything left down there. And Brad just kind of tackled me, he said it was enough. He told me to pull back. But I was still trying to break loose. All I could think about was how bad he hurt you, how he needed to pay. Spencer and Brad had to pull me out of there, and I kept fighting like hell to get back. To finish the job. Took me about half an hour to calm down, before I could go to you. I didn't want you to see me in that state. I still don't."

Holy. Shit. I didn't know Freddie had flipped out that bad. No wonder he harbored guilt over it. It wasn't what he had done, it was that he had lost himself, and what he was capable of doing if our friends hadn't pulled him back.

"Well?" he asked, still staring at me, and I handed him the folder I was holding. The only thing left inside was the detailed report of Bill's injuries, the police report, and the CD that held the digital copies of everything we'd just discussed.

"There's the last piece of the puzzle," I stated, and he took it from me, just staring at the folder for a second, before throwing it into fire. We both stood there for a second, watching it burn. Watching the evidence burn away, dissipate into nothingness, until it was just ash, and Freddie looked up at me.

"It's over now," he said in a low voice.

I finally lifted my head to look at him, and we stared at each other for a moment. I wasn't sure who made the first move, but the next thing I knew was I was in him arms, hugging him against me tightly. I could feel his heartbeat thundering away, until it began to slow down. He was holding me so tight, one hand stroking my hair, and I gripped his shoulders tightly. I felt him kiss me on the top of my head, and I looked up at him.

"Yeah. It's over."


	41. Chapter 41: Admiration

**A/N: Oops. It's a little long. But...I'm pleased nonetheless. Lemons, love, and all that jazz! And yes, I'm totally doing shameless self promo, but twitter me this, twitter me that! eleannor1gby, come find me!**

**Chapter Forty One:  
><strong>**Admiration**

~*Sam*~

"I think I should wear the blue shirt instead."

I raised my eyebrows at Freddie as he dug through the closet.

"It's in the laundry."

"So? I can wash it."

"Freddie!" I scolded. "We don't have time for that! We'll be late!"

He turned to look at me, shrugging a little. "Yeah. I definitely think I should wear the blue shirt."

"FREDDIE!" I yelled. "What is wrong with you? Are you stalling? Why are you stalling? I thought we dealt with this!"

It was finally here, the day Freddie had been dreading since December and we'd found out the news. Today was Marissa's wedding day, to Robert. In only a matter of hours, Marissa Benson would become Marissa Conners. And man, was Freddie being a pain right now!

Freddie sat down on the bed and glared at me, but didn't say anything back. He looked like a little kid sitting there, his arms crossed over his chest, pouting. I just sighed, crawling onto the bed and getting behind him, rubbing his shoulders.

"What's wrong with you? I thought we dealt with this, baby." I kissed the side of his neck. "Talk to me."

"I don't know," Freddie responded. "It's just weird. The idea of my mom getting remarried. I mean...I'm going to have a STEPfather. That's weird, Sam. It's not about my dad, it's...it's my mom, you know? It's just so strange. I'm married, and now she's going to be married. I never pictured my mom doing that. Doing it again, I mean."

"Don't you want your mom to be happy?" I asked as I continued to rub his shoulders, moving to the back of his neck. "Don't you want her to be happy like us?"

Freddie groaned. "Sam, I've told you a million times, don't compare our relationship to my mother's."

I poked him in the side. "You just don't want to think about your mommy gettin' some."

"Sam!" he hollered, turning around to glare at me. "That's gross."

"No it's not. Old people need love too."

"My mom's not old," he said with a roll of his eyes. "Age has nothing to do with it. She's my mom. I don't want to think about her...doing that. Eugh." He shuddered a bit, and I laughed. "It's not funny. Why are you laughing?"

"Just think, one day little baby Benson will be saying the same thing about us. Telling us to get a room. Being mortified at the idea of us kissing...or doing anything else."

Freddie turned to look at me, a slight smile on his face, before he ran his hand over my belly. My stomach was getting bigger and bigger every day. I was at seventeen weeks, still had twenty three more to go, but it was pretty obvious to everyone that I was pregnant now. It was funny walking down the hallways at school. People's gaze would automatically go to my stomach, then almost instantly shoot over to my left hand. Just to see if I had a ring. Just to see if I was married. Well, I was, to the most amazing man.

It had been two weeks since the whole ordeal with Griffin, and it was eerie how quickly things had gone back to normal around here. The incident on top of the apartment roof that night, burning the photos, the police reports, it had been good for us. Freddie got a lot of stuff off his chest, and I had seemed to purge myself of all my inner demons, the ones I didn't even know were there, the ones that laid in wait. We were good. We were happy. They'd actually had to cut Freddie's dose of anti-anxiety meds in half again, which was a good sign. It meant a lot of stuff that had been weighing down on him were finally starting to wear off. I was doing good too, I hadn't had another nightmare, and Freddie and I had gone back to...just being Sam and Freddie. Or Seddie. Whatever.

There were still a lot of loose ends to be tied up. Starting with the trial. We both had to take the stand, and lie. I still didn't want to do it. I didn't want to lie after the last few years of trying to play it straight. But I had no choice, and Freddie had no choice. If we refuted the claims on the witness statements, we'd be in major trouble. So even though we'd gotten the police files, the photos, all of that, the stuff they were blackmailing us with, we still had to go through with it. But I suppose it was a fair trade. One lie for peace of mind. We hadn't really talked about it, but the day was coming, in April. Next month.

The stalker situation with Carly had been put to rest, at least for the time being. When they'd arrested Matthew, he'd had his computer on him, and there was indeed the stolen pictures from Brad's phone. That was all they needed to build a case against that loser, and the laptop was now part of police evidence, and there'd be no way he'd get it back. There was an ironclad restraining order on that nerdy TA, there'd be a court case in six weeks, and Carly was hoping she'd be able to put the whole incident behind her. She'd had a talk with Brad over the whole thing, and he wasn't upset with her, just worried. Of course, she'd told me that she failed to mention the kiss, and I wondered if that would have any bearing on how Brad felt about the situation.

Other than that, life was good. Brad was so damn happy I wanted to smack the kid. Bryson had been spending a lot of time at our apartment lately, and they'd both become a permanent fixture in front of Brad's X-Box. And Brad would try to stop by his parents' place at least once a day to hang out with Leah for an hour or so. Heather was still being...Heather. She was pretty depressed over this whole thing. It was obvious she blamed herself for Griffin's death. The Harrisons had put her in counseling, but it hadn't seemed to be doing any good. Still, the whole thing was pretty fresh, very fresh, and we all still had hope that Heather would eventually get over it.

Things were still a little tense for him and Mr. Harrison. Mr. Harrison had gotten out, but he was on house arrest until the trial. He was a cop, so they couldn't house him n jail, in the general populace with other prisoners. The only choice had been house arrest. He was on leave from work. Thing was, Mr. Harrison was not the lay around the house type. Without his work to dive into, apparently he was driving everyone insane, being even crabbier as usual, trying to "fix" things around the apartment, but apparently he wasn't much of a handyman. And he was still being aloof with Brad. Maybe when all the stress wore off, when he was cleared, maybe he and Brad could start the process of rebuilding their relationship, but who knew really? Mr. Harrison was a weird guy. I owed him a lot, true, but we'd be settling the score pretty soon. He'd told a lie for me. Covered stuff up for me. And now I would do the same.

But it wasn't all stress these days. We still had some stuff to look forward to. We were on the list for a one-level in Bushwell, and the next place opened up in only a month. I was a little sad about not having my Carly as a roommate anymore, but she'd be right upstairs, and that was awesome. Plus, Brad's birthday was coming up next week! He was a little unsure of what to do with himself now that he'd given up drinking, but we were determined to make it a good one.

Then there was Carly. A lot of weight had been lifted off her shoulders after the TA incident, and the fact that Brad seemed to be a lot happier. She and Brad were getting along great, her course load had really lightened up, and she was really beginning to take this whole music thing seriously. Plus, she was good at it. I was happy for her that she'd found something else that she enjoyed.

But right now, I was concerned with Freddie. He'd been dealing with his father issues a lot better, but he obviously still upset about the idea of Marissa getting remarried. I understood. For a long time, it was just him and his mother, until I came along that was. It wasn't like she was going anywhere. She was very attached to her apartment, so Robert would be moving in with her. Of course, that bugged Freddie too. He totally fit the description of an only child. Didn't like to share, things or people. He was that way with his mom apparently, and he was definitely that way with me. Sometimes if I'd be hanging out with Carly for too long, he'd start blowing my phone up, or if Carly and I were in the middle of one of our girl talks, he'd come up behind me and start kissing on my neck, trying to get my attention. He could certainly be a selfish nub sometimes. Hey, at least he wasn't selfish in the sack, right?

I gave him a smile as he pushed me onto my back, pushing up the shirt I was wearing and pressing his lips to my stomach, kissing my skin. We'd pretty much gotten past all the nervousness of having a child, now we were just excited, anxious to get into an apartment we could call our very own. I had all these ideas swirling around in my head about how I wanted the apartment to look, how I wanted the baby's room to look. Freddie had vetoed the "meatball mobile" over the baby's crib of course, but everything else he was giving me free reign on as far as doing up the baby's room, and man I was excited!

Freddie pressed his ear to my stomach, and I just laughed, flicking his earlobe.

"You can't hear anything in there, nub. Except maybe my stomach juices getting rid of breakfast."

"Man," Freddie sighed. "This kid needs to hurry up and grow so I can feel them kick." The baby still wasn't big enough to cause enough action that anyone other than me could feel it, but man, I felt it all the time. It was a very, very active baby, but not surprising. Look who their mother was!

"Don't rush my baby," I scolded him, and he just laughed.

"Not rushing the baby. Just very anxious to meet him or her, that's all," he replied, giving my stomach another kiss. He pulled away, still looking at my stomach, and he frowned suddenly. "Baby, what happened?" he asked, sounding alarmed, running a hand down my side. "Did you run into something?"

"Huh?" I asked, sounding confused. "What do you mean? Do I have a bruise?"

He shook his head. "No. It's like...a scar. Or a mark. A new one."

I sat up, frowning, and as I twisted to look to where he was gesturing to, my eyes widened in horror, and I let out a squeak.

"Oh no!" I cried, standing up.

"What? What is it?"

"Nothing!" I replied, running into the bathroom and shutting the door. Freddie banged on the door, but I wasn't going to open it. I looked at myself in the mirror, absolutely mortified. Oh god! No!

"Sam! Open the door, baby!"

"Go away!"

"Sam! Honey, come on! It's not a big deal, I think it's just a..."

"Don't you dare say it!" I hollered.

"Come on, just open the door."

"No! I don't want you to look at it!"

I heard Freddie grunt in frustration on the other side of the door, before yelling for Carly. A few minutes later, I heard a soft knock at the door. "Sam? It's Carly, let me in."

"Go away," I said flatly, still looking at the mirror in shock.

"Sam! Come on!" Carly whined, and with a roll of my eyes, I finally acquiesced, pulling the door open, grabbing Carly's arm, and yanking her into the bathroom, slamming the door shut, much to Freddie's chagrin.

"This is not going to help me get ready any easier!" he hollered through the door, and I ignored him, going back to the mirror.

"I can't believe this. Can you believe this? I can't believe this!"

"Believe what?" Carly asked.

"This!" I snapped, pointing to my side. "What the hell is this?"

Carly leaned forward to examine my side, and she rolled her eyes. "It's a stretch mark, Sam."

"Oh my god, don't say it!" I hollered.

"Sam, chill out. Saying it won't summon the Dark Wizard of Stretch Marks."

"Shut up!" I cried. "Oh my god, this is bad!"

"Sam! It's one stretch mark, and it's only two inches long! Calm down!"

"I can't calm down!" I hollered. "What if I get more? Freddie's not going to be attracted to me if I get more!"

"That's not true, Sam!" I heard Freddie yell, and I let out a growl, slamming my fist into the door. "Ow!" he yelled, and I rolled my eyes, because I knew he'd had his ear pressed against the door.

"That's for eavesdropping, nub!"

"Fine!" he yelled through the door. "I'll be in our room. Come out when your brain re-engages! You could be three hundred pounds and I'd still want you!" It got quiet suddenly. "Okay, maybe not three hundred pounds, but come on, baby! This is ridiculous!"

I just growled to myself, but Carly grabbed my shoulders and shook them.

"Sam, snap out of it! This is normal! They are called stretch marks because your skin is STRETCHING! Because of the baby! They'll fade, will you just relax? Aren't you supposed to be putting cocoa butter on them or something?"

"We don't have any cocoa butter," I grumbled, and then a lightbulb went off in my head. "Hey, what about..."

"No, Sam, you cannot use real butter," Carly responded, sounding annoyed. "Besides, none of it would make it to your skin anyway, you'd just eat it!"

"That's a good point," I replied, before grabbing Carly's arm. "Carlyyyy!" I whined. "Oh my god. This is so bad!"

"It's not that bad."

"Easy for you, you don't have them!" I cried. "And if you're so damn anti-baby, you'll never have them!"

"Maybe," Carly said softly, and I gave her a surprised look.

"What? I thought you had your mind made up. About kids?" I asked, and she shrugged.

"I dunno. I mean, Brad is awfully cute with his sister. He'd be a good daddy."

"Awww..." I said. "You wanna have Brad's baby!"

"I didn't say that!" she replied, her face reddening a little, and I poked her.

"You wanna have Brad's baby!"

"Shut up!" she yelled.

"You want Brad's seed."

"Okay, that's just gross, don't say it like that."

"What about...what was it, the loins of your fruit? Or something?"

Carly gasped, and then laughed, her hands covering her face. "Wow, you just took it to a whole other level. It's fruit of your loins. Not loins of your fruit. You just took it somewhere bad."

"Yeah, I have a tendency to do that," I grumbled. "But seriously, what's up with all this jumping back and forth, Carly?"

Carly shrugged. "I dunno. Everything that's happened over the last few weeks. I mean, the whole Griffin thing. Brad could have been really hurt. Maybe even died. And...and I guess the depression really was temporary, you know? He's different now. Relaxed. Happy. Back to being goofy Brad. And not freshman year goofy Brad, but...high school Brad."

"High school Brad was good," I agreed. "But you really want him to act like he's seventeen again?"

Carly frowned. "Not exactly. But...he kind of walked this line between being super responsible, and then he could just jump over into carefree territory, and then jump right back, almost effortlessly. We complemented each other really well back then. I mean, we do now too. Now that..."

"Now that he's hopped off the drunkie train, and you guys are being the uber-creative power couple?"

"Well...well yeah!" she replied. "It's nice. Like we have things in common again."

"And you were afraid to tell him," I scolded her with a shake of my head. "Silly Shay. So...what are you saying? The engagement's back on the table?"

"I...no. No use jumping right back into that just because things are good. I really think we should...maybe wait. Maybe a year. Stretch it out. See what it's like living together sans Sam and Freddie," she said pointedly.

"What the hell is that supposed to mean?" I asked, hands on my hips, and Carly rolled her eyes.

"Okay, this is going to sound really weird...but...you and Brad have this thing..."

"Carly..." I warned her. "I have Freddie's spawn inside me right now, Brad and I do not have a THING."

"Ew, spawn," she said, shuddering. "And you do! And not the kind of thing you're thinking of. You guys have this weird bond. Over the screwed up family stuff, and the fact that you guys are both really laid back, like to pull pranks, that kind of thing. And even though it's not as...intense, Freddie and I are kind of the same way. Because of our parents, and because we're both kinda high-strung, all that. When there's a problem going on with one couple, there's usually someone to send in as back-up. Brad gets you involved in our drama all the time. Freddie just pulled me into your freak attack."

"Okay, so?" I asked, not getting it, and Carly rolled her eyes.

"Before Brad and I can move forward and before I can be sure we'd actually...you know, make it? I have to be sure that he and I can handle our issues ON OUR OWN. Without outside help. I mean, yeah, sometimes you or Freddie call for back-up, like just now. But for the most part, you guys handle your own stuff. And look at how happy you guys are! I want that. I want that with Brad. But wanting's not enough. We have to do it. I mean really do it."

"Oh really?" I asked, wiggling my eyebrows mischievously, and she laughed, shoving me a little.

"Pervert!" she laughed. "No, you know what I mean, Sam."

"Yeah, I know. Aww!" I exclaimed, and she gave me a strange look.

"What?"

"You guys are finally getting it!" I exclaimed, then frowned. "Dammit, how come it takes somebody getting put in the hospital to shake things up?"

Carly shrugged. "I dunno. But what I do know is I love Brad. A lot. And...I'm starting to think we have a future after all. But..."

"But?" I pressed her, and she shrugged.

"The future can wait. Because as soon as we get all this stuff out of the way, the present's going to be pretty awesome, you know?"

"Maybe for you, you don't have stretch marks," I grumbled, and Carly rolled her eyes.

"Sam, it's one little stretch mark!"

"And it'll probably start inviting friends!" I complained. "You watch, in three months my stomach is going to be the facebook of stretch marks! They're all gonna come hang out!"

"Ugh, dramatic much?" Carly complained. "This has gotta be the hormones talking."

"No, just the stretch mark," I grumbled. "Freddie's gonna be grossed out."

"He will not be grossed out!" Carly exclaimed. "He loves you! He's crazy about you! I mean, don't take this the wrong way, but...you've gotten bigger."

"And?" I responded, giving her the hairy eyeball.

"And he still wants you!" she replied. "Sam! Snap out of it! That boy can barely keep his hands off you! One little mark isn't going to deter him!"

"But..." I started, and Carly pressed a hand over my mouth. I continued to rant against her hand, but she didn't budge, just rolled her eyes.

"That's it. I can't believe I'm doing this," she said.

"Dmmmghrrmph?" I asked against her hand. Of course I was trying to ask "doing what?" but she wouldn't take her hand off my mouth.

"Encouraging further violation of the noise ordinance," she responded, spinning me around so my back was to her, before opening the door and dragging me into mine and Freddie's room.

"Carly!" I hollered, trying to squirm free. "Stop it! I don't want him to see it!"

Carly ignored me totally, instead focusing her attention on Freddie, who was sitting on our bed and looking at me like I'd lost it. "Freddie?"

"Yes?"

"I can't believe I'm saying this, but I think you need to give Sam a reminder of your..."

"Intense appreciation of her incredibly sexy body?" he finished with a raise of his eyebrows, and Carly rolled her eyes, making a disgusted noise.

"Whatever...just do whatever it is you do," she responded, giving me a shove towards Freddie. "I'm out, going upstairs, to the studio, to practice, far away from the noise."

I growled at her, but she just gave me a wink, shutting the door behind her. Freddie just sat there for a minute, glaring at me.

"What?" I barked.

"Seriously, Sam? You think I'm that damn shallow, that one stretch mark's gonna throw me off?"

"Well, you are a guy..."

"Gee, thanks!" he responded.

"And you freaked out when you first saw it!"

"I thought it was a scratch or something, I thought you'd hurt yourself!" he replied. "Come on, baby. It's not that big of a deal. You're still beautiful."

I didn't respond, just harrumphed, crossing my arms over my chest. "This is bullshit."

"This is NORMAL," he responded, getting off the bed and reaching for my hands. "Now come here." He put his arms around me and began kissing on my neck, and I sighed, my head going back, enjoying the feel of his mouth on me.

"We have to go to the church in two and a half hours," I reminded him breathlessly, and he shrugged.

"We've got time. I've ALWAYS got time to make my sweet sweet baby feel better."

"But..." I started, and Freddie cut me off, kissing me intensely.

"Shut up," he growled at me. "I don't wanna hear it, Sam. You're beautiful. You always have been. You always will be. I love you. You're perfect."

I didn't respond, because he'd started kissing a steady trail down my neck, pulling down the collar of my shirt to lick over my collarbone, making me sigh, my knees already getting a little weak. Okay, they were getting very weak. I was already having trouble standing upright, but I didn't have to, because Freddie was holding me up. He picked me up suddenly, laying me down on the bed, and came over me, his mouth finding mine again, one hand tangling through my hair, the other grabbing my leg and pulling it against him as he ground his hips into mine. I could feel my brain begin to go foggy, he was already turning me on...what was I upset about again?

I felt one of his hands trail up my side, grabbing the hem of my t-shirt, before yanking it over my head. Technically it was Freddie's t-shirt, I always wore them when I slept, and I hadn't bothered to get dressed this morning. Now I was in nothing but a pair of little boyshorts, and Freddie didn't waste a bit of time, running his fingertips lightly down my sides, making me squirm against him. It tickled, but felt amazing at the same time.

"Your shirt," I gasped out as his mouth made contact with neck. "Take it off."

"Yes, Mrs. Benson," he quipped, sitting up to quickly pull it off, dropping it to the floor, before going back to kissing all over my neck and shoulders. I arched into him, running my hands over the smooth skin of his back, moaning softly as I felt his lips and tongue move over a sensitive spot. God, this felt good. He kissed lower, licking over my collarbone, going even lower still, and I cried out as I felt his mouth cover one breast, his tongue swirling around my nipple, flicking at it with his tongue.

"God, baby, I love your mouth," I whispered. "Don't stop."

He didn't respond, just kissed his way over to my other breast, treating it to the same sweet pleasure as the first. Oh man. It was amazing the way that boy's mouth could pull me out of whatever funk I was in. Whether it was what he said with it, or what he did with it, I loved his mouth. I felt him hook his fingers in my boyshorts, pulling them down over my legs, and he pulled away just for a second, just long enough to get his pants and boxers off, laying back down between my legs, kissing me passionately, groaning against my mouth as I wrapped my legs around him. I moved against him in a slow grind, and he lifted his head to look at me.

"Not so fast," he murmured with a slight smile on his face.

"Why?" I asked, my voice coming out in a whine. "I want you now."

"Wanted to spend some time..." he paused, kissing my neck. "Showing you..." he kissed lower, over my breasts, across my ribs. "How much..." Even lower still he kissed, over my stomach, his teeth scraping over my hip bones. "I love..." I gasped as I felt him nibble on my thighs. "Your body," he finished, and with that, he grabbed my legs, pulling them over his shoulders, and I let out a moan as I felt him lick over me.

"God, Freddie..." I moaned. "Oh...oh that feels so good."

He really took his time with me, licking over me softly, swirling his tongue around, doing that flicking-twisting thing I loved. My hands went into his hair, trying not to arch into him, but failing miserably. He let go of one of my legs to run his hand up over my body, toying with my breasts, and ugh, it felt so good. I was already shaking, squirming against him, unable to keep still. It just felt too good.

"Feel good, baby?" he murmured against me, sliding a finger inside me, his other hand still rubbing across my chest. I couldn't respond, just moaned, nodding a little bit. I felt him curl his finger a little, picking up the pace with his mouth, and I knew it wouldn't be much longer until I lost it.

"Freddie..." I gasped. "Oh god...baby...baby please don't stop...oh god...it feels so good...please..."

He didn't bother to respond, just continued what he was doing, the same pace, never deviating from the motions he was making with his hands and his mouth, trying to push me over the edge.

"Oh, god..." I cried out, feeling all my muscles begin to tighten up. Must remember to breathe. God, I was so close. I was shaking, panting, my hips moving all on their own, letting go of Freddie's hair to grab fistfuls of sheets. One more flick of his tongue and it was game over for me, and my head went back, back arching, eyes rolling back, as I trembled uncontrollably, feeling that amazing, earth-shattering feeling crash over me, an unadulterated wave of unbearable pleasure.

"Freddie!" I moaned. "Oh god! Yes!"

He pulled away, kissing back up my body, and I grabbed the back of his head, kissing him passionately. Carly had once told me that kissing a guy right after he'd done that to you was absolutely disgusting, but whatever, I thought it was hot! Freddie, of course, did not share the same sentiment when the situation was reversed, but that was fine. Freddie kissed me deeply, passionately, growling against my mouth as he rubbed his chest against mine, our hips grinding against each other. It was amazing how turned on he got after doing that to me. He loved it, I loved it, and I loved that he loved it. Without warning, I felt him push into me, and I moaned, my fingers digging into his shoulders as he moved in and out of me slowly. Oh man, I loved the way he felt, especially that first initial feeling, when I felt him slowly enter me, filling me, this sudden shock of pleasure that started deep inside me and spread to my entire body. I buried my face in his neck, holding onto him tightly as he thrust deeper into me.

Oh god, he just felt so good. I felt his hand go under my chin, and he tilted it up, pressing his mouth to mine, kissing me again as he slowly made love to me. It was intense. It was passionate. It was perfect.

"Baby," he murmured as he pulled away from my mouth to kiss and lick at my neck, his voice a low rumble in my ear. "You feel so good. You're so beautiful."

"Oh...baby...god...I love you..." I moaned.

"I love you too," he whispered. "My sweet, sweet baby. God...Sam...this feels so good..."

"Don't stop," I begged. "Please...please don't stop."

"I can't stop," he gasped out, his hips moving in a slow, circular grinding motion, the way I liked, the way that hit every sensitive spot I had and made every moment so intense. I loved this. I loved how intimate it was, feeling him inside me, holding me in his arms, kissing me everywhere. God I loved it. I loved him. I started to shake a little again, my hips moving at a more frantic pace, and my breathing became more ragged and uneven. I pulled him against me even tighter, like he couldn't be close enough. He really couldn't. He could never be close enough. He could never be deep enough. No matter what, I still wanted more of him.

"Baby..." I moaned. "Freddie...I...oh god...I..."

"Gonna come, sweetheart?" he murmured, kissing me again. "Hmm? You gonna come for me?"

I couldn't speak, just nodded, moaning a little, and he shook his head.

"Tell me. You gonna come?"

"Yes," I managed to gasp out. "Yes!"

"Yes what?" he asked, and I could hear a touch of mischief in his voice. He was beginning to lose it too though, I could tell, he was holding me a little bit closer, his movements were less fluid and a little more jerking, I could feel his heartbeat thundering through his chest as it pressed against mine. I could hear his breathing become deeper, sucking in gasps of air. Groaning. God, I loved hearing him make those noises. It was so sexy.

"Tell me," he whispered in my ear, flicking at my earlobe with his tongue. "Tell me you're gonna come."

Oh god, him talking to me like this was making it even harder to hold out! He didn't just talk to me like this for his benefit, though I know how much dirty talk turned him on, but he talked to me like this because he knew I loved it too, he knew how much it turned me on.

"Say it, Sam," he tried to say in a more firm tone of voice, but I could hear the moan that escaped on the tail end of his sentence.

"I'm so close...baby..." I moaned. I was holding out as long as I could on saying it, because when I finally did say it, it'd push him right over the edge, and this felt so amazing, so incredible, I wanted to draw it out as long as possible.

"How close?" he asked, angling his hips up, rubbing against my g-spot, and I cried out, my nails digging into his skin.

"Baby..." Okay, screw it. This was no time to try and hold out, because I just couldn't any more. My body wouldn't let me. I couldn't control the way my body was contorting, couldn't control the way my thighs trembled and my back arched. I let out a loud moan, unable to prevent it from escaping my lips.

"Freddie!" I cried. "Oh god, I'm gonna...oh god...I'm...fuck...aaah! FREDDIE!" That was it, game over. I felt the explosion deep inside me, so intense I was seeing stars. All I could do was hold on for dear life as I felt myself go over the edge, over and over, moaning, shaking, crying out his name.

It wasn't long before he gave up trying to hold out, and with a loud groan, I felt his whole body tighten up and then relax as he climaxed, shaking against me, his face pressed against my neck.

"Sam..." he gasped. "Baby...oh shit. That was good. That was so good." He laid there for a moment, then laid down beside me, pulling me against him, and kissed me softly. "I love you, my beautiful girl."

I couldn't do anything but give him a sweet smile, kissing him again. "I love you too."

Yeah, so maybe we were filthy little pervs who didn't know how to keep our hands off each other. But the difference between us and other filthy pervs? It wasn't something we did to satisfy some physical urge. It came from this deep-seated emotional need for each other, a deep longing that wouldn't go away, would never be satisfied, because we'd never be able to get each other. Yes, Freddie was gorgeous. Yes, he had an incredible body. Yes, he was absolutely amazing in the sack. But it was something else, why we were always all over each other. We couldn't be close enough. It wasn't possible. But when we made love, we were physically connected, emotionally connected, mentally connected. Any kind of issue we were going through, we could usually work it out in bed, get into each other's heads, force each other to give up our neuroses and psychological hang-ups. And it worked. And I was incredibly grateful for that. Despite all the horrible shit that had happened, and everything that was going on, I felt like the luckiest girl in the world.

I turned over, my back to Freddie, reaching behind him to grab his arm, and he rolled over too, his chest against my back and arms going around me, pulling me against him. One hand trailed lazily over my skin, my hips, my stomach, my arm, the other stayed holding me against him.

"Feeling better about your...baby beauty mark?" he asked, kissing my shoulder, and I laughed a little.

"Baby beauty mark?" I responded, and I could feel him nod. "Freddie, it's a stretch mark."

"It's a mark you have because of the baby, and you having my baby is a beautiful thing. Erego, baby beauty mark."

"You really don't care?" I asked, turning around a little to look at him, and he shook his head, kissing my forehead.

"Do you care about my chicken pox scar?"

"That's a little dot!" I exclaimed. "It doesn't even count as a scar!"

"And neither does that," he replied, running his fingertips over the new mark on my side. "It's a reminder. A memento."

"And what if I get more?" I replied, and he shrugged.

"They have lotions and stuff for it. If it bothers you, we'll fix it. But I don't mind."

I just sighed happily, snuggling into his arms. "I love you so much. You're amazing."

"What's so amazing about not being a shallow dick?" he responded. "It's not amazing."

"It is," I replied, grabbing his hand so I could interlace our fingers. "I guarantee there's plenty of guys out there who would not react the same way."

"Yeah, shallow dicks," he quipped. "But I'm not going to do that. I refuse. I love you, Sam. Nothing's gonna change that. Especially some tiny little mark. You're gorgeous. You always have been."

I didn't respond, but I couldn't stop the smile that spread across my face. Pretty amazing guy I have here, huh? A few moments passed by before Freddie sat up with a groan.

"We've gotta get ready," he said, and I sat up too, kissing him on his shoulder.

"You ready for this, baby?" I asked, and he shook his head.

"Not at all," he replied.

"You'll be fine," I reassured him. "You'll see. It'll be the same. She'll still be across the hall. She'll still be your mom. Everything will be fine."

"I know," he sighed. "It's just...weird."

"I know. But I'm here," I reminded him, and he turned to face me, kissing me softly.

"Thank god. I don't know what I would do if you weren't."

"Hand lotion and internet porn," I responded with a laugh, and he just rolled his eyes.

~*Carly*~

I headed upstairs to the studio to find Brad and Bryson sitting in the beanbags playing video games, and I walked over to Brad, bending down to kiss him on his forehead.

"Hey," I said. "Who's winning?"

"He's stomping me," Brad grunted, and I just laughed.

"Brad, maybe you should stop playing video games."

Brad looked away from the screen for a second to look at me. "Why?" he asked, his eyes quickly darting back to the television. "Did you want to do something?"

"No, I mean, like...forever."

"What?" he asked. "Why? Why on earth would I do that?"

"Uh, because Freddie always wins when you play, every time you go against Sam she beats you like a rented mule, and now you're losing to a nine year old."

"I'm almost ten," Bryson quipped, and then I saw some sort of explosion on the screen, causing Bryson to leap to his feet and raise his arms in victory. "Did you see that? I am the master! I am the almighty! I am Da Vinci!"

"Ughhh," Brad groaned, tossing the controller to the ground. "I call foul, Carly distracted me."

"That's what you get for having a girlfriend," Bryson shot back, and I rolled my eyes, laughing a bit. Other than the art obsession, Bryson was like a little mini-Brad. He even looked almost exactly like him. The whole Harrison clan looked almost exactly alike, tall and thin, with the same dark blonde hair and blue eyes. Brad's mother had red hair, but I wasn't sure if it was natural or if she dyed it, same tall, wiry stature, and Brad's father was a bit more stocky, but still tall. Like a life sized version of GI Joe or something.

Brad sighed, looking up at me. "I'm done. When's the wedding again?"

"A little less than three hours," I replied. "I should probably start getting ready soon, but I wanted to practice for a little while."

"Yeah, I need to take Bry back downstairs."

"Aw, come on!" Bryson shouted. "I don't want to!"

"I've got to, man!" Brad replied. "Got a wedding to go to!"

"Who's getting married?"

"Freddie's mom."

Bryson made a face. "That's not weird at all."

"How is that weird, Bryson? She's a widow, and she's in love, and now she's getting married, it's sweet," I told him, sitting down on my stool and pulling my guitar into my lap.

Bryson shrugged. "I dunno, it just is. People are only supposed to get married once."

My eyebrows went up. Well that was weird. We lived in an era where EVERYONE seemed to get divorced. I looked at Brad quizzically, and he shrugged.

"The Harrisons are a very rare breed. Never had a divorce in the entire family."

"You're kidding!" I exclaimed. "That's crazy! I mean, it's cool, but...very unheard of."

Brad shrugged. "Doesn't mean they're all happy, just saying. Divorce is a no-no."

"Yeah, you're not supposed to do it," Bryson pointed out.

"Why not?" I asked. "If it doesn't work out, why stay where you're not happy?"

Bryson didn't respond, just looked up at his brother. "So...so Mom..."

"Alright, that's enough of that!" Brad said, cutting his little brother off and ushering him toward the door. "Let's go, Bry. I'll be right back, Carly," he said, depositing a brief kiss on my lips and heading out the door.

Well that was odd. The expression on Brad's face was one I couldn't read, but it seemed like a damage control kind of face. He had been talking to his mom an awful lot lately. I couldn't help but wonder if maybe Mrs. Harrison was finally starting to get sick of all the drama that permeated her family.

With a shrug, I went back to my guitar. I was desperate to learn Under the Bridge by The Red Hot Chili Peppers before my next set, which was in three days, and I didn't care if my fingers bled, I was going to get this figured out.

~*Freddie*~

"Will you guys move your asses?" Sam yelled as we walked down the sidewalk. "We are SO late!"

"Not our fault your husband drove around for twenty minutes trying to find free parking!" Brad shot back.

I just rolled my eyes. "Yeah, and pay a ridiculous amount for the parking garage next door, or worse, park on the street, forget to pay the meter, and then get a ticket? Yeah right."

"You're right. You couldn't possibly afford to pay ten bucks for parking," Brad pointed out.

"It's the principle of the matter!" I replied. "The parking fees in this city are outrageous, and I refuse to play the game, they just keep hiking up prices because they want to, and..."

"And you're desperate to find a reason to stall," Sam finished, giving me a Look, and I just sighed, grabbing her hand.

"Don't start with me, baby," I gruffed. "Not in the mood right now."

"Did you remember to take your pill?" Carly spoke up, and I just groaned.

"What is this, dogpile on Freddie day?" I quipped.

"Woof," Brad responded flatly, causing Sam and Carly to giggle, and me to just be more irritated.

I was really, really trying to be okay with this. But it wasn't easy. There were tons of things going through my head right now. My dad. If he could see all this right now, my mom moving on, what would he think? And the fact that Robert would officially be my stepbrother. That'd be weird. Plus, what if he didn't treat my mom well? I didn't want her to regret this. I know they'd been together a long time, but...I still worried. I didn't want my mom to get hurt.

And, okay. I was married. Living with my wife. An adult. But before I'd gotten with Sam, it'd just been me and her, for so long. Despite her fussiness and insistence on treating me like a child up until I married Sam, she was still my mother, and I still loved her. We'd been through a lot together. Just the two of us. I wanted my mom to be happy, but...I didn't know how to explain it. She was my mom.

But I was going to keep my mouth shut, so as not to upset her. And maybe it would work out. Maybe my mom and Robert would be happy together. Maybe he'd treat her good. My eyes darted over to Sam, landing on her stomach, which was getting bigger and bigger every day.

Okay. He'd be my mother's husband. And I guess he'd be my stepfather.

But no way in hell would he be my child's grandfather.

We finally made it inside the church, and I heard Carly let out a gasp behind me.

"Oh wow," she said. "It's so pretty in here."

I guess they'd had it done up pretty nice. White flowers everywhere, candles, the whole she-bang. I had to admit, Robert was a doctor, and therefor he was loaded, so I'm sure he had the money to throw around to make this however my mother wanted it to be.

"Carly?" Sam asked, letting go of my hand and turning to look at her best friend.

"What?" she asked.

"Um...pregnant lady, two bottles of water before we left, I think you know where I'm going with this."

"Dude, we had to stop at the gas station so you could use the bathroom!" Brad commented, and Sam gave him an evil glare.

"When you have a human being pressing down and doing a tap dance on YOUR bladder, then you have the right to complain," Sam replied. "Until then? Shut up, pretty boy."

Carly just sighed, rolling her eyes. "Come on, Sam, let's find the bathroom."

"I'll be right back," Sam told me, and I just nodded, kissing her on the side of her head.

Brad and I stood there for a second, not really sure what we were supposed to be doing, and Brad nudged me suddenly.

"Hey, there's your..." he started, but it was too late, before I even knew what was happening I felt myself swept up in a large bear hug.

"Freddie!"

"Hey Uncle Milton," I managed to gasp out, patting his back awkwardly. "Freddie can't breathe."

"Right. Apologies," Uncle Milton replied, letting go of me. "How are you boys today?"

"Can't complain," Brad said with a shrug.

"I'm...good, I guess. All things considered. So you're officiating this thing?"

"Indeed. Your mom's really nervous."

"Why?" I asked, confused. "I thought she was looking forward to it."

"Dude, you were looking forward to the whole vow renewal thing and Spencer and I were taking bets over how long it would take you to pass out."

I just glared at Brad, before focusing my attention back on Uncle Milton, who just shrugged.

"Everyone gets cold feet."

"I guess," I replied.

"So, how are things going with your dad's case?" Uncle Milton asked Brad.

Brad sighed. "I mean, it's going okay. My dad's getting on everyone's nerves because of the house arrest. But I mean, ever since you threatened that Magistrate, things have been moving along much more smoothly."

"Yeah, what did you say to him anyway, Uncle Milton? I mean, we couldn't hear you while you were on the phone with him, but the look on his face..."

"And the lack of color in it," Brad put in.

"Yeah. What'd you do?"

Uncle Milton shook his head. "I know that guy from the meetings."

"You go to the meetings too?" Brad asked in surprise, and I just rolled my eyes, socking him in the shoulder. "Ow!"

"Not those meetings, idiot. Uncle Milton's a freemason."

A horrified look crossed Brad's face, and he took a step back. I had to roll my eyes again.

"Dude! Not everything is a conspiracy, okay?"

"They shot Lincoln!" Brad hissed.

"What on earth is he talking about?" Uncle Milton asked, slightly perplexed, and I just shook my head.

"He may have Tourette's. Don't worry about it. So...yeah. What'd you do? Threaten to get the guy kicked out?"

"Absolutely. Lots of good connections in there. You may want to consider it."

"No!" Brad yelled, grabbing my arm. "Do not succumb to the dark side!"

"Brad!" I yelled back. "Knock it off. It's a wedding, no time for your weird theories. What's next, aliens on the moon?"

"They are!" he shot back. "Remember that video I showed you?"

"Okay, well..." Uncle Milton said, taking a few steps back. "Maybe you should go...see your mother," he told me. "Maybe you'll be able to calm her down."

I took a deep breath, nodding. Uncle Milton had a point. Even if I disagreed with this whole thing, she was still my mother, and it'd been me and her for so long, she needed my support. I turned to Brad.

"When Sam and Carly get back, tell them I went to go talk to my mom, okay?"

Brad nodded. "Yep."

"Be careful man. There's freemasons in here. Maybe even pod people. Or reptilians in disguise!"

Brad shook his head, glaring at me. "Dude, that is not funny!"

"Trust no one!" I replied, waving my arms around in a Twilight Zone-ish manner as I walked away backwards. Brad pretended to scratch an inch on his face, using his middle finger, and I just grinned at him, before turning around and walking down the church hallway, trying to find the dressing rooms.

I finally found them, and I knocked on the ladies dressing room door softly.

"This room is occupied!" I heard a voice call.

"Mom, it's me!" I called back, and a moment later the door opened.

"Freddie!" she said happily. "You made it!"

"Of course I did," I replied. I took stock of my mom's outfit. It wasn't anything audacious, just a simple white lace skirt and matching suit jacket, a light pink shirt underneath. "You look really pretty," I said honestly.

"Really?" she asked, seeming self-conscious. "I was afraid Robert would think it wasn't enough."

"Mom, you look great. How are you? Uncle Milton said you were a little...anxious."

"I am," she admitted.

"Can I come in?" I asked, and she nodded, opening the door all the way so I could walk in. I looked around, my eyes landing on a couch, and sat down. "So..."

"So...are you sure you're okay with this, Freddiebear?"

I shrugged. "Honestly?"

"Of course."

"No," I replied, and she frowned. "But...I know I'll get over it. I'll deal. If you love him, I have to accept it."

"This doesn't change how I feel about your dad, Freddie," she commented softly. "I...I miss him. Eleven years, and I think about him every day." She looked like she was about to cry, and I stood up and hugged her.

"I miss him too, Mom," I said softly. "But...you honestly love Robert?"

"I do," she replied. "Not as much as I loved your father, but...I don't think it'd be possible for me to love anyone else that much. But Robert, he's great. He's sweet, he's responsible, he...he makes me laugh, Freddie. You know how serious I can be."

"Oh, believe me, I know," I responded, with a smirk, laughing when she frowned at me. "Well, if you love the guy, then marry him. That's all I can tell you. And...I don't think Dad would want you to be alone."

"Really?"

"Dad loved you too. And it wasn't a possessive kind of love. I could tell. Even though I was young. He loved you. For real. I know he still does. And he'd want you to be happy. So...so marry Robert. Be happy."

"But you don't like Robert," she pointed out, and I rolled my eyes.

"The guy's banging my mom!"

"FREDWARD KARL BENSON!"

"What?" I exclaimed. "It's true! Any guy would have a problem with that! Ask Freud!" I schooled my face into a more serious expression. "But I'll get over it. I want you to be happy. And if he makes you happy, then marry him."

She nodded. "I wish your grandfather were here," she commented softly. "He...he walked me down the aisle when I married your Dad. And now..." she trailed off. "Now I don't have anyone to do it."

I stood there for a second, thinking carefully, before looking back up at her. "I could do it."

"Really?" she asked, sounding totally shocked. "You'd do it? You'd walk me down the aisle? Give me away?"

Ugh, as much as I hated the sound of that, giving my mother away, I was willing to do it. Just to make her happy.

"Well...yeah. I mean...on one condition," I stated, and she looked at me curiously.

"And what condition is that?"

"Robert's a good guy, right? For real?"

"Freddie, he's an amazing man. I wish you'd give him a chance."

I shrugged. "Maybe I will. But...I just had to be sure. I refuse to give my mother away to a jerk. And if he hurts you, I'll kill him."

"I don't like hearing you talk like that," she said softly, and I shrugged.

"Yeah, I don't either."

There was an awkward moment between us, an unspoken acknowledgment of what I'd done for Sam. I stared at her, trying to think of what to say.

"Do you think I was wrong?" I finally asked, and she shook her head.

"No. I was angry too. Sam got put through so much. He needed to know what it felt like."

"Well, he did," I said quietly, and she nodded.

"Sam's lucky she has you. You're a good husband. Like your father."

"Really?" I asked. I could feel a lump forming in my throat, the way it felt when I was about to cry, and that surprised me.

"Really. You're so much like him. When I look at you, Freddie, I see your dad. Maybe that's why I was so overbearing, and..."

"Coddling?" I finished, still feeling choked up, and she nodded.

"I'm sorry. After what happened, I didn't want to lose the last piece of him I had left."

"I understand," I responded.

"And you'll be an amazing father, just like your dad. You are JUST like him."

Aaaand now Freddie's crying. Excellent. Just what I wanted to do. I sighed, putting my arms around my mother, giving her a hug. "Honestly, that's the best compliment you ever could have given me." She hugged me back, and I could tell she was a little choked up too. I pulled away, giving her a smile.

"Come on, it's time for you to go get married."

My mom gave me a big smile, but then frowned suddenly, reaching over to the dressing table to grab a tissue, advancing towards me. "Just let me wipe your face."

"Mom..." I warned, and she sighed, stopping in her tracks, before handing me the tissue.

"Sorry," she replied. "Old habits die hard."

"Yeah, yeah. Save it for the grandbaby," I said with a smirk. I wiped my face quickly, erasing all evidence that I had shed a single tear. If Sam saw it, she'd force me to talk for hours about whatever was on my mind, and if Brad saw it? Well, so help me god. I threw the tissue in the trashcan, before turning back to my mother and offering her my arm.

"Ready?" I asked, and she nodded.

"Thank you, Freddie."

I just nodded. We were pretty quiet when we walked down the hall together. I'm sure Sam was pretty curious about where I was, but for once, I wasn't thinking about Sam. I was thinking about my mom. I loved her, and I did want her to be happy. I'd just have to deal with Robert, and try to make the best of it. And I was relieved to know she'd never stopped loving my father. She wasn't trying to replace him, she just wanted a little bit of happiness too. And it wasn't fair that she had to be alone, because of circumstances that weren't her fault. And after eleven years, she'd finally been able to let go.

And as I walked my mom down the aisle, trying to ignore two distinct squeals I was positive belonged to Sam and Carly, as I handed my mom off to Robert, I realized I was ready to let go too.


	42. Chapter 42: Vitamin

**A/N: Short chapter, sorry, but things will be picking up speed pretty soon!**

**Chapter Forty Two:  
>Vitamin<strong>

~*Freddie*~

I looked up from my laptop, slightly concerned at the loud, painful sounding groan Sam had just made.

"Baby? Everything okay?"

Sam groaned again, flopping down on the couch. "No," she sighed.

"What's the matter?" I asked, staring at her. She was alternating between sitting up, laying on her back, laying on her side, switching to the other side. Then, back on her back she went, kicking her legs in frustration.

"My back," she moaned. "It hurts. And I can't get it to stop. I can't take aspirin, I can't get comfortable, I just...aargh! This sucks!"

I stood up, walking over to the couch, and my hands went to her shoulders, pushing her forward.

"Sit up," I told her, rubbing her shoulders, trying to relax her tightly wound muscles, and she leaned her head forward as my hand went to her neck, sighing in relief. "Better?"

"Can you go lower?" she asked softly. "It's my lower back."

I ran my hands down her back, going under her shirt and rubbing over her lower back, trying to put some pressure on her muscles. Poor Sam was having a rough time right now. She was really having difficulty getting used to her growing stomach. She couldn't get comfortable when she sat down, because she tended to curl into a ball and couldn't do that now that her stomach was getting bigger, and she couldn't get comfortable when she slept, because she usually slept on her stomach. While she definitely wasn't fat by any means, she'd gained about fifteen pounds, and because she was such a tiny girl, she couldn't get used to the extra weight. She was having a lot of muscle cramps, getting tired more quickly. She was trying her best not to be out of sorts, but it was definitely wearing her down. I could tell the next few months were going to be rough on her. She was excited about having the baby, but she definitely wasn't excited about how the pregnancy was affecting her body. I just had to try and do whatever I could to make it easier on her. She let out a soft moan as I massaged her lower back, and I could feel her tense muscles begin to relax a little.

I leaned forward, pushing her hair aside to kiss the back of her neck, then the side of it, my chin resting on her shoulder.

"Is that better?" I asked, continuing to rub her back, and she nodded. "You sure you're going to be able to handle tonight?"

She shrugged. "I have no choice. This is important."

"Baby, you totally have a choice. If you don't feel well..."

"I am not missing this," she grumbled. "We've already put so much damn preparation into it, and...nope. I'm not going to miss it."

"I'm not suggesting you miss it, I'm just saying, let me and Carly handle it all the important stuff, okay? You need to rest."

"No way," she grunted, and I just rolled my eyes.

"You always tell me to take it easy, not get worn out, and look at you, doing the same thing you tell me not to do."

"Well, I can handle it," she grunted. "I'm just exhausted. I didn't get very much sleep last night..."

"I know," I responded, kissing her cheek. "I promise you'll get used to it, and besides, only twenty two more weeks."

"Five months!" she exclaimed. "Nearly half a year longer of being pregnant!" I just shrugged; there wasn't much I could say to that.

"Well, look on the bright side. Spring break is only four days away..."

"And we have mid-terms to get through before that!" she responded. "And...I mean, I know, spring break, time to relax, whatever, but...I'm a little sad about it."

My eyebrows went up. Sam, SAD about a break from school? Well that was unexpected...

"Why?" I asked, and she just sighed.

"It means the semester's almost over. And then I have to wait until JANUARY to go back. I'm going to be so far behind..."

"You won't be that far behind, baby. And...I was thinking about that...you could take some online classes, you know. Not a full load, just one or two. Then you won't be as behind."

"I never thought about that," she said softly. "You think it's a good idea?"

"Hey, it worked for high school," I reminded her. "But...no bets this time, okay?"

"You're just afraid I'd stomp your ass again," she teased, and I rolled my eyes.

"I seem to remember a reversal in fortune on that bet, remember?" I asked, poking her, and she laughed a little bit.

"Yeah, but that wasn't a fair bet. You caught me on my weak point."

"And what weak point is that?" I asked, even though I already knew the answer, and she turned her head to look at me.

"You," she responded, leaning against me. "You getting me all stirred up."

"Hmm, I am pretty good at that, huh?" I asked, kissing her and then smiling against her lips when I felt her hand go to the back of my head to force me to kiss her longer.

"You definitely have a talent," she said, biting her lip, our foreheads touching.

"Practice makes perfect," I replied, kissing her again, this time kissing her a little deeper, hearing a soft little moan escape from her throat. Oh man. Every time I got close to her, it took everything I had in me not to just drag her off to the bedroom and spend the rest of the day making love to her. Most of the time I failed miserably, especially if we were alone.

"Geez, do you guys EVER stop?" I heard Carly say as she came down the stairs. I heard Sam groan in frustration, pulling away to lay her head back on my shoulder, and I groaned too.

"No, Carly," I said, looking up to see her and Brad come down the stairs. "We've established this."

"I think they have meetings for that too," Brad suggested, and I shot him a look.

"Not interested in recovery, thanks," Sam shot back. Brad just shrugged.

"Whatever. I'm starving," he said, walking over to the fridge and pulling it open. He stared at it for a second, before turning around to look at us in disbelief.

"What?" I asked, pushing Sam forward so I could go back to rubbing her back.

"Where's all the food?" he cried. "Sam! What the hell? The fridge was chocked full of food like four hours ago!"

"I was HUNGRY!" she shot back. "Sue me!"

I didn't know whether to be impressed with Sam's gastrointestinal abilities, or afraid, but either way, I wasn't about to say anything! No, no, I'd learned my lesson. Best for me to just sit here and keep rubbing her back, stay out of this one.

"Okay, this is ridiculous," Brad said. "Carly?"

"Yeah?" she asked, busying herself with browsing the web.

"Grocery store?" he asked, and she shrugged.

"Baby, I've got a really important paper to work on," she said, giving him an apologetic look. "Sorry."

"Freddie?"

I shook my head. "Nah, I gotta balance the books."

Brad let out an irritated growl. "Fine! I'll go by myself! But I'm gonna stop by my parents' real quick, hang out with Leah for a little while. I'll be back in about two hours, okay Carly?" he asked.

"Uh-huh," Carly responded, sounding a little distracted. "Have fun."

Brad just gave us a strange and slightly irritated look as he grabbed his jacket, and with that, he shut the door behind him.

"Baby..." I started, but Sam sat up, practically leaping off the couch.

"One Mississippi, two Mississippi, three Mississippi, four Mississippi..." she began counting, and Carly scrambled to her feet, running around the kitchen.

"Okay, we have chips, candy bars, sodas...regular and diet..."

"Eight Mississippi, nine Mississippi...TEN MISSISSIPPI! He's gone!" Sam shouted. "Let's get to work, people!"

"Sam, put all the food back," Carly reminded her. "Or it'll spoil."

Sam just grunted, walking over to the dishwasher and pulling it open, revealing all the food that had been missing from the refrigerator.

"Geez, I thought for a second he was being serious...you guys really need to clue me in on your ruses from time to time," I reminded Sam and Carly, and they just shrugged.

"Cupcakes?" Sam asked.

"Check," Carly replied, walking over to the oven and pulling out two huge racks of freshly baked chocolate cupcakes. "And there's two more batches in that cabinet over there. Freddie, would ya?"

"Sure," I replied, going to the cabinet she was pointing at and pulling out a large cardboard box that was filled with about two dozen vanilla cupcakes, and about a half dozen pink ones I was guessing were strawberry.

"Frosting?"

"Check," Carly responded. "The regular kind, and the sugar-free variety too. The pink cupcakes are the sugar free ones. Ready to frost?"

"I was born ready," Sam replied as she finished putting the rest of the food away. "Freddie, you wanna go upstairs and grab all the rest of the stuff? We have limited time here."

"Sure," I replied, heading for the stairs and going up to the studio. We'd decided to throw Brad a surprise party two days ahead of schedule, you know, to make it more surprising, and the first step was getting him out of the house long enough to get everything ready. I headed upstairs to grab the boxes out of the closet we'd stashed with the decorations, presents, and such, gathering them up and putting them all in the elevator. As the elevator doors opened, I became aware of a bunch of shrieking, squealing, and laughing, and I stuck my head out the elevator hesitantly, rolling my eyes when I caught side of Sam and Carly flinging icing at each other and laughing.

"Seriously, you guys?" I asked, and they jumped apart, looking guilty. I tried to look stern and serious, but the look quickly evaporated when I got a good look at the girls, covered in pink and blue frosting.

"You guys look ridiculous," I stated, and Sam gave me a Look.

"Oh, really?" she asked, before dipping her finger in the bowl of blue frosting and taking a step toward me, and before I could even stop her, she'd smeared it across my face, right above my upper lip.

"Sam!" I exclaimed.

"Aw, you look cute with a mustache," she said with a giggle.

"How cute?" I asked, grabbing her, and she let out a shriek, trying to squirm away. "Nope, kiss me!"

"Don't!" she cried, but it was too late, I'd already pressed my mouth against hers, transferring the "frosting mustache" from me to her.

"You are so dead," she threatened me, going back to the bowl of frosting. "Carly! Fire at will!"

"I think you mean fire at Freddie," Carly responded with a nod, and before I could stop them, the girls had already began pelting me with frosting. Brad always took a painfully long time at the grocery store, and I knew that, so I had plenty of time to get revenge on the girls.

And after wrestling the bowl of frosting away from Sam, I began doing exactly that.

~*Brad*~

Part of me couldn't believe that Sam had managed to clear out the entire fridge in a matter of hours, but the other part of me had to keep in mind that one, Sam was pregnant, making her eat even more than she normally would, and two, we were talking about SAM BENSON. I was amazed every day that the girl didn't weigh two hundred pounds, the way she ate constantly. She'd been like that ever since I'd known her, and apparently before that too.

I wasn't pleased at the task of having to go to the grocery store by myself. Everyone was acting very strange. Something was up, just couldn't put my finger on what. Whatever it was, I hoped it wasn't major, and I hoped it wouldn't put the kibosh on my birthday, which was only two days away. Two days left of being a teenager. How odd! I guess I really didn't have any excuses left now, but that was okay, I was finally beginning to get the hang of this whole "responsibility" chizz. Still didn't like dealing with finances, but I could at least handle my own. I was more than satisfied letting Freddie handle the business finances, especially the taxes. They were time-consuming, daunting, and quite frankly slightly terrifying. I didn't know how he managed to keep up with it! And the BIG taxes were coming up, April 15th wasn't too far away. Yep, definitely best to let Freddie handle that one.

I had enough on my mind right now anyway, what with mid-terms this week, and my dad's trial about to take place. Yeah, okay, so he shot Griffin. What would any father do? Griffin deserved what he got, he hurt a young teenage girl, probably permanently emotionally scarred my poor sister, and my dad was having to go on trial for protecting her? It was bullshit to me! And Sam and Freddie were just being...odd about the whole thing. They both had to testify, being witnesses to the whole thing, but every time it came up in conversation, they'd quickly change the subject to something more mundane. I didn't know why, but I didn't want to get in an argument over it, so I was letting it go for the time being. Still, they couldn't avoid it forever, the whole thing was about to start up in just two weeks, right after Spring break.

I was looking pretty forward to Spring break though. Would be nice to get a little bit of time off from school, even though I wasn't really sure what I was supposed to do with myself this year. Last year's Spring break had been a little bit on the wild-side, we definitely partied a little too hard. Most epic bonfire party ever, that is until I'd convinced Freddie that a little bit of reefer wouldn't hurt him. It did, apparently it messes with blood sugar, and he went down. And then I went down, because Sam had beaten the shit out of me. Yep, definitely an epic Spring break, but this one, I wasn't so sure. It'd probably be composed of major downtime this year. Too much had been going on lately, and with Sam pregnant and Freddie seeming even more determined to act like an old man, I could pretty much guarantee there wouldn't be much partying going on. My birthday would probably be boring as hell this year.

Oh well, all part of being sober I guess. I brushed the issue off as I stepped off the elevator. Before I went to the store, I wanted to stop by my parents' place and hang out with Leah for a little bit. I'd missed the kid so much, and now that she was talking, for real now, she was even more fun to be around. She was sweet, she was cute, she made me laugh. And Bryson was getting cooler and cooler to hang out with every day, now that he was getting older. Heather, I was still worried about. This whole situation had seemed to take away every bit of Heather's spark, her dry, biting wit, the way her eyes sparkled when she got really excited about something. She just wasn't Heather any more. I hoped to God we'd get her back, but I couldn't be sure.

As I approached the door to my parents' apartment, I became aware of the sound of shouting, and I sighed, my head hanging down for a second. It was my parents. They were fighting again. They'd been doing this a lot lately, ever since my dad got out of jail, possibly even before that. There was no telling, all I knew was that they were arguing, and the few conversations I'd had with my mom over it, she wasn't happy. I wondered if she ever had been happy. My parents were only sixteen when they'd had me, they'd gotten married then. Married young like Sam and Freddie. I wondered if twenty years from now Sam and Freddie would have the same problems, but I couldn't be sure. My parents got married out of necessity, because of me, because that was the only way my grandparents, my dad's parents' would help them. Sam and Freddie had done things a little bit different, but they'd still gotten married to solve a problem. And now they were having a kid.

It was way too early to be worrying about those kinds of things though, especially considering it wasn't even my relationship. I pressed my ear against the door of my parents' apartment for a second, to hear what they were arguing about, my hand going to the knob and twisting it to see if was unlocked. It was, and I slowly pushed the door open.

"How can you say this is my fault?" my dad shouted. "I did what any man would do, the son of a bitch hurt my daughter, he paid for it! That's the end of it!"

"It is your fault, Richard! Heather was acting out with that boy, because up until now you've been completely absent from her life! Married to your damn work!" my mom yelled back.

"I was not absent from her life!"

"You were only around to yell at her and try to control her! And then the only steady, good influence she had in her life, you threw out of the house!"

"Bradley disobeyed me, he knew the risks, it was his choice!"

"He's in love with that girl! And he's in love with what he does! Nothing you could have done would have made that boy join the military! And look what it did to our kids! Heather went crazy, Bryson got depressed...a nine year old boy, getting depressed! That's not normal!"

"That has nothing to do with what happened to Heather!"

"If you hadn't been so damn hard on her, she never would have started seeing that boy. And look now! That poor boy is dead! Think about his mother! And our daughter is never going to recover from any of this! I'm just happy we managed to get Bradley back in our lives! And if you push him away again, so help me God..."

I cleared my throat awkwardly. "Uh...hi..."

"Bradley," my mom said, looking surprised, before shooting an angry look over at my dad. "I'm taking Leah and Heather and we're going to the park."

"Now wait just a minute, Janet..." my dad began, and my mom glared at him.

"I SAID, I am taking my daughters and we're going to the park."

"Where's Bryson?" I asked.

"He's playing with the boy that just moved into 3-B," my mom responded. "Bradley, would you like to come?"

I shrugged. "I can't mom. I'm sorry. I have to go to the store, Sam cleaned the fridge out again and we literally have no food. I just wanted to stop by and see how things were going, but..." I trailed off. It was obvious how things were going, and they weren't good.

"Well, okay," my mom said with a sigh. There was a tension between my parents so thick you could cut it with a knife, and that worried me. A little bit. If it weren't for the fact that my mom was currently pregnant, a divorce wouldn't be the worst thing in the world for her. I loved my dad, but let's face it, he didn't treat her the way she deserved. He didn't treat any of us the way we deserved. He'd always kind of treated my mom like he'd been doing her a giant favor by marrying her in the first place, and me and my siblings? It was like he was doing us a favor by creating us.

I decided now would be a good time to leave, before either one of them cornered me and started talking my ear off about their marital problems, or until Leah spotted me and started begging me to come to the park with them. I loved spending time with her, of course, but I needed to get this grocery shopping thing done, or we'd have no food, and then Sam would kill everyone. And probably eat us. Okay, maybe that was stretching it a little. Maybe.

I backed toward the door, waving awkwardly. "Okay, well, I'd better go then..."

"Bradley..." my dad began, but I kept backing up, before turning around and heading for the hills.

"Bye guys! I'll stop by later!" I called, shutting the door behind me.

Man, that was a close one. I didn't want to get pulled into their problems any more. After almost twenty years, I was sick of it, and now I wasn't just a spectator any more, they were TALKING to me about their problems! Mom especially! I'd almost gagged the other day when she mentioned they didn't have the same "spark" as they used to. "Spark" from my parents' perspective involved some really weird shit, stuff I didn't want to think about period, and especially not when you threw my parents into the mix. Ugh!

With a shudder, I headed back to the elevator, trying to get my parents issues out of my head and focus on trying to remember what I needed to buy at the grocery store.

~*Carly*~

"Guys?" I yelled, slightly alarmed as I moved through the crowded apartment. "Brad just texted me, he's on the way up!"

"Oh, shit!" Sam yelled. "Everybody shut the hell up! Places people! Move!"

People scrambled this way and that, trying to find a spot to hide, and I just leaned against the counter, trying hard to contain my excitement. This was going to be the best surprise party ever! Sure, we couldn't have any alcohol this time, but that didn't mean we couldn't have a good time. I was really going to make an effort to make this Brad's best birthday ever, starting it up two days ahead of schedule. He'd been working so hard, giving up drinking, working on his depression, trying to be a better boyfriend. I loved him now more than ever! And because of that, I wanted him to be happy. He was a little bit...lost about what to do with his birthday this year, he'd already complained to me that it would probably be boring. Of course, I didn't mention to him that we'd been planning this party for weeks, hopefully this whole thing would make his birthday great, and not "boring."

Sam and Freddie were not trying to hide at all, in fact, they were standing on the stairs, leaning against the railing, making out. I just rolled my eyes.

"You guys!" I hissed, and they both gave me Looks. "Knock it off!"

"What?" Sam replied. "He won't suspect anything if we're acting normal. This is normal."

"Yeah, for you guys," I said with a roll of my eyes. "But whatever, carry on."

But they'd already gone back to kissing before I'd even finished my sentence. Geez, would those two ever stop? Sam's stomach was getting bigger every day, which meant they were having to do a little bit of improvising, but it didn't seem to deter Freddie one bit. If anything, it just egged him on more. I wondered briefly for a moment if Freddie was actually turned on by the idea of Sam being pregnant, but the thoughts quickly left my head when I heard the front door open.

"Hey baby," I called as Brad walked in, his arms full of grocery bags.

"Hey," he grunted, eyeing me carefully. "You changed? And got all dolled up? I thought you were working on a paper."

I just shrugged. "Got bored."

"But you couldn't come with me to the store?" he replied, sounding a little annoyed. "Seriously, babe?"

"Well, I had other stuff to take care of."

"Like what?" he asked. He finally noticed Sam and Freddie out of the corner of his eye, and made an annoyed sound. "So everyone was too busy to go to the store with me, but apparently not to busy to play with makeup...or make out?"

"Yeah, sorry," Freddie replied before going back to kissing Sam. "Had other things to deal with."

"Like WHAT?" Brad replied, obviously moved from a little annoyed to full-blown aggravated.

"Like...SURPRISE!" I yelled, and that's when everyone came out of their hiding places.

"SURPRISE! HAPPY BIRTHDAY!" they all shouted, and Brad looked like he wanted to fall over in shock.

"Holy shit!" he exclaimed. "This is what you guys were up to?"

"Geez, Brad, come on," Sam stated with a roll of her eyes. "You think I'd really clean out the entire fridge in just four hours?"

"Well...actually..." he began, and Sam gave him a death glare.

"You answer that, and I'll break your arm, Harrison!"

"Alright, sorry!" he laughed, before walking over to me and giving me a tight hug, kissing me. "This is awesome, babe. Thank you."

I just shrugged. "We just wanted you to have a good birthday, that's all. Since you've had to deal with so much this year."

"Yeah, but my birthday's two days away," he said with a smile, and I just thumped him on the earlobe, grinning at him.

"All the more surprising," I reminded him.

"Yeah, you're probably right," he laughed. "You know, I don't think we've ever had a party in this place without mass amounts of alcohol."

"Well, not since you came around anyway," I replied. "But who cares? You can have fun without booze, Brad."

He nodded, kissing me again. "But I can't have fun without you. I love you, Carly. Thanks."

"I love you too," I replied. "Alright people! Party on!"

~*Sam*~

Ugh, I was so tired. Midterms, kiss my ass!

Brad's party had been a total success, and he'd had a great time, happy about being able to have a good time without being hammered drunk. And he and Carly had been even more all over each other. Almost giving me and Freddie competition. Almost, but not quite. Nobody could compete with us.

Of course, things were getting a little bit more difficult in that department. We were having to get pretty creative in bed, because I just kept getting bigger. Missionary was out, and we both happened to love it like that. It felt super close and incredibly intimate, and now it was off the table until baby Benson decided to come out! I seriously couldn't wait, not just because of that, but I was really, really ready to see my baby, hold him or her, take care of them, help them grow up. It would be amazing, I could tell.

But it wasn't time yet, and I'd have to deal for a few more months. At least my midterms were finally over with. I thought they were going to kill me. I usually didn't have much trouble in that department, but I was really having difficulty concentrating, a full-blown case of "baby brain". And I was exhausted. All I could do was drag myself to the student lounge, firing a text off to Freddie and letting him know I was in here.

I'd been sitting there for about an hour when I spotted Freddie walking in. I gave him a small smile, and he bent down to kiss me softly, before flopping down next to me.

"Well that was intense," he commented, looking over at me, and I just nodded a little. "Aw, baby, you look exhausted."

"I am," I replied. "So tired...I just need to sleep."

"Well, let's get you home then," he replied, grabbing my books. "Just think, you can be lazy for an entire week and not do anything."

"Except work," I sighed. We still had to shoot the show, no getting around it. Freddie was getting pretty good about being able to angle the shots so I didn't look huge, because I complained about it, but I knew he wouldn't be able to do it forever, I knew I was only going to get bigger.

"If you want, I can take on some of the social network stuff for you," he offered, and I just nodded again, too exhausted to argue. The social media was a daily project that took about two hours, just getting back to fans, running promotions, that sort of thing, and it was extremely tedious, at least to me, at least these days.

Some days were easier than others, but I felt like I'd been completely drained for the last week or so. We'd have a week off for Spring break, but right after that, the trial was starting up. And then hopefully the apartment would come through, we'd have to go through moving, ugh...why was I so tired?

I had a doctor's appointment in two days, so maybe Dr. Boyd would be able to give me some insight, whether this was something normal, or maybe something was wrong with me. What if something WAS wrong with me? What if something was wrong with the baby?

I'd decided to not say anything to Freddie, I didn't want him to go overboard with worrying, and let's face it; when Freddie worried, he REALLY worried. I didn't want him to deal with the stress, after he'd been doing so well, and most of all, I didn't feel like being handled with kid gloves.

Freddie stood up, grabbing my bag for me, and then pulling me to my feet. "Come on, sweetheart, let's get you home, so you can sleep. Are you hungry?"

"A little," I stated. "But mostly tired."

"Too tired to eat?" he asked in surprise, and I nodded, frowning when Freddie put his hand on my forehead. I could tell by the look on his face that he wasn't just teasing me, he really was concerned, and I hated that. Stop worrying, nub! Stop coddling me!

"Hmm," he said, a worried look on his face. "You feel a little bit warm."

"I'm fine," I replied. "I'm just tired, okay?"

He shook his head. "I'm not convinced. Maybe I should call the doctor."

"Don't you dare. I don't feel like going to the doctor today. We have to go in two days anyway!"

"Sam!" he scolded me as we walked to the car. "I don't want you to be sick!"

"I think I can handle being sick, Freddie," I gruffed.

"Hey, we're not just talking about you anymore, okay? Our child's in there. You have to be healthy! Why are you fighting me on this?"

"Because I'm not sick! I'm just tired!" I shot back, and Freddie shot me a look that told me he wasn't playing around.

"Do not make me call my mom," he threatened, and I rolled my eyes.

"Ugh! Fine! Then call the damned doctor!" I growled, plopping down in the passenger seat, my arms crossed over my chest. I sat there pissed off for a little while, not speaking, and then I must have drifted off, because the next thing I knew, Freddie was shaking me awake.

"Wake up, baby. We're home. You can lay down in our bed, okay?" he murmured, kissing me on my forehead. "You really feel like you have a fever."

"I'm fine," I said softly. "I just need to sleep."

"Oh, you're going to," Freddie replied as we walked through the lobby. "I want you to stay in bed. I'll call the doctor, see if she thinks you should come in. But I really think you should take it easy tonight."

"Fine by me," I grumbled. Man, I really hoped I wasn't sick, because Freddie could get really out of line when it came to babying me, taking things to the extreme. I'd never tell him to his face, but he was a lot like his mother in that regard. He babied me the same way his mom used to baby him!

We finally got upstairs, and I managed to drag myself into our room, flopping down on the bed. Freddie came in right behind me, but I just laid there, not moving, feeling totally out of it. I felt him pull my pants off, and then he lifted me up a little bit to pull the blankets back, covering me up and kissing me softly.

"I'm gonna call the doctor, okay?" he murmured, and I just nodded, too tired to get into an argument. He kissed me on my forehead softly, before walking out of the room and shutting the door softly, then I could hear him on the phone with the doctor's office.

I laid there for a minute, thinking. I was feeling more tired than normal, my muscles were sore, and I was cold, but Freddie had said I felt cold. Ugh, maybe I WAS getting sick! This sucked!

This was SO not how I wanted to spend my Spring break!


	43. Chapter 43: A Certain Shade of Green

**A/N: Sorry for the sort-of short chapter, but I'm working on the next one now, and yes, with the next one, the drama will be brought back full-force! Prepare yourself, people!**

**Chapter Forty Three:  
><strong>**A Certain Shade of Green**

~*Carly*~

I'd been sitting on this stool for close to three hours, totally wrapped up in playing my guitar. I was really excited with all the strides I'd been making. In addition to writing my own music, I'd learned to play dozens of cover songs, and I was extremely proud of myself for coming along as far as I had, especially considering I'd never taken a lesson. I loved this guitar to death. It was beautiful, had a killer sound, and of course, I was pretty crazy about the guy who'd given it to me.

The guy in question, Brad, was sitting on one of the bean bag chairs a few feet away from me, his computer perched in his lap, busily typing away. He didn't seem to be distracted by my playing, which was good. It was weird, in the past I'd get upset when he devoted a bunch of time to his screenplay writing, because I felt like he was ignoring me, but now that I had something of my own to focus on, it wasn't bad. It was pretty cool how we could still spend time together, but the both of us could still work on our own separate interests. I'd always thought that happy couples always liked the same thing, that they could spend every waking moment together and not get sick of each other, and if a couple couldn't do that, then they had problems. Of course, the two main couples that I based my "happiness model" on, Sam and Freddie, and my brother and April...they were special cases. Spencer and April both lived and breathed art, and those parts of them existed long before they met. And as for Sam and Freddie? Well...there was no way you could sum those two up in one sentence. They didn't have the same interests, they WERE each other's interests. To Sam, everything was Freddie, Freddie, Freddie, and Freddie was the same way about Sam. The only outside interests they had were technology and Sam's food obsession. She was pretty dedicated to her law studies, but it wasn't an interest so much as a career goal.

It was strange, but over the last couple of months, I'd began to see Sam and Freddie as less of something to envy. The two really couldn't survive without each other, and I could see how that could spin out of control into all sorts of problems. It wasn't something I liked to think about, but let's face it, Freddie did have a serious disease, diabetes, and though he managed it well, if complications ever rose up and something ever happened to him? Sam would shut down. She absolutely could not exist without Freddie. And even though everyone had told me it wasn't a possibility, and I didn't like to think about this either, complications could result during Sam's delivery or during the remainder of her pregnancy, and something bad could happen to her. And then Freddie would cease to function.

I'll be honest, I worried a lot more about complications with Sam than I did Freddie. I knew women had been having babies for millions of years, but I couldn't help but continue to think about something going wrong. Brad told me not to worry, as did Sam, but what if they were wrong? It had happened to my mother. It could happen to Sam. I was beginning to think about it more and more, though I tried not to. It would kill me to lose my best friend. And all things considered, I was worried about her even more now. She'd been under a lot of stress lately, and right now she was sick.

I grimaced as I goofed on a chord, quickly fixing my mistake. Ugh, Carly, no thinking about complications with Sam's pregnancy while you're trying to learn a new song, silly girl! At the sound of the guitar note suddenly gone sour, I saw Brad's shoulders tense up, and he looked over at me.

"What the hell was that?" he asked, and I shrugged.

"Sorry," I replied, trying to play over the chord progression again, smiling when I got it right that time. "Was just thinking."

"About?" Brad asked as I watched his eyes flicker across the computer screen.

"Nothing."

Brad made a face. "That was a pretty rank note for you to be thinking about nothing. What's up, babe?"

"Ehh..." I trailed off, frowning, and Brad turned away from his laptop to give me a pointed Look.

"Carly," he scolded. "Tell me what's inside your pretty brunette head right now."

"Brains," I said, trying to gloss over the issue.

"Carly!" Brad said, exasperated. "Tell me! What are you thinking about?"

"Sam," I responded, and Brad, sighed, setting his laptop down and standing up. He walked around behind me, and I felt him push my hair aside as he rubbed my shoulder.

"Babe, Sam's fine."

"She's not fine!" I responded. "She's sick! And what if something goes wrong and..."

"Carly," Brad said again, kissing the side of my neck. "It's the flu. She'll be fine. Her baby will be fine."

I just grunted, still unsure, and Brad shook his head, his hand going under my chin to turn my head towards his, kissing me.

"You gotta stop worrying about this, okay? It's just the flu. It won't make anything go wrong with the baby."

"How do you know?" I demanded.

"Look, Freddie's taking good care of her. Don't you think if anything were to go wrong, he'd be on top of it in a heartbeat? And with Marissa and Robert across the hall...Sam's in good hands, okay? I wish you'd stop worrying about it."

"I can't help it," I said with a sigh, leaning back against Brad's chest as I felt his arms go around my waist.

"Babydoll, I know...what happened...with your mom. It makes you worry, but you have to understand. I'm sorry it happened, but...it is pretty rare these days, you know? Sam will be fine."

"And what if she's not?" I replied.

"She will be!" Brad shot back. "She'll be fine! Look, take a break from this." He took my guitar and set it down. "You've been playing for three hours. Give your fingers a break. Why don't you just go downstairs and check on her?"

"Well, I don't want to bother her, she's been unconscious most of the day..." I started, and Brad rolled his eyes.

"Fine, just take a break from the guitar! Your fingers are going to start bleeding!" he exclaimed.

"Oh, come on, that's ridiculous," I began, and Brad just grabbed my hand, closely examining it.

"Oh?" he replied. "Check out your fingertips."

I let out an annoyed grunt before looking at my hand, and my eyes widened at the state of my fingers. Bright red, with deep lines across the tips. Geez, now that I thought about it, they were getting a little sore.

"Fine, I'll take a break," I replied, getting off the stool, giving Brad an annoyed look, and he just laughed.

"Don't look at me like that, babe," he replied, pulling me into his arms and kissing me. "I'm just saying. If you push yourself too hard, your hands will get sore, and you won't want to do it anymore. Besides, if your fingers get all sliced up, who's gonna scratch my head?"

I laughed a little at that. "Nice to know you're thinking of me," I said with a smile, and Brad just shrugged.

"Hey, don't lie. You know you love scratching my head."

I just rolled my eyes at that. "How's the screenplay coming? You've gotta be close to finishing by now..."

"Maybe ten more pages," he replied with a grin. "How awesome is that?"

"Brad!" I exclaimed, grabbing his shoulders. "That's amazing! I mean, you've only been working on it for a year and a half!"

"Yeah, I know..." he said, running a hand through his hair. "Pretty crazy. I just hope it's good enough. I mean, I still have to do rewrites and editing and all that, but...yeah. It's almost done."

"That is so cool," I replied. "It's about time."

"Hey!" he exclaimed. "My brilliance takes time, Carly."

"Whatever," I said with a laugh. "Well...I'm gonna go downstairs, get some food. I'll leave you to your brilliance. You want anything?"

"Nah, I'm good," he replied. "Just give me about an hour longer, and we'll go out or something, okay?"

"Okay," I responded with a nod. "You know, this may be the most low-key Spring Break ever...I mean, compared to our last one..."

"Carly, last Spring Break was on par with Girls Gone Wild," he pointed out.

"It wasn't that bad!" I replied. "Okay, so maybe we partied a little too hard..."

"A little too hard?" Brad replied. "Uh, as I do recall, a certain brunette girl I know had a little too much to drink, and then may have suggested trying skinny dipping at 3 AM at the lake?"

"You said you'd never bring that up again!" I responded, feeling my cheeks burn a little.

"Whatever, it was a good night, okay? Just saying, last year was crazy. And...I guess we're past that, right?"

"Right," I replied. I was definitely past taking my clothes off in a public place, even if Brad and I were alone at the lake that night. It was fun, but...yeah. I really needed to try behaving myself now that I was getting older. I'd be twenty pretty soon, and I was doing pretty good with this whole responsibility thing.

I left Brad alone with his screenplay, heading downstairs to go get some lemonade, and I found Freddie poking around the kitchen. I'd barely seen him all day, he'd spent most of the day in him and Sam's room, even though Sam had been asleep for most of the day. He wouldn't hardly let her out of his sight.

"Hey," I greeted him as I walked to the fridge.

"Hey," he grunted, sounding rushed and preoccupied.

"How's Sam?" I asked.

"Still pretty sick. Her fever's gone down, but she's still all sniffly, headache, sore throat, all that," he replied. "Do you know what happened to the tea bags? I can't find them!"

"Oh, they're in the cabinet left of the sink, I moved them when I rearranged the kitchen yesterday."

Freddie's eyebrows went up at the phrase 'rearranged the kitchen', and he looked at me curiously.

"Are you that bored?"

I shrugged. "I dunno. I mean...we're usually a lot more...active during Spring Break."

Freddie just shrugged. "I dunno what to tell you, Carls. Brad's sober and Sam's pregnant. Kinda puts the kibosh on serious partying, you know?"

"I know," I replied. "I wasn't expecting a rager this year, but...I dunno, it's just weird. And it's even worse because Sam's sick."

"Ugh, you're telling me," Freddie said with a groan. "I hate seeing her like this."

"You're just mad you're not getting any," I teased, and he rolled his eyes.

"Uh, no. I haven't even thought of that!" he said defensively. My eyebrows went up as I looked him pointedly, and he just sighed in irritation. "Okay, fine. I've thought about it a little. But my main priority is trying to get her back to being healthy."

"Yeah," I said softly. "I mean, I'm really worried that...never mind." Bad idea to talk about this to Freddie. He was naturally a worrier, and I didn't want to give him even more to worry about.

Freddie pulled the box of tea bags out of the cabinet and grabbed the tea kettle, filling it with water and setting it on the stove, before turning to look at me.

"Carly," he started. "I know what you're worried about, okay? And try not to."

"But...don't you worry about it?" I asked, and he nodded.

"Of course I do. But I mean, aside from the flu, Sam's healthy, doctor says the baby's healthy. Dr. Boyd's one of the best obstetricians in the city, plus I've got my mom looking after her, Robert too...Sam will be okay. And I mean...I hate to say it, but Sam could step off the sidewalk tomorrow and get hit by a bus, you know? I can't worry about something bad happening to her all the time."

"Wow," I said, a little shocked. "You've changed." What happened to worrywart Freddie?

Freddie shrugged. "Well, the Xanax definitely helps with the whole anxiety thing. Aside from that one little episode the night the whole Griffin thing happened, I've been doing pretty good. And I mean, I dealt with some ghosts from my past too."

I brushed past him to go grab a glass, when I felt him pat me on the head. "You should consider dealing with your own personal ghosts yourself, Carls."

"Freddie, I don't have ghosts. I just worry about my best friend, okay?" I replied, and Freddie shook his head.

"Yeah, because of your mother. Look, that won't happen with Sam, okay? Trust me, I am keeping a very close eye on my wife."

"So do you think if my dad would have been around instead of deployed when my mom went into labor, she'd still be here?" I asked. I wasn't trying to sound snotty or anything, it was an honest question that I'd wondered about for years.

Freddie just shook his head, sighing a little bit. "I didn't mean it like that, okay? I'm just saying. Things like what happened...they don't happen every day. Women have babies. They live. That's what's normal. I feel really bad for you, Carly, that you...you know, didn't get to know her, but...that's not gonna happen with Sam, okay?"

I just nodded, forcing a smile. "Okay," I replied softly. But I wasn't sure. I still worried. I worried about Sam more than I worried about when April went through it, even though the day she went into labor I nearly had a heart attack. She was my best friend, I couldn't help it.

Freddie finished making tea for Sam, and he gave me an encouraging smile, squeezing my shoulder a little.

"You'll be fine. Sam'll be fine. And speaking of Sam, I'm gonna go take her this tea and then snuggle up with her, try to make her feel better."

"Aren't you worried you'll get sick?" I asked, and Freddie shrugged.

"I took the flu shot, she didn't. That's why she's sick."

I let out an exasperated sigh, rolling my eyes. "Yeah, sorry about that..."

"Don't apologize for your retarded boyfriend," Freddie replied, and as if on cue, Brad came walking down the stairs.

"Hey, Carly, is there any..." he trailed off when he saw the Look Freddie was giving him. "What? Why are you looking at me like that! Dude, you can't still be mad at me!"

"Damn straight I'm still mad at you, dude! This is all your fault!" Freddie shot back.

"How? How the hell is this MY fault?"

"You convinced Sam the government was putting things in the flu shot!" Freddie yelled.

"They are!" Brad yelled back. I just sighed, rolling my eyes, my face in my hands. Brad had turned into quite the conspiracy theorist over the past year, and though we loved to tease him about it, sometimes it got a tad bit out of control. This was one of those times. Freddie and I pretty much wrote off everything Brad said about conspiracies being total crap, but sometimes Sam would still fall for it because she still harbored a little bit of anger towards "the system" that failed to help her escape her abusive home as a child. Sam had not been thrilled at the idea of taking the flu shot anyway, but when Brad had started running off at the mouth about his latest government conspiracy, that was all Sam had needed to refuse the shot.

"Yeah, a cure for the flu!" Freddie replied.

"No, man! Don't you get it? It's all part of the government endorsed plan to impose massive sterilization on all of us!"

"Sterilization, really?" Freddie responded flatly. "Gee, that's funny, because I've gotten the flu shot every year since I was three, and I managed to knock my wife up, so obviously the sterilization plan needs to be tweaked a little!"

"Whatever, I'm telling you, the flu shot is bad news, man!"

"So is having the flu when you're pregnant!"

"Will you guys stop it?" I hollered, stepping between them. "You guys are giving me a headache!"

"Fine," Brad grumbled.

"Well, now you're screwed, Harrison. Because now there's a sick person in the house. I took the shot, Carly took the shot. You didn't. You're gonna get sick."

"I am NOT going to get sick," Brad replied. "I'm healthy as a horse."

"Yeah, a horse with an incubating flu virus," Freddie replied. "You're gonna get sick!"

"I am not! You two are crazy getting that shot!"

"You know, you used to be normal! I dunno where you're getting all this conspiracy stuff from..." I started, and Freddie cut me off.

"From that Tom guy he's been hanging out with!"

"The stoner?" I replied. "Oh, good God, no wonder! Brad, come on, you can't listen to that guy, he's crazy. You can't listen to anyone with an anarchy tattoo!"

"The man makes some good points!" Brad argued.

"What, the benefits of bong smoking compared to rolling joints?" Freddie shot back, and Brad gave him a withering glare.

"I don't smoke anymore, thanks," he responded. "Not since the bonfire."

"Yeah, I've still got a scar from that, thanks," Freddie replied.

"FREDDIE!" We could hear Sam yell, and Freddie just sighed, pointing at Brad.

"We'll finish this conversation later, I gotta go check on Sam." With that, he was gone, leaving me and Brad alone. Before I could even open my mouth, Brad's hands went up and he started rambling, trying to defend himself.

"It is not my fault, Carly! I did NOT tell Sam, don't get the flu shot! I simply presented my ideas in an unbiased fashion, and..."

"Brad, calm down," I replied. "It's fine. Sam chose not to get the flu shot. It's her responsibility. Plus...I think pregnant women have a lower immune system or something...it's easier for them to get sick. But...Freddie's right. You might get sick."

"I'll be fine," he said with a wave of his hand. "Do you wanna get out of here? Before Freddie decides to come back out and kill me."

"He's not gonna kill you. He's not that mad, just incredibly annoyed at you right now. He's been fussing at Sam for not taking the flu shot too."

"Well, whatever, I'm not taking my chances. Besides, I'm starving. Let's go get some food!"

"Fine, just let me get my coat," I replied, heading upstairs to find a jacket to wear.

Okay, so it definitely wasn't entirely Brad's fault that Sam had the flu, Sam had made the choice not to take it, and now she was paying the price. Brad had just given her a push in the right direction...or wrong direction, depending on how you look at it. Of course, that was nothing out of the ordinary, Brad and Sam were both guilty of getting each other to do stuff that was ill-advised, and this definitely hadn't been the worst thing ever in that category. It just sucked that Sam was sick.

I quickly found my jacket and headed back downstairs, and with that, Brad and I left in search of food.

"Thai?" he asked as we walked down the hallway.

"Sure," I replied.

Despite the less than sage advice Brad had given Sam about the whole flu shot deal, and Brad's weird conspiracy theories, I was really happy that we were still together. We'd been getting along so well, we were really happy together. I just hoped we'd make it through the upcoming trial, which started next week. But I was having difficulty focusing on that.

I really hoped Sam would be okay.

~*Sam*~

I kicked the blankets off me, completely burning up, and then groaning a second later when I suddenly grew cold, grabbing the blankets and pulling them over me again.

Another minute went by, and I was hot again! Ugh, this was ridiculous! I couldn't help but whine piteously to myself as I rolled around the bed in frustration.

I'd been sick with the flu for two days, and for lack of a better phrase, I was sick of being sick! My body ached, my throat hurt, I'd had a fever on and off, I was constantly nauseous. Plus, I was having to spend my Spring Break in bed, and not the way I wanted to. When I'd said I wanted to spend the entire time in bed, I meant completely naked, rolling around with my sexy husband, not rolling around in sweats with a box of tissues. I was absolutely miserable.

I knew I was probably driving Freddie crazy, but I couldn't help it. I just felt so bad. I could barely get out of bed, plus he was my only source of comfort.

"Freddie!" I yelled in a pitiful voice, which set off another coughing fit. Ugh! And if I felt this bad, I could only imagine what poor baby Benson was feeling like. I rubbed a hand over my stomach as I felt my tiny baby kick and wiggle inside me.

"I'm sorry, kid," I whispered between coughs. "I know you probably feel as bad as me. Should've taken that flu shot, huh?"

I heard the door creak open and I looked up to find Freddie walking in, carrying a mug of something. He sat it down next to the table by my bed, then walked around to the other side, laying down next to me.

"Brought you some ginger tea," he murmured, kissing me on top of my head. "Sorry you're sick, baby."

"It's not your fault," I said with a sigh, rolling toward him and laying my head on his chest. "Oh god, I feel so bad."

"I know, sweetheart. I know," Freddie replied, rubbing my back. "Your throat still hurt?"

"Yeah. It would be better if I could stop coughing, but..." I began, and then lifted my head as I sneezed suddenly, frowning. "And doing that!"

"I wish I could do something to help," Freddie said.

"You are helping." That was totally true, he'd been doing an excellent job of taking care of me, bringing me tea and soup, making sure I had plenty of cough drops and tissues. He'd barely left my side, either sitting next to me on the bed the entire time working, or curled up with me watching movies.

"Well, the doctor thinks it should wear off in a few days," Freddie said. "Just promise me, after you have the baby I mean, you'll get the flu shot next time."

"I'm never listening to Brad again," I grumbled.

"So does that mean I can lift the ban on balloons in this house?" Freddie asked brightly. Freddie knew exactly what happened when balloons made their way into this house. Brad and I would either start a water balloon war, or unleash them on unsuspecting victims. I gave him a Look, shaking my head.

"Fat chance. Somebody's gotta teach baby Benson how to launch a balloon bomb."

"Or you could not help your child learn how to get in trouble," Freddie said pointedly.

"Hi, have we met?" I asked sarcastically, before sneezing again, and Freddie just sighed.

"I was afraid you'd say that," he grumbled. "Drink your tea."

"I'm sick of tea," I grunted. "I want soda."

"You can't have soda, Sam! It's bad for the baby!"

"Well, I know that...but I want it anyway. And sausage. And hot dogs. And bologna. And raw fish!"

"Just be patient, baby. Sixteen weeks to go."

"Ugh," I whined, laying my head back down on his chest, yawning again. I'd been sleeping most of the day, but I couldn't help it. Between baby Benson and the flu, I had no energy or strength left in me right now. I felt Freddie's hand rubbing slowly up and down my back, slipping under my sweatshirt to touch my bare skin, and I let out a sigh. Man, that felt good. Even though I was sick as a dog, it was amazing how just the slightest touch from Freddie could make me feel better. Freddie felt my body start to relax a little, and I threw a leg over him, letting out another yawn.

"Gonna go to sleep on me, baby?" he asked, kissing me on the side of my head.

"Mmmhmm," I replied sleepily. "You make a good pillow."

"Glad I can be of service," he said with a laugh, continuing to rub my back. "Will it bother you if I watch TV?"

"No."

"Okay. I'll try to keep the volume low," he replied, grabbing the remote and switching the TV on. I had no idea what he was watching, I hadn't bothered to lift my head, plus I was pretty out of it, but I could tell it was something on the Science channel or something. My sweet loveable nerd. I just laid there, trying not to sniffle too much, enjoying the feel of Freddie's hand running across my skin and the rhythmic sound of his heartbeat, feeling myself begin to drift off again.

~*Freddie*~

"Ugh, this cannot go on!" Carly whined as we both rummaged through the kitchen. It was day four of Spring Break, and just like I'd predicted, Brad was now sick with the flu as well. It'd taken less than twenty four hours after I'd warned him he'd get sick, and now he was in worse shape than Sam!

Carly and I were in perfect health because we'd both gotten the flu shot, but that didn't mean we weren't suffering too. Sam had gotten a little bit better, but I wanted her to stay in bed until she was completely well. Brad, on the other hand, was still in the beginning stages of it, and he was beginning to drive Carly insane. I had to admit, the kid could get a little whiny when he was sick. But Carly was trying her best to keep it together. I wasn't too aggravated, I didn't mind taking care of Sam, I just wanted her back to normal. And I hated to say it, but I hoped she'd be better before Spring Break was completely over, just so we could spend at least one day, still in that bed, but not sick. I wanted an entire day of making love to that girl, over and over, until we were both completely exhausted.

I looked over at Carly, shrugging at the statement she'd just made.

"I told both of them, stop drinking out of the milk carton, neither listened, and now Sam has passed her virus onto Brad. Which, by the way, is pure karma. I still wanna punch your boyfriend for convincing her not to take the shot."

"Freddie, come on, Sam was looking for ANY excuse to avoid getting that thing. You know she doesn't like shots!"

"Whatever," I grunted. "I'm just ready for it to be over."

"Yeah," Carly sighed. "Man, we didn't even get a week free of stress before being thrown right back into stress..."

Carly was referring, of course, to the trial that started next week, which had been looming over our heads for the last two months. I was definitely not looking forward to it, and neither was Sam. Not only did I not want to do this, but I wasn't a very good liar. There was a pretty good possibility I'd screw up on the stand during intense questioning, an even greater possibility I'd just lose my cool and yell at the DA or something. Sam, on the other hand, was TOO good of a liar, even if she was out of practice. But that was a part of herself she'd tried desperately to leave behind, and she was being forced to return to it, which bothered me. Because I knew it would bother her. Still, no use in getting too upset about it now. I needed to focus on making Sam feel better.

"Well, all I can tell you is just to try and relax, hold it together...everything will be fine," I told her, and she gave me an incredulous look.

"Man, maybe I need to be on Xanax, I feel like I'm not even talking to the same Freddie!"

"Carly, come on!" I responded. "Like I said before, it's not just the Xanax, okay? I've been dealing with my issues, and...certain things just aren't worth getting riled up about anymore. Things happen. We just have to deal with them!"

"I guess," she responded. "So...how are things with your mom? And Robert?"

"They're fine," I replied. That was true, I'd stopped giving my mother shit about being married to Robert, and I was even trying to give Robert a chance. I knew he loved my mom, I knew he made her happy, and he wasn't a bad guy, what little bit I did know him. "I guess Robert's not so bad, it was just getting passed the idea of my mom moving on, you know?"

"And have you moved on?" she asked, eyeing me carefully, and I nodded.

"For the most part," I replied. "My dad...he...he's gone, Carly. He's been gone a long time. Nothing I can do to change it. All I can do is move on. Besides, I don't think I'll be a very good father if I can't get passed the issues with my own father, you know?"

Carly nodded, and she looked like she was thinking for a moment, before her eyes flicked up back up to mine.

"How do you do that?" Carly asked softly, biting her lip. I let out a sigh, not really sure how to respond to that.

Carly had never known her mother, she'd died one day after giving birth to Carly, due to complications with the delivery. Carly rarely talked about it. I don't think she really knew what to say about it. We were definitely alike in that regard, we'd both lost a parent when we were really young. True, I'd known my dad, I'd remembered him, but Carly was not in the same boat. In some ways it probably made it easier for her, but I'm sure in some ways it'd made it harder, and she seemed to be thinking about it more and more, the closer Sam's due date approached. I knew Carly worried about something going wrong with Sam's pregnancy. I refused to think about it, because if I did, I'd worry myself sick.

I looked back over at Carly, shrugging a little.

"I don't know, Carly. You just have to accept certain things, you know? Quit thinking about the past. Think about the future. Move on. Live life. I don't know how to explain it...you just...let go."

Carly nodded, silent for a second, then looked back up at me. "Okay. Well, I'll try."

"Yeah, you definitely should. It'd be good for you," I replied. "So...in light of all the sickness, this week's show..."

"CARLY!"

"FREDDIE!"

"Ugh," Carly and I both said at the same time, Carly looking up at the stairs, me looking towards mine and Sam's bedroom.

"Uh, we'll...talk about it later," Carly said with a sigh, heading for the stairs.

"Yeah. Maybe they'll both pass out at the same time..." I replied, and she rolled her eyes.

"Now that would just be way too easy," she responded, and with that, both of us headed in the direction of our rooms, to take care of our sick counterparts.


	44. Chapter 44: Sick Sad Little World

**A/N: Finally! I know it's been awhile since I updated, but I've been pretty busy. Anyway, this chapter is super, super dramatic. Major drama llamas here. Also starts off with lemony goodness. Enjoy! I'll try to make the next update quicker!**

**Chapter Forty Four:  
><strong>**Sick Sad Little World**

~*Sam*~

I slowly opened my eyes, squinting a bit as the bright sun hit them, and yawned a little. I shifted a little, stretching a bit, smiling as I felt the warmth of Freddie's body next to me. He had his arm wrapped around me, right under the "baby bump", and had me pulled right against him. I loved that. Even when he slept, he still had to have me close to him. It made me feel so loved, so safe.

As I laid there, just enjoying the feeling of being in Freddie's arms, it occurred to me that my throat didn't hurt, and I wasn't feeling as stuffy as before. And I didn't have that horrible headache I'd been dealing with for the past four days. Oh god, finally I was starting to get over being sick!

The last four days had been horrible, the last time I'd remembered being this sick was when that rotten bitch Missy had given me rancid chocolate and I'd gotten food poisoning. Even back then, when we'd pretended to hate each other, Freddie had still taken care of the situation. He'd won that semester at sea cruise, and given it to Missy. I wonder what would have happened if Freddie had taken the cruise after all. I would have inevitably ended up snapping on Missy, and it would have cost me Carly. Not only that, but I would have lost Freddie. Would I have ever gotten him back? Who knew?

I ran my hand up and down the arm Freddie had wrapped around me, lightly rubbing over his skin with my fingertips, and after a few moments I felt him shift a little beside me, smiling when I felt him push my hair aside and kiss the back of my neck.

"Morning, gorgeous," he whispered into my ear. "How you feeling?"

"Better," I responded softly, continuing to lay there, unmoving, just enjoying the feeling of laying next to him, in his arms. I felt the arm he had underneath me bend at the elbow, going around me and pulling me closer as he kissed my neck again.

"Good," he replied. "I love you," he said in a husky voice. He always told me he loved me right when he woke up, just another thing he did that made me crazy about him.

"I love you too," I replied. "So much. Thanks for taking care of me the last few days..."

"Have I ever not taken care of you?" Freddie asked. "I'll never stop taking care of you. Or this." He ran his hand over my stomach.

"I know," I sighed happily. "I was just thinking about that."

"Thinking about what?" he replied.

"Do you remember the whole Missy issue? From ninth grade?" I asked, and he laughed a little.

"Random. But yeah, I remember. That's when...well...that's when it started to dawn on me how I felt about you."

"Really?" I asked, my eyebrows going up. "But..."

"I was scared. Of course. You were pretty intense back then. I was sure you were going to kick me in the nuts or something if I tried to get anywhere near you."

"Well, you would have been wrong," I replied. "What made you realize?"

"Carly," he replied. "She found out that I gave the cruise to Missy, and then accused me of caring about you. Of course I denied it." He laughed a little. "But I knew how I really felt, just couldn't tell you."

"Well, it worked out," I replied, and I felt him nod against my shoulder. I turned my head to look at him, smirking a little.

"What?" he asked.

"Your hair's all messy," I said with a smile, lifting a hand to fix it.

"Well, I was sleeping, thank you very much," he replied with a grin, and he kissed me softly, his lips brushing against mine, and I couldn't help but moan against his mouth. I'd been sick for days, and even though he'd told me over and over that he was fine, he'd taken the flu shot, he couldn't get sick, I'd still refused to kiss him, other than a simple peck. I didn't want him to get sick, plus I just felt gross, I couldn't even breathe through my nose, how was I supposed to make out if I couldn't breathe? But kissing him after days of not being able to, really kissing him? I still couldn't breathe, but it was because he took my breath away. Oh man, it felt good. Really good. I just laid there, still curled up in his arms, his chest against my back, letting him kiss me. I felt his tongue brush across my lower lip, begging for entrance, and I opened my mouth a little more, moaning again as our tongues brushed across each others. Freddie was such a good kisser. He had the softest lips, and let's face it, the boy was REALLY good with his tongue. I was so lost in the feel of his mouth that I was disappointed when he pulled away, but then I felt his hands reach for my sweatshirt, pulling it over my head, before going back to kissing me.

"Freddie," I gasped against his mouth. "I need to take a shower. I'm all gross."

"I don't care," he murmured, breaking the kiss to trail his lips over my jaw, to my neck. "I need you now."

I could feel exactly how much he needed me right now, it was poking me in my back. Poor guy, he'd been so sweet the last four days...well, scratch that, he was sweet all the time, but he'd been taking such good care of me, and going this long without even kissing had to have been hell on him. Some couples good made due with having sex once or twice a week and would be fine with it, but no, not us. It was so funny, our three year anniversary was coming up in July, and it seemed like the 'honeymoon' phase still hadn't wore off. I wondered if it ever would. We just never could seem to get sick of each other. Even though I was getting huge. My brain ceased to function as I felt Freddie's hands run across my breasts, and I arched my back, encouraging him to explore my body even more. He pushed my hair aside again to kiss the back of my neck, over my shoulders, and I gasped out as his mouth covered that really sensitive spot on my back.

"Freddie," I gasped. "I love your mouth."

"Do you now?" he teased, his tongue running a trail from that spot up my back to the back of my neck. I was so glad he wasn't wearing a shirt, it meant we wouldn't have to waste time for him to take it off. He was so warm from being buried under the blankets all night, cuddled up against me. One hand left my breasts to go to the waistband of my sweatpants, pulling them down over my hips and then the rest of the way off, taking my underwear with them. I felt him pull away long enough to pull his pajama pants and boxers off, and then he was back to kissing all over my back and shoulders, one hand caressing my breasts and the other trailing over my ribcage, my side, my hipbone. I shivered a little, but in a good way, and I turned my head, my hand going to the back of his, pulling his mouth to mine, and I felt him groan against my mouth as he kissed me passionately, grinding against my butt. I let out a gasp suddenly as I felt him slide into me without warning, and I was so surprised I bit his bottom lip, but that only seemed to encourage him more.

"Mmm, baby..." I sighed as he slowly thrust in and out of me, his hand gripping my hip to hold me steady.

"You feel so good, sweetheart," he whispered in my ear, kissing me. "So good..."

"Don't stop," I moaned. "Freddie...please don't stop..."

"I can't," he growled against my mouth.

We continued to move like that, slow, but passionate, unrushed. I couldn't get over how good he felt. I didn't think I ever would. Ugh, this felt incredible. We were getting used to doing it like this more and more, what with my growing stomach, but I have to say, I liked it like this. It wasn't as intimate as him being on top of me, but in this position he could wrap his arms around me, hold me close, kiss my back and shoulders. It was nice. I loved being in his arms like this, loved the way he felt inside me. It was like he'd dominated every part of me, body, mind, heart, soul.

It was funny, no matter how intense and freaky we got, and let's face it, we could get pretty down and dirty sometimes, it wouldn't push me over the edge nearly as fast as thinking about how much I loved him and how much loved me would. It was such a turn-on. It was funny, things had really changed. It used to be the opposite, all the dirtiness would drive me crazy and the soft, sweet stuff was still a little off-putting, at least during the first six months we were married, but I got past that. I think it was me still resisting a little bit, holding on desperately to the last little bit of the wall I'd built. But the wall didn't last. He wouldn't let it.

Don't get me wrong, I still liked dirty time with Freddie, and I still loved getting absolutely manhandled by him, but we'd evolved. We'd finally given up the epic battle for control, and now we were satisfied with just being with each other. God, I loved him. God, this felt good...oh my god. Oh my god.

"Freddie..." I gasped, feeling my hips start to grind with a mind of their own. It was beginning to feel too good, I was going to lose it soon, I could feel it. "Baby..."

"Gonna come, sexy?" he murmured in that low voice in my ear. "Hmm? You gonna come for me?"

But I couldn't respond, couldn't form words, I could only moan helplessly as he plunged in and out of me at that same agonizingly slow pace. My legs were beginning to shake, and I practically let out a shriek of pure pleasure when I felt Freddie's hand at the back of my knee, lifting it up, and it made him go even deeper.

"Freddie!" I cried, reaching behind me to grab his bicep, unable to keep my nails from digging in. "Baby! Oh...oh god. Don't stop. Yes, just like that...please don't stop..."

"You like that?" he asked, kissing my neck. "Does it feel good?"

"Yes..." I moaned. "Oh god...yes..."

"You gonna come for me now? Hmm? You gonna come for your husband?"

"Yes..." I gasped. "Please...please don't stop..."

"Come for me, Sam. I wanna feel it. I need to feel it. Come on, baby. Let go. Please..."

"Don't stop..." I moaned, feeling myself get closer and closer, and I let out another loud moan as I felt the arm Freddie had around my waist suddenly reach between my legs and rub me there. Oh god, game over.

"Freddie...Freddie...baby...oh god...don't stop...please...yes...yes...yes...FUCK! Oh god, yes!" I felt my entire body clench up as I shook uncontrollably, that amazing feeling running all through my body as I let out a final moan, and I felt Freddie suddenly clench up the same way before pressing his face against my neck and letting out a loud moan.

"Sam..." he grunted. "Shit..." God, I loved how it felt when I could feel him pulse away inside me; it was incredible. We both laid there for a minute, trying to catch our breath, and I could feel him still inside me. I was surprised when I felt him begin kissing my back and shoulders again, his arm going around my waist and pulling me closer.

"Freddie?" I asked, turning to look at him, and he kissed me hungrily.

"I'm not done yet," he murmured against my mouth. "Hope you didn't need to get anything done today."

My eyes widened a bit, and he caught the expression on my face, laughing a little as he kissed me again.

"Remember how intense last Spring Break was?" he asked.

Oh god, I remembered. Brad and Carly had spent two nights away at the lake, right before the bonfire, and Freddie and I had really taken advantage of the empty apartment. I don't even think we had clothes on at all during those two days, and by the time it was all over, I was actually sore, something that didn't happen often.

"Yeah," I replied, gasping a little as I felt him move in and out of me again. "But..."

"You've been sick," he replied, kissing my shoulders. "We have lost time to make up for."

"Oh god," I moaned, laughing a little.

"I am going to spend the entire day in bed with you," he said.

"You already spent the last four days in bed with me," I pointed out, trying not to lose focus, but the way it felt as he moved in and out of me, oh god, it felt good.

"Not like this. You complaining?" he asked, and I shook my head.

"Not at all. Now shut up and make love to me," I responded before kissing him passionately.

~*Carly*~

"Will you two come out of there already?" I hollered, banging on Freddie and Sam's door loudly. "I know Sam's feeling better...I can TELL Sam's feeling better!"

I sighed, leaning against the wall next to the door, still not getting a response from them. Like I said, I could tell Sam was feeling better. They had NOT come out of their room the entire day, and all I'd been hearing were moans and the sound of the bed banging against the wall. Freddie really must have had a lot to get out of his system, Sam too. Sam had been sick for four days, unable to do whatever it was they did, I got that, but we had a show to do soon, and we hadn't been able to go through a run-through at all! We were going to have to wing the entire thing! And if they didn't get out here soon, we wouldn't have a show at all! Brad was still pretty under the weather, he'd be sitting this one out tonight, so I definitely couldn't do a show without Sam AND Freddie. Forget it, this had to stop! I banged on the door again, louder this time.

"IN A MINUTE!" I heard Freddie bark, sounding irritated, and I rolled my eyes. I heard Sam say something I couldn't quite make out, and then a whole bunch of giggling. Ugh, really? I gave up, stalking over to the couch and flopping down, crossing my arms and leaning against the couch.

I was a little bit on edge today, but I couldn't help it. On Monday morning, Brad's father's trial would begin. Brad wanted to be there for all of it, and by that rationale, I guess I'd be there too. I didn't know whether Sam and Freddie would make the same effort, I just knew they were both going to have to take the stand on Thursday. It wasn't going to be good, I could tell already.

When she was younger, Sam had quite the reputation as a troublemaker, and a liar. She even seemed to pride herself on it. She was tough, bad ass Sam Puckett, and nobody dared to mess with her. At least, that's the impression she gave off. Of course Sam behaved like many kids typical of an abusive environment; all that anger and toughness was just a cover-up to prevent other people from treating her the way her mom, and all her mom's horrible boyfriends, had. Underneath that tough girl exterior, Sam was hurt. She was scared.

Of course, everything changed when she and Freddie finally got together. Slowly but surely that facade had melted away, and even though some of Sam's more "endearing" qualities, like her never-ending hunger, less than perfect table manners, penchant for pranks and mischief, had stuck around, the anger evaporated. And Sam stopped being scared. She had no reason to be any more. Not only that, but since Freddie had made a concerted effort to drill it into her head that she wasn't a bad person, she started to believe it. Before that, Sam had been so convinced she was just bad, that she didn't hesitate to do bad things, because by that rationale, she was only being herself. But now she saw herself differently.

The fights, the stealing, all of it stopped. And the lies. Especially the lies. I guess the way that Freddie made every effort possible to be open and honest with her rubbed off, because Sam didn't like lying now. She went out of her way to avoid it, actually. The closest Sam came to lying these days was omitting certain things, like the "account error" Freddie was sure he'd made a few months ago that was actually me buying a five hundred dollar pair of boots.

But now we had a problem. Sam was being forced to do the one thing she'd went to great lengths to change. She had to lie again. In front of a court, in front a judge, jury. In front of Griffin's parents. Sam hadn't talked about it much, but I knew it was bothering her. And Freddie? Well, he'd always hated to lie. Even if it cost him something or he got in trouble, Freddie went out of his way to not lie. And now he would have to lie too! Brad's father better be damn grateful after this was all over, I knew that much, because this was really messing with my two best friends and bringing them down.

Of course, judging by the noises coming from their room, and the noises that had been coming out of there all day, they didn't seem to be too upset right now. In fact, they seemed to be pretty happy!

"Guys!" I yelled from my spot on the couch. "Come on! This is ridiculous!"

Again I was met with no response, and I just grumbled to myself, before I heard a knock at the door. I stood up with a sigh, walking to the door and pulling it open, looking down to see Bryson staring up at me.

"Hey Carly," he said. "How's my brother?"

I shrugged. "He's still pretty sick, but he's doing a little better."

"Oh," Bryson said, his hands in his pockets. "Well...can I...you know? Come in? Talk to him?"

"Uh...I dunno, Bryson, he's pretty sick, you know? I don't want you to catch it."

"Yeah, but..." Bryson sighed, his shoulders sinking down a little. "Okay. I just thought...nothing."

I gave the little boy a Look, leaning against the doorframe. "What's wrong, Bryson?"

"Nothing," he replied, looking at the floor.

"Bryson," I said gently. "Are your parents fighting again?"

"Yes," Bryson said glumly. "I just wanted to get out for a little while, and Jason is still out of town. He won't be back until tomorrow."

"Who's Jason?" I asked, and Bryson gave me a pointed look.

"Uh, my best friend?" he snapped, and I rolled my eyes.

"Oh, right. 3-B?"

"Yeah," he said.

"Alright, well...come in. You can keep Brad company while Sam and Freddie and I do the show. He's taking this week off," I said. "I mean...if there is a show," I said, glaring at Sam and Freddie's bedroom door. Bryson followed my gaze, making a face.

"What was that noise?" he asked, and I froze.

"Uh, what noise?"

"That noise," Bryson said, pointing towards their door. "It sounded weird."

I squeezed my eyes shut when a particularly loud moan escaped from their room, and herded Bryson towards the stairs.

"Nothing, Bryson. Sam's still sick. Her stomach hurts. So...she's making...noises of pain." Ha, noises of pain. What a joke! Bryson seemed to buy it though, and just shrugged it off.

"Whatever," he said, and with that, I followed him up the stairs to me and Brad's room.

~*Freddie*~

"Sam..."

"I have to do this. I have to. I don't want to, but I have to. I just gotta suck it up, and deal with it, and..."

"Sam..."

"It'll be fine. I've lied a million times before. It's easy. But it has been awhile, I might be a little rusty..."

"SAM!" I yelled, annoyed with my wife's pacing back and forth and her mumbling to herself. She finally seemed to snap out of it, looking up at me.

"What?"

"Will you calm down already?" I asked. "I can't stand when you get worked up like this. It's not good for the baby."

She nodded slowly, her hands going to her stomach unconsciously, biting her lip.

"I really don't want to do this," she said softly, and I nodded, reaching out to take her hand.

"I know, baby. But we've got to, okay? It'll be over in five minutes, you can get through this."

"I can get through this," she repeated. She took a deep breath and looked up at me, before her gaze dropped back down to the floor. "I can't do this."

"Sam!"

"I can't, Freddie!" she cried, beginning to pace again. "I'm supposed to go into law, make a career of it, and I'm going to start that off with bastardizing the entire thing?"

"Baby, you're not..."

"And I quit lying! I quit being bad! And now I'm supposed to go back into it! Maybe..."

"Maybe what, baby?" I asked. I stood up to take her hands in mine, but she just jerked them away, not even looking at me, and began pacing again. "Baby, come on!"

"Maybe it was all an act," she commented softly. "Maybe I can't change. Maybe I didn't. Maybe Melanie was right, and the detective, and..."

"Are you serious?" I yelled. "If you weren't pregnant I'd shake the shit out of you right now! You're being ridiculous, Sam! We got pushed into this, you have to choose between lying or getting in serious trouble! It has no bearings on what kind of person you are, baby!"

"But..."

"And you weren't a BAD person before!" I shouted, and Sam snorted a little, laughing bitterly.

"How was I not? I got in fights, I stole things, I lied to people...god, and the way I treated you..."

"You weren't. You were a hurt person. Hurt, scared, angry. Even when we hated each other, even when we fought all the time, I never thought you were a bad person."

"Well, you sure acted like it," she responded with a harrumph, crossing her arms over her chest, and I just laughed, bending down to kiss her. She moved to pull away before my lips brushed over hers, and I just grabbed her arms, forcing her to be still, my mouth coming down over hers softly.

"If I would have acted the way I really felt, you would have broken my arm."

"And that's what makes me a bad person," she whispered.

I shook my head fervently. "Nope. You just didn't want to admit that you had feelings for a nerd."

"You're not a nerd," she replied, and I shrugged.

"Oh come on. Maybe just a little?" I asked, and she stared down at the floor. I could tell she was trying to fight it, but it came anyway, that beautiful smile spreading across her perfect lips.

"Uh-huh, that's what I thought," I replied. "I'm not in denial over it, I'm a nerd. But hey, so is Bill Gates, and he's rich as hell."

"You are so much hotter than Bill Gates," Sam responded, and I just smirked at her.

"Let's hope so." With that, I kissed her again, pulling her into my arms. She still felt rather tense, but after a few moments of our mouths pressed against each other, tongues tangling slowly together, I felt her formerly tight muscles begin to relax. My hands went under her shirt, rubbing the skin of her back, pulling away from her mouth to kiss her neck. She let out a sigh, sagging against me, her face nuzzling into my neck. "There you go. Relax, baby. Relax."

"I'm being ridiculous, aren't I?" she murmured against my neck, and I nodded. "I can't help it."

"I know. You're stressed. And baby Benson is adding to that stress, pumping you full of hormones and all that. It's normal. Just try to relax. For me?"

"I'd do anything for you."

"Even give up ham?"

Sam lifted her head off my shoulder and glared at me. "Now you're pushing it," she growled, and I laughed at the expression on her face, kissing her on the forehead.

"There's my girl," I mused. "Come on, baby. It'll be over with soon enough. And we can just put the whole thing behind us, right?"

"Way behind us," she grumbled. "And sorry to Brad, but this is the LAST day we're sitting through this thing."

"Thought you wanted to see the whole process laid out," I commented, and she shook her head.

"Not at the expense of my sanity."

"When did you have that?"

"FREDDIE!" she exclaimed, and I laughed again.

"Sorry, cheap shot. But I get it. I've just about had enough of this thing too."

I wasn't exaggerating when I said that. I was tired of dealing with this trial thing, even though it'd only been four days. Things had been an absolute madhouse over the last two weeks. First with Sam getting sick, then Brad, they both got better for the most part, and now Brad was an anxious mess because of the trial. It was getting to be too much. I was glad that we'd been able to have nearly a full day of just laying in bed being all over each other. I say nearly, because it would have been a full day if we hadn't had a show to do. Carly had started banging on the door and yelling like a banshee and totally ruined our fun. It was all good though, the second we'd stopped filming, Sam had attacked me so voraciously I almost dropped the camera, and Carly had gotten so uncomfortable during our spontaneous grope session that she'd just walked out of the studio without bothering to fuss at us to not have sex in there. Guess she knew it was coming. The weekend had been pretty free of incident, but Monday morning, it was back to drama. Back to school. And now the trial. Sam had been adamant about going every day, but that was beginning to change. She got tired of sitting in one spot all the time because it would make her back hurt, it wasn't comfortable for her to sit in those uncomfortable wooden benches while pregnant. After today, I was going to put my foot down. The trial plus school plus the show was just too much for her. I was going to have to pull her back, because she was still trying to act like she wasn't pregnant, like she wasn't exhausted all the time. But she was. It showed. Her eyes just radiated with fatigue all the time; though she did her best to hide it, she couldn't hide it from me. Sam sighed, running a hand through her hair.

"You know, I'm not saying that Mr. Harrison's a horrible person, but the way they're trying to paint him as this loving husband, devoted father..." Sam trailed off, biting her lip. "It's disgusting. The only thing about fatherhood that he was devoted to was controlling the hell out of his kids. I mean...Brad almost lost it. To booze."

"Yeah, I know," I said. "But that's what lawyers do. Still thinking you want to be one?" I asked, and she nodded.

"I just...maybe I'll be a district attorney, you know?" Sam replied softly. "I don't know."

"No need to fret about it now," I responded with a shrug. "Right now we gotta get going. We're cutting it close already, and I gotta get all hopped up on caffeine, or...yeah. I need caffeine."

"Did you take your shot?" Sam asked. "And your pill?"

"Well, if you can call it a pill at this point," I replied. I'd been slowly cutting down on the dosage of Xanax. Right now, I was leveled out at about five milligrams a day, which wasn't very much at all, but it kept me in line. Of course, on days I was extra stressed, I could take more if need be, but I tried to avoid that like the plague. "But yes, I did."

"Good," she replied, before letting out another sigh. "Let's hope this is relatively painless."

Before I could open my mouth to respond, I heard Carly banging on the door.

"Sam! Freddie! We gotta go! Come on! You guys can pry yourselves off each other long enough to get this done!"

"Carly, chill!" Sam yelled. "We'll be right there!"

"Why are you guys ALWAYS all over each other?"

"We are NOT always all over each other, Carly!" I yelled back, and Sam's eyebrows went up.

"That's a lie," she stated, and I shrugged.

"Shush, I'm practicing," I responded. "Now come on."

Sam let out a groan as I grabbed her hand and pulled her out the bedroom door. "God help us."

About half an hour later, we were at the courthouse. But today was a little bit different. I wouldn't be sitting in the courtroom next to Sam, Brad, and Carly. Witnesses had to be corralled into this little room, with a dinky TV that looked like it was built in the previous century to watch the proceedings in. My poor Sam was so nervous the entire time, and this time, there was little I could do to calm her down. The bailiff had walked in and whisked her away before I even got a chance to talk her down. I sat down in a chair, arms crossed over my chest as I stared at the monitor.

I could tell Sam was still nervous, but the minute she sat down on the stand, she morphed into a more stoic version of herself. The serious, nonchalant face she wore when she knew she was in trouble or about to get in trouble. I'd seen it many, many times over the years, but this time, it looked slightly different. This time, she looked like she cared.

The questioning from Mr. Harrison's lawyer had been pretty simple, straight-forward. She simply relayed what was on the witness statement she'd signed. It took no more than five minutes. But the worst was coming. I knew the district attorney was a bit of an ass, but I hadn't realized how much until the bastard got ahold of my wife.

I couldn't see the DA really, from the way the camera was pointed, but I could tell where he was, the way Sam's eyes followed him back and forth as he strolled across the floor. Like the eyes of prey following their predator's sleek movements through the jungle, anticipating the attack.

"So, tell me about Griffin. You two were friends?"

"Acquaintances, actually," Sam said with a frown, and I heard the DA make a simpering noise.

"Says here you were friends."

"Ever heard of synonyms?" Sam shot back, crossing her arms over her chest. "If you're asking if I knew Griffin, I did. Mr. Harrison's attorney established this already."

"Mrs. Benson," I heard the judge say in a sharp tone of voice.

"Sorry," Sam grumbled, and the DA went on.

"How did you know Griffin?"

"He dated my best friend for a little while. Then my best friend's boyfriend's younger sister. Heather."

"Quite incestuous, don't you think?" the DA asked, and Sam bristled up.

"We have a very small circle of friends."

"So, the break up between your best friend and Griffin. Was it bad? Did he dump her?"

"I think it was mutual. She wasn't cool with one of his hobbies."

"According to Griffin's parents, he broke up with her. Is that why you concocted this witness statement? To get back at Griffin for breaking up with your best friend?"

"What?" I shouted at the television, standing up. "That's ridiculous! What the hell!"

"What?" Sam responded. "You're nuts! Carly and Griffin broke up over five years ago! And I am not that invested in my best friend's love life to hold a grudge that long!"

"Okay," I heard the DA say. "So maybe it wasn't revenge. Maybe you just enjoy lying."

"And maybe you enjoy being a dick!" Sam shot back, and her eyes squeezed shut tightly, letting out a groan when she realized what she'd just said.

"Mrs. Benson!" the judge shouted. "One more outburst like that, and I'll have the Bailiff remove you from my court!"

"Sorry," she said weakly. "I'm sorry. But I don't enjoy lying, no."

"Then why do you do it?"

"I don't!" Sam responded. "I'm not a liar!"

"Hmm," the DA replied. "Well, can you tell the court what this is?" I saw a folder get slid across the stand, and Sam picked it up, opening it, and she rolled her eyes.

"It's my juvey record," she replied. "What does that have to..."

"Can you read to me what it says?" the DA asked, and Sam groaned again.

"Fine. Arrest, January 2007, vandalism. Arrest, March 2007, obstruction of justice..."

"Obstruction of justice how?" the DA interrupted. "Did you lie? To a police officer?"

Sam practically growled at the DA. "I was twelve years old. I made some mistakes when I was younger, but..."

"What else?"

"Arrest, June 2009, assault on a foreign dictator." I had to roll my eyes at that. I remembered the Mexican ambassador chili dog incident quite well. They shouldn't be bringing that up. This was bullshit!

"Anything else?" the DA pressed, and I saw Sam's shoulders slump.

"Arrest, January 2010, assault. Arrest, May 2010, assault."

"So you were arrested five times in the span of three years, once for lying to a police officer, and you expect the court and the jury to believe your testimony? What a joke! You make a mockery of this entire court, Samantha."

"Objection!" Sam yelled, looking towards the judge. "He's badgering the witness! And it's SAM. Only my husband can call me Samantha, thank you very much."

"A witness cannot object," the judge responded in clipped tones. "Just answer the questions, Samantha." I saw Sam tense up at the second mention of her full name.

"So, let me get this straight, you led the defendant to Griffin's apartment because Griffin was trying to hurt his son?"

"Yes," Sam replied. "I told you. I got...inside information. Griffin was really going to hurt Brad. And he'd already hurt Heather. I didn't expect him to attack Mr. Harrison. Mr. Harrison, he...he was defending himself. It was...self defense."

"You seem a little unsure there, Samantha," the DA replied, and I saw Sam narrow her eyes on the tiny monitor.

"It was self-defense," she replied in a more firm tone of voice. "I...I would stake my entire reputation on it."

"Your entire juvey record too?" the DA quipped. "No further questions, your honor."

It was taking everything I had to not storm into that courtroom and grab the DA by his neck and throttle him when I saw the look on Sam's face, her eyes downcast, her chin jutting out the way it always did when she was really upset. I didn't even get a chance to make her feel better after it was over and she came back out, I was immediately hauled off to the courtroom myself and put on the stand.

The DA went a lot easier on me, but that was only because I'd pretty much repeated what Sam said, and what the witness reports had said, verbatim. And I had no record, other than my stellar academic record and all the scholastic awards I'd received, for the DA to go after. But he was still a dick. I did my best to hold it together, but it wasn't easy.

The entire time all of it was going on, Carly couldn't even look at me, because she knew I was lying through my teeth. I knew it was something Carly would never expect out of me. It was something I would never expect out of myself. But I had to do it. Too much was at stake. It was almost over.

Brad, on the other hand, different story. He'd been watching me intently the other time. He still hadn't been made aware of what had really happened. Nobody wanted to go into the process of explaining to Brad that his father had just open fired on a twenty year old kid. Protecting his kids or not, he shot an unarmed young man. That was wrong. But nobody wanted to point out to Brad how wrong it was. Not me, not Sam, not even Carly. We kept our mouths shut, because we didn't know how Brad would react.

Plus, Brad was just downright weird when it came to his family. As much shit as they'd put him through, he was still protective of them. Things had been slowly getting better with his dad. I think Brad really wanted to have his cherished "golden boy" status back, that he wanted to be the perfect son again. His father's favorite. He wanted it so bad that he wasn't even recognizing certain things about his dad any more. Like how wrong this had been. He kept making comments about how Griffin deserved what he got, etc. I'd say Griffin deserved a good ass-kicking and some serious jailtime, but I didn't know whether or not the kid deserved to die. It wasn't my call. It was no one's call, except God's.

I couldn't help but sigh with relief when this whole thing was over and Sam and I got to leave. I'd walked back into the holding room where she was, and she was just sitting there, a far-away, forlorn look across her face, staring at the ground.

"Hey," she said softly, not bothering to look up at me. "Guess he went easy on you."

"He'd probably run out of dick-ish things to say. He didn't strike me as terribly clever."

"He was right, you know," she said quietly. "I'm a liar. A bad seed."

I shook my head, walking over to where she was sitting and kneeling in front of her, my hands on her knees. "Sam, you are NOT a bad seed."

"Did you miss the reading of my juvey record?" she said with a bitter laugh, and I looked down and frowned when I felt something wet hit my hand.

"Baby," I said with a sigh, brushing the tears of her face. "Stop it. You've made some mistakes. We all have. That DA wasn't even gunning for you personally, he was putting on a good show, to win the case. You know that."

She nodded. "Bunch of self-serving bastards. Maybe I'm not cut out to be a lawyer."

I just shrugged. "Change the game. Don't play dirty. You don't have to. You're way smarter than either one of those stupid-ass lawyers."

"Am I?" she replied. "I was dumb enough to keep getting into trouble."

"You wanna talk about dumb kids? I wore a Jedi costume to school in junior high and expected no one to make fun of me. That's pretty dumb."

Sam just snorted a little, shaking her head. "It's not the same, Freddie, I..."

"Sam, like I said, you were NOT a bad person. You made some mistakes. You learned from them. You grew up. Into this."

"What is THIS, exactly?" she questioned, finally looking up at me, and I leaned forward, kissing her.

"Amazing. Sweet. Beautiful. Perfect."

"I'm not perfect, Freddie," she said softly. "Far from it."

"You are to me," I replied furtively. "I love you so much, Sam. I wouldn't change anything about you."

"Anything?"

"Maybe your taste in movies, but that's it," I replied with a smirk, and she rolled her eyes. I just laughed, kissing her again, before pulling her to her feet. "Come on. Let's go home. You need to chill out for a few hours."

She nodded, and I took her hand in mine, lacing our fingers together, and we walked down the hallway together. Away from this place. Away from those people.

I was just glad it was finally over.

At least I thought it was, but Sam seemed to be in a funk that I just couldn't bring her out of. The entire day, she'd been sullen and out of sorts. I didn't know what to do with her. She couldn't focus on TV or a movie, she wasn't hungry, and she certainly wasn't in the mood for Sam and Freddie time. It was absolutely driving me crazy. Finally, I grew tired of it, sitting up in our bed and looking over at her. She was just staring at the ceiling, totally silent.

"Sam, snap out of it, please," I said, and she sighed, shaking her head. "You're taking this way too hard."

"Too hard?" she snapped, sitting up. "Freddie! I lied on the stand!"

"So what? So did I!"

"You don't get it!" she shouted. "I lied on the stand! After I swore to myself I'd put all that shit behind me! And I'm going to be doing this for a living, or I was, until..."

"Until what?"

"Until today! Now I'm not so sure! They make money off other people's misery, Freddie! They ripped me apart! And I wasn't even the one on trial! Can you imagine what they do to women in abuse cases? Or worse? They'll do ANYTHING to win the case, anything! Even if it means causing emotional damage to innocent people!"

"Yeah, but we did what we had to do, remember? We signed the witness statements, it out of our hands. And didn't you say you wanted to pay back Brad's father for helping us?"

"But he's GUILTY!" Sam shouted. "You know it, I know it, HE knows it! He is GUILTY, Freddie! He SHOT Griffin! And now Griffin's dead! He is fucking guilty!"

I opened my mouth to reply, but before I could get anything out, I heard a loud bang on the door. I sighed, shaking my head and rolling my eyes. It had to be Carly.

"Hold that thought," I told Sam, getting off the bed and walking over to the door, pulling it open. I was surprised to find not Carly standing there, but Brad, looking pissed.

"What are you guys talking about?" he asked, his arms crossed over his chest. "Heard your conversation."

"You were eavesdropping?" Sam shouted, scrambling to her feet. "What the fuck, Brad?"

"I didn't have to eavesdrop, Sam! You two are so damn loud the entire complex could hear you!"

"So I'm assuming you have something to say?" I asked, stepping in front of Sam. I was a little bit miffed that Brad had not only heard our conversation, but took it upon himself to not only interrupt, but call us out on it!

"Yeah, I do," Brad gruffed. "So my dad's guilty, huh?"

"He shot Griffin. He is on trial for shooting Griffin. Erego, he is guilty," Sam snapped, shoving me out of the way. "Shall I break it down for you further?"

"Unbelievable," Brad said with a shake of his head. "You said it yourself. You both said it. It was self-defense. That doesn't constitute guilt in a court of law. You should have learned that first day of school, Sam." He just glared at her, before turning to walk away. Sam looked over at me, and I shook my head, but she just walked right out of our bedroom.

"Sam..." I warned, reaching for her arm, but she just jerked it out of my arm, following Brad into the living room. I sighed, hanging my head back. God, really? I looked over at Carly, who was sitting at the counter, and she just stared back at me, a woeful expression on her face. I knew exactly what she was thinking, because she was thinking the exact same thing as I was.

This was about to get bad.

~*Carly*~

I sat on the stool, leaning against the counter, preparing myself for the barrage of insults, wounding comments, and general nastiness that was about to erupt out of both Brad and Sam. They didn't argue often, but when they did, it got bad. Freddie and Sam argued all the time, but they were over petty little things. When Sam and Brad got into it, it was usually over something big. And this? This was big.

Brad had overheard Sam and Freddie talking, and at the announcement that Brad's father was guilty, he'd flown off the handle, ignoring my pleas and making a beeline right for Sam and Freddie's door, banging on it. There'd already been some out of line comments exchanged, but I knew it was only going to get worse.

"I lied!" Sam yelled at Brad, and he froze, turning around to look at her.

"What do you mean, you lied?" he asked, and Sam shrugged.

"I lied, on the stand."

"How?" Brad questioned.

"Griffin never attacked your dad. We walked in, he pulled his gun out, fired, and that was it. Griffin was dead. He shot him at close range, right in front of me. Didn't even give Griffin time to react. He just shot him."

Brad's eyes narrowed, and he shook his head slowly.

"I don't believe you," he said finally. "My dad's a cop. He's been trained not to have hairline reactions to things like that."

"Well, the training failed!" Sam shot back. "Because he did it! He shot Griffin! He MURDERED Griffin, Brad! Do you not get that?"

"Don't call my dad a murderer," Brad growled. "He wouldn't do that."

"Brad, dude!" Freddie yelled. "Listen to her! She's telling you what she saw with her own two eyes!"

"So why would you lie then, Sam?" Brad asked. "Assuming you're not lying now."

"I am NOT lying! I was blackmailed into it! Freddie too! They brought up the Bill shit, man! We had to!"

"Speaking of which, you owed my dad," Brad replied. "You're even now."

"Fuck you, Brad," Sam spat. "I tried so hard to put everything behind me. The lies, the bad shit, all of it. And I had to go back on all of that. I had to go back to that girl I hated being. I had to go back to being Sam Puckett!"

"You think a simple name change is gonna change who you are, Sam?" Brad snapped. "You're still a fucking hypocrite!"

"Watch it," Freddie growled, and Brad just blew him off, continuing to rant. Brad was pissed now, and he tended to not think the things he said through before he said them. It usually blew up in his face, and I could tell this was going to be one of those times.

"How am I a fucking hypocrite?" Sam yelled.

"I didn't see you crying a river when we fucked Bill up! When your husband beat the shit out of him!" Brad yelled. "So fucking what if Griffin didn't attack him? So what if it wasn't self defense. He hurt my sister! He deserved what he got!"

"That's not your choice to make!" Sam responded.

"No, my dad made the choice. For Heather. The same way we made the choice for you! You don't know the hell my sister got put through, what she's still going through!"

"Fuck you! How dare you!" Sam screamed. "You don't know the hell I got put through! I'm sorry, but compared to your sister, I got it way worse, asshole!"

"Yeah?" Brad replied, his eyebrows going up. "Then you should be a little more sympathetic! Or have you forgotten what it felt like to have your ribcage crushed, Sam?"

I let out a gasp at what Brad had said, and the look that went across Sam's face. It started out as hurt, but it was quickly replaced with anger, and before anyone could say or do anything, Sam took a step forward. And then then it happened. The day I'd feared for a long time, the day when our happy little group would finally be split up for good.

I don't know if it was what Brad said that caused the final split. Or maybe it was the fact that Sam suddenly spit in Brad's face before slapping him across the face, hard. The sound echoed through the entire apartment, and I let out another gasp. I couldn't believe what was happening.

Of course, the next thing that happened, that was what really did it.

"Stupid bitch!" Brad yelled, taking a step toward her, and in a blur Freddie stepped forward, grabbing Sam's arm and yanking her back, before slamming his right fist right into the side of Brad's head.

"Oh my god!" I shrieked, leaping to my feet, but it was too late. Brad had already recovered, and repaid Freddie back for the hit, and then it was just a blur of fists and shoving, swear words, insults, everything.

"You guys, stop it!" I yelled, rushing over, but not sure what to do. Sam grabbed my arm and pulled me back.

"Carly, stand back!" she warned me. "This is bad!"

"No shit!" I yelled. This wasn't just boxing, or one of their fake wrestling matches. They were really trying to hurt each other. Brad had crossed a line, and Freddie had officially snapped. Nothing would ever be the same now.

"What do we do?" I asked Sam, horrified. "Oh my god, what do we do?"

"Get off of him!" Sam yelled when Brad suddenly knocked Freddie to the ground, coming over him and hitting him hard.

You know, I never expected to see a pregnant woman slug a guy and almost knock him out, but then again, we were talking about Sam here, and she did just that, hitting Brad so hard he fell, and then before either Brad or Freddie had a chance to go after one another again, I reached out and grabbed Brad by the back of the neck, yanking him toward me.

"Calm the hell down!" I yelled, my hands on his chest.

"I'm gonna fucking kill him!" Brad hollered, trying to get past me.

"Brad!" I yelled again. "I said stop it!"

"Fuck you, Brad!" Freddie yelled, Sam standing in front of him doing the same way I was, trying to block her significant other from going after his now ex-best friend. "You can go to hell! We're fucking done! You're dead to me!"

"No, fuck you, Freddie! And your wife!"

"Fuck you!" Sam spat.

"Everyone stop it!" I screamed, glaring at all of them. "You're like a bunch of kids! You two!" I glared at Sam and Freddie. "Just go to your room!"

"For what little bit longer you have it!" Brad yelled, and I smacked his chest hard.

"Shut up, Brad! Go upstairs!"

"But..."

"I said GO! Go clean yourself up."

Freddie shot a look over at Sam, still breathing heavily and riled up with pure rage, and Sam just grabbed his arm and began dragging him to their room.

"We're out in a week," Freddie said, turning around to glare at Brad. "After that, I never want to see your dumb ass face again."

"Feeling's mutual, bitch," Brad hissed.

"Stop it!" I yelled again. "All of you! Just...all of you get out of my face! I can't deal with this! Get upstairs, Brad!"

Sam and Freddie didn't bother to respond, they just went into their room, slamming the door shut, and then I heard the click of the lock. I sighed, looking over at Brad.

"And what do you have to say for yourself?" I asked, and he shrugged.

"They deserve it. Both of them."

"We just destroyed the show, you know that, right?" I asked, and Brad looked at me in shock.

"I hadn't thought of that," he said in a low voice.

"Well maybe you should have," I hissed, and Brad let out a sigh.

"Carly..."

"Just go, Brad. I don't want to talk to you right now. I don't want to talk to any of you right now."

Brad looked at me for a moment, deciding whether or not he should say something, before giving up and heading upstairs. I stood there for a moment, absolutely furious, before I took a page out of Sam's book, grabbing a glass off the coffee table and hurling it at the wall, watching as it shattered into a million pieces.

"DAMMIT!" I screamed, kicking the coffee table.

It was all over now. The show, Brad and Freddie's friendship, maybe even mine and Sam's. How were we going to get through this? What if Sam and Freddie stopped talking to me altogether? And Brad? I was furious with him! What if we didn't survive this either?

Oh god. I'd gotten so used to having Brad, Sam, and Freddie in my life, I didn't know what I was going to do now that the possibility of losing them was real.

I looked over at the broken glass, spread across the floor, for what seemed like hours. I wanted to break something else. I was still angry. I hadn't even done anything, and I felt like I was going to be punished. I felt like things would never be the same.

I felt like I would never be the same.


	45. Chapter 45: Raging Onwards

**A/N: Hey guys, I know it's been FOREVER since I've updated, I've been really sick with bronchitis and this is the first I've felt well enough to update. Things will start picking up speed really soon, promise!**

**Chapter Forty Five:  
>Raging Onwards<strong>

~*Freddie*~

"What about this one?"

"I don't want a brown couch."

"I thought you liked brown," I responded, looking over at Sam, who was staring critically at the sofa I'd pointed out, arms crossed over her chest, eyeing it critically. She simply shrugged at me.

"I do. Because it's the color of your eyes."

"And gravy?" I cracked, and she nodded.

"And meatballs."

"But you don't want a brown couch?" I asked, and she shook her head.

"Nope."

"Why not?"

Sam shrugged again. "I dunno. What about that one?"

"I don't like it."

"I thought you liked blue!"

"I don't like the shape of it," I responded, and Sam let out a sigh.

"Ugh, this is going to take forever," she stated, flopping down onto the rejected brown couch and laying her head back.

I had no idea shopping for furniture could be this painful, but it was. Painfully boring. And Sam and I couldn't agree on anything. We were still both pretty out of sorts, still not over the fight that had taken place two days earlier. I really didn't care if Brad had gotten offended over what Sam had said about his father, what Brad said to her was completely out of line. Reminding her of her ribcage being crushed? What the hell? I was more than content to let Sam slap the hell out of him, even though I wanted to hit him myself, but when he called her a bitch, all bets were off. I'd absolutely wailed on the guy. He'd gotten a few punches in himself, but he wasn't half as angry as I was. I never wanted to talk to, or see the asshole again!

I still wasn't sure what was going to happen with the show. Sam wanted Brad out. I did too, I'd have to be honest. But we were pretty sure Carly wasn't going to have that, and if we couldn't come to some sort of agreement, we'd have to just call the whole thing off, which I didn't want to do. Sam and I had enough money to live off for awhile, but then what? The show was our only source of income! And yet, we were moving forward with this apartment thing, with buying all the stuff for it. God, and all the baby stuff too. I had a feeling if we couldn't make this work, the show I mean, we'd be in over our heads.

The only problem was, how were we supposed to do that? I didn't know if it was possible for Brad and I to be in the same room together without killing each other. Even though we were still stuck in the same apartment, we'd been avoiding each other like the plague. We hadn't spoken since the whole fight took place, and it really hadn't even been brought back up, not even between Sam and I. In a way, we were going back into our old habits; Sam with avoiding talking about how she was feeling about the whole thing, me snapping into action-mode with getting ready for the move. We just acted like it hadn't happened, like Brad and the whole catastrophe with the court case didn't exist. It was odd, this whole thing was really weighing us down, but we weren't fighting, the way we normally did when we were stressed. It was just there, in the air, a heavy feeling.

I sat down next to Sam, my arm going around her, and she laid her head on my shoulder. I kissed her on the side of her head softly, my free hand going to rub over her stomach.

"How are you feeling?" I asked, and she shrugged.

"Tired. But we have to get this done, right?" she asked, and I nodded.

"Right. And once we do, you'll feel better. You don't want to sit on the floor, right?"

"Yeah, I guess," she grumbled. "But...after we get this couch picked out..." she trailed off, toying with her ring, and I poked her in the side softly.

"Yeah?"

"Can we just buy everything else online?" she blurted out, and I couldn't help but laugh, kissing her.

"Sure, baby. I know this is stressful."

"I thought it'd be more fun," she commented, and I shrugged.

"Me too. But...you know, things happened. Turned everything South, you know?"

"Are we ever going to talk about it?" she asked, and I shook my head.

"I'm not in the mood."

"Well, I didn't mean in the middle of the furniture store, but..." she frowned suddenly when her phone beeped at her, looking down at it and groaning.

"What's wrong?" I asked.

"It's Carly," she replied. "She says meeting, one hour."

My eyebrows went up. Meeting? That was very un-Carly to call a meeting, she hated production meetings just as bad as everyone else did. I could only imagine what this "meeting" could pertain to. In light of everything that had happened, it couldn't be good, that was for sure. I just sighed, leaning my head against the couch.

"Then I guess we'd better get a move on," I said finally. "No way we're gonna be able to get this couch picked out inside of an hour, the rate we're going."

"We could just tell her to wait," Sam offered, and I shook my head.

"No way," I responded. "You really wanna risk that right now?"

"No," Sam said with a groan, clearly understanding what I meant by that. Ever since the fight, Carly had gone from not doing confrontations to...something else, like the fight knocked something loose in her, the same way it did the rest of us. She was probably just tired of being caught in the middle of our drama, and I got that, but...let's face it, Carly was a little scary right now. Even Sam didn't want to challenge her, and Sam had been pretty comfortable as house...dictator, for lack of a better word, for awhile now. All that had come to end of course. The apartment was divided right down the middle now, and poor Carly was caught in the middle of it. I guess I understood why she was calling this little meeting. Still, I hoped Brad could keep his mouth shut, for his own sake.

I stood up, grabbing Sam's hand and pulling her to her feet, and with that, we began making our way out of the furniture store. On the drive back, I couldn't help but wonder what this meeting was over. Was Carly just going to call off the entire show? Tell us to get the hell out? Tell us we were all being ridiculous and to get over it? There was no telling.

Sam was being quiet, staring out the window, arms crossed over her chest. I reached across the car, grabbing one of her hands and lifting it to my mouth, planting a kiss on the top of it.

"Sorry," I said.

"What are you sorry about?" she asked, turning to look at me.

I shrugged. "I dunno. I'm just sorry things are the way they are."

Sam shrugged too, looking back out the window again. "Maybe one day I'll learn to keep my mouth shut."

"Nah, baby," I replied. "This isn't your fault. You were just saying what you felt, and Brad should've known better than to eavesdrop and start shit like that. He had to have known it wouldn't have gone well."

"Still," she replied. "I still feel like it's kind of my fault, you know? You two never would have fought if I hadn't..."

"Oh come on, Brad and I fight," I interrupted. "Admit it, we fight a lot."

"True," Sam agreed. A wry smile went across her face, and she glanced over at me. "It was pretty cool watching you kick his ass like that."

"Whatever," I said with a laugh and a shake of my head.

"I'm serious!" she replied, poking me. "I haven't watched you kick anyone's ass since high school! It was awesome! If I hadn't been so upset I totally would have jumped your bones."

"Really?" I asked, shooting a look over at her before forcing myself to keep my eyes on the road.

"Oh yeah," she replied, and I felt her hand on my thigh suddenly, squeezing a little. "You know violence makes me horny."

I couldn't help but laugh at Sam's bluntness. All the drama the last few days had certainly caused a drop in our libidos, but it was good to know she was lightening up a bit. Still, I couldn't help but wonder what was up with Carly...

~*Carly*~

"Alright, everyone sit down and shut up!" I yelled at Brad, Freddie, and Sam, who were standing around glaring at each other.

Sam gave me a strange look. "Uh, Carls, nobody said anything..."

"That was a preemptive shut up!" I responded, annoyed. "Now sit down!" Everyone scrambled for seats at the kitchen table, slightly startled by the fact that I was yelling. Everyone else in the house was always yelling, but it wasn't very common with me. Oh well, it was too bad they weren't used to it, but they were going to get used to it, and fast! I was pissed off, fired up, and tired of everyone acting like little kids! I spied Sam and Freddie giving each other looks, and I rolled my eyes. "And you two can knock off that little telepathy thing you guys do too!"

Freddie looked at me in surprise. "Geez, Carly, we didn't even..."

"What part of shut up did you not get, Freddie?" I snapped, slamming my fist on the table. Nobody responded; good, that meant I had their attention. As Brad, Sam, and Freddie sat around the table, staring down at it, I began to pace back and forth.

"I don't care what happened," I began, still pacing. "I don't care who's right and who's wrong, I don't care who's feelings got hurt, and I REALLY don't care that the two of you have matching black eyes," I said to Brad and Freddie, who just scowled. "What I do care about is two things. Number one, my peace and quiet, my happy little universe, has just been turned on its head! You know, I tried. I really did. But even though I tried, I have had a bad year! A REALLY bad year! I've had to deal with you..." I pointed at Brad. "Trying to stay on the wagon, you two..." A gesture towards Sam and Freddie. "...procreating and all the epic drama that followed that! Evil teachers, a psychotic stalker, and now THIS? Forget it! I don't care if you guys all hate each other, I'm sick of this! You wanna stop being friends, throw all that away, fine, but do NOT fight in my presence, do NOT bring me down, and the next person that trashes the apartment over a fight, I'M kicking your ass!"

I whirled around, glaring at Sam. "I saw that!" I shouted, referring to the smirk that crossed her face at the mention of me kicking someone's ass. "And don't push me!"

Sam's eyes skidded over to Freddie in surprise, and he just shrugged, before clearing his throat awkwardly. "So...what's the other?"

"Excuse me?"

"The other thing? That you care about? You said there were two."

"The show, fudgeface!" I shot back. "I care about the show! It's been a constant part of my life for seven years! You think I'm willing to let all that go because you three can't play nice? Forget it, Freddie! And think about it, you have a baby on the way, and the show is your ONLY source of income! Are you willing to throw all that away? Are you?"

"Well, no..." Sam said. "But, I mean..." she glanced over at Brad and then back over at Freddie with a shrug.

"I don't care! This is a business! It's our jobs! People work with people they can't stand all the time, and they just have to suck it up and deal! And that's what you three are going to do! You are going to suck it up and DEAL. Got it?"

Three faces stared at me blankly, and I just huffed, slamming my fist on the table again.

"I said GOT IT?" I said louder, leaning over the table to make my point, inches away from Sam and Freddie, who just leaned back in their chairs, looking a little afraid. They looked over at one another wordlessly for a long moment, and I knew they were back to doing their little "silent communication" that just drove me nuts. I used to be in on that stuff too, until those two got married, and then buh-bye, Carly! Of course, Brad and I had that too, it just wasn't as well honed as it was with Sam and Freddie. Yet another reason I was glad I had Brad around, even though he was getting on my nerves at the moment.

Freddie finally spoke, looking across the table at Brad. "I can try to be civil."

Brad just raised his eyebrows, giving Freddie a challenging look, and I reached over and poked him hard in the side.

"Ow!" he exclaimed. "What'd I say about poking me?"

"What'd I say about being an ass?" I shot back.

"Fine!" Brad shouted. "I'll try to be civil, okay?"

"Civil means CIVIL, Brad," I said. "It means respectful! There will be no flinging heavy objects at each other's heads, no smart ass comments or faces when the other one has their back turned, none of it!"

"Fine, I'll do it!" Brad replied. "If Benson can do the same."

"Please," Freddie snorted with a roll of his eyes, and I let out an annoyed growl.

"I mean it! Both of you! Starting right now, you two are co-workers, got it? If there's awkwardness on set, viewers WILL pick up on it, advertisers too, and the show will suffer! Do you guys honestly want that?"

"Of course not, Carly," Sam said. "I'm just...wondering if it's possible, to get along. Some bad shit went down..."

"Believe me, I know," I replied with a roll of my eyes. "I was there, remember? Now, we have a show in two days, and no script. Tonight, brainstorming session, eight o'clock, no excuses, got it?"

"We got it!" Freddie said hastily. "Geez, Carly! Calm down!"

"Do not tell me to calm down!" I replied, annoyed. "I am BEYOND calming down. Just do your job! All of you!"

"Alright!" Sam responded. It was quiet for a few moments, the air heavy with an overwhelming awkwardness, and Sam spoke again. "So, is that all? Are we done now?"

"Thanks for glossing over it and making it seem like nothing, but yes, we are done now. What, am I cutting into your busy boning schedule?"

"More like furniture shopping schedule," Freddie gruffed, standing up. "Come on, baby. Time to go."

"But I like Carly's idea better," Sam whined, slowly rising to her feet, and I watched a smirk go across Freddie's face.

"Ah, baby, there'll be plenty of time for that later. We gotta get this done. If we don't, come Saturday, we'll have nothing to sit on."

"True," Sam grunted, before looking back over at me. "We'll be back in a few hours."

I nodded, thinking for a second. "So...Saturday, huh?"

"Yep," Freddie replied. "Signing the lease tomorrow."

"Do you know which apartment yet?" I asked, and they both shook their heads.

"Nope. You know the staff at Bushwell," Sam replied with a shrug.

"Are you gonna need help, moving?" I asked, and Freddie kind of glared over at Brad, before shaking his head.

"No, I mean..."

"I didn't mean Brad," I replied.

"Obviously," Brad grunted, and I poked him again. "Ow!"

"No, I meant Spencer. I'm sure he'd be willing to help out. It's not like he ever has anything to do."

"He has a good life," Sam grumbled, before glaring at Freddie. "How come you couldn't have had a trust fund?"

"Uh, sorry?" Freddie asked, slightly perplexed, and Sam just gave him a grin.

"It's okay. I still love you."

"Good to know," Freddie said with a laugh. With that, he took her hand in his, and the two began walking towards the front door. "Later," Freddie called over his shoulder, and the door shut, leaving me alone with Brad. I sat down next to him, leaning back in my seat, head hanging back.

"That went better than I expected," I said softly, staring at the ceiling.

"Except for you poking me," Brad grumbled. "But I don't think anybody expected Carly Shay to start yelling and throwing her weight around like that."

I just shrugged, lifting my head to look at him. "I didn't know what else to do. You guys are out of control, you know that, right?"

"I know," he responded, and my eyebrows lifted in surprise.

"Really?" I asked, and he nodded.

"I overreacted. And what I said to Sam was totally out of line. Probably shouldn't have decked Benson in the mouth like that either, even though he did get first shot. But, yeah, I feel bad, but..."

"But?"

"But I'm still pissed," Brad replied. "Really, really pissed."

"Why?" I asked, leaning forward, my elbows resting on the table. "You know Sam was telling the truth about lying on the stand, right?"

"How do you know?"

I sighed, looking down at my nails awkwardly. "The night it happened, after you were in the hospital...your mom and the kids came by to see you, and we left, do you remember that?"

"Vaguely," Brad said with a shrug. "Head injury, remember?"

"What's your excuse the rest of the time?" I cracked. Without waiting for a response, I continued. "Anyway, Sam and Freddie were walking ahead of me, talking in hushed tones so I couldn't hear them, and then they suddenly started arguing. Loudly. Like they used to. But they weren't mad at each other. It...it was more than mad. It was like something had them spooked, freaked out. Both of them. And it's not like BOTH of them to be scared liked that, you know?"

Brad nodded; he knew what I meant. Sam and Freddie did a really good job of making up for each other's shortcomings. Where one faltered, the other one would be standing there waiting to pick them up. Anyone who knew them could see it. Despite the fact that they were WAY too attached to each other, that part of their relationship was really sweet.

"Anyway, so I'm just standing there, trying to make sense of what was going on, and all of a sudden, Freddie has another one of his panic attacks. It wasn't a very serious one, but it was there, it happened. And then that's when it all came out."

"When what came out?" Brad pressed.

"Your dad's cop buddies blackmailed them. They threatened to re-open the assault case on Bill, get Freddie thrown in jail, make Sam's juvey record public knowledge again, the whole she-bang. And then I found out a few days later that one of the cops...Detective O-something..."

"O'Malley," Brad grunted. "That guy's such an ass."

"You have no idea," I said with a roll of my eyes. "He...he showed Sam the case file from her attack. The photos."

Brad eyes widened, and he stared at the table, shaking his head. "You're kidding me," he said in a low voice. "God, no wonder..." he stopped suddenly, biting his lip, and then looked up at me. "Carly, my dad's a dick, I know, but...that's too far, even for him. You know he would never have agreed to any of that, right?"

"I know," I said softly. "It's unthinkable."

"I'm gonna make sure he knows."

"So, yeah, that's what had them so fired up. And on edge. And then...when you said what you said to Sam, it just put the nail in the coffin, you know?"

"Dammit," Brad moaned, laying his head on the table. "I really have a way with words, you know that?"

"Oh, trust me, I know," I responded with a roll of my eyes. "So...now that you know that, are you still mad?"

"Well...yeah," Brad replied, and I stared at him in shock. "I mean, I feel like a dick for what I said to her, but that doesn't make what she said okay, or what Freddie did, Carly! My dad did to Griffin what Freddie did to Bill. They're being hypocrites."

"Or maybe they're just beyond the whole...revenge thing, at this point?"

"I seriously doubt that," Brad replied with a shake of his head.

"What makes you say that," I asked, and Brad looked at me pointedly.

"Did you see the way Benson tackled me like a football player? He's so not past revenge. Nobody is!"

"You called his wife a stupid bitch!" I shot back, and Brad shrugged.

"And Sam definitely could've taken me. She almost knocked my ass out anyway, trying to get me off Freddie. She bruised my face worse than he did!"

"Brad, come on!" I responded, exasperated. "You know you were wrong!"

"And they were wrong too!"

"Well somebody's gotta be the bigger person!" I replied, and Brad shook his head.

"Carly, we're past the point of fixing things. You know that, I know that, they know that. I said shit out of line I can never taken back, Sam said stuff she can never take back, and Freddie did stuff he can never take back. What's done is done."

"You guys have had worse fights before," I pointed out. "It can be fixed!"

"No, it can't," he responded grimly. "Even if I wanted to...and I'm honestly like...half and half at this point, there's no way in hell Sam would forgive me for saying what I did, and no way Freddie would forgive me for calling Sam a bitch."

"It's at least worth a shot!"

Brad shook his head again. "Carly, it can't be fixed. Especially not right now, okay? Look, you got what you wanted, we're going to be civil. It's the best we can do at the moment, alright?"

"But it's not what I want," I replied, my voice trembling a little bit. "I want things to be the way they used to be!"

"You've gotta get over that, babe," Brad replied, taking my hand in his. "Things change. You can't stop that. All you can do is move forward, okay? Things are going to work out how they're meant to. Maybe things will be different one day, maybe not. Just worry about now, alright?"

"How can you say that?" I whispered. "He was your best friend."

"THEY were my best friends," Brad corrected. "But like I said, things change. I'm just glad I still have you. And I'm glad things have...improved with my family." He said the last part with a grim expression on his face, and I squeezed his hand encouragingly.

"How ARE things with your family?" I asked, and Brad let out a sigh.

"Heather's going downhill fast. She's back to going out, back to dressing the way she did before, but...she still looks rough. Tired. And no spark. She's not the same Heather. I'm worried she never will be."

"And your parents?"

Brad just groaned, laying his head on the table. "I don't know. Mom's...about as far along as Sam in her pregnancy, but Bryson says they fight a lot, more than before, and Dad's been sleeping on the couch a lot. I'm thinking...maybe divorce is a real possibility for them now."

"Well, what's your take on that?"

"Honestly?" Brad responded, and I nodded. "I think it might be the best thing. Incoming baby or not. My mom deserves to be happy, for a change. I'm not sure he ever made her happy."

"I guess everyone deserves to be happy," I said softly, and Brad lifted his head to look at me.

"All drama aside, do I still make you happy?" he asked, and I nodded, leaning forward to kiss him.

"Of course. I love you."

"You'd tell me if you weren't happy?" he pressed, and I nodded again.

"There was a point where I wasn't all that happy, but...I'm starting to think it was more of a making myself happy thing, you know? I mean, there were things you did, stepped your game up, that improved where we're at, but a lot of it was just me. I love making music. Before, I didn't have any interests other than shopping at the show. And that's not good. I like having this outlet."

Brad nodded, thinking, before his eyes drifted back to me. "Have you thought of doing anything with it?"

"I'm playing at the Beanery twice a week now!"

"Besides the Beanery, babydoll," Brad said pointedly. "I mean like...professionally."

I stared at him, blinking profusely. "I...hadn't really thought about it."

Brad sighed, drumming his fingers on the table. "Carly, you know my screenplay's almost done, right?"

"Uh-huh," I replied, not sure where he was going with this.

"And when I'm finished with it, I'm submitting it to an agent."

"Okay..." I replied. "So what does that have to do with my music?"

"People pursuing a career in the film industry don't live in Seattle. They live in LA."

I looked at him in shock, finally realizing what he was getting at. "Wait, what?"

"And so do people who pursue music."

"So...you're thinking about moving away?" I shrieked, and he shook his head profusely, stroking my hand, trying to calm me down.

"Babe, relax, okay?" he replied. "Look, I'm not going anywhere without you. I'm just saying. You're talented. You enjoy it. You already have a bit of notoriety behind you with the show. Maybe you should consider it."

"But...Los Angeles?" I replied. "Really?"

"Again, I'm not going anywhere without you. I love you. Just...think about it, okay?" he asked. "I mean, this is not something to make a decision about immediately. Not even within the next six months. Just keep it in the back of your mind, alright?" When I nodded, he gave me a sweet smile, leaning forward to kiss me on the forehead. "I love you. Do you wanna go out? Get our minds off all this stuff?" I nodded again, and he stood up, bending down to kiss me. "I'm gonna go get a shower then, I'll be right back. Love you, beautiful." With that, he headed to the stairs, leaving me sitting alone and slightly surprised.

Los Angeles? Music? Leaving Seattle? I'd NEVER thought about leaving Seattle before, and I always assumed I'd be going into Broadcasting, but Brad had a point. I did have a pretty serious passion for music, and a better chance than most at actually making it, but...did I really want to pursue a CAREER in MUSIC? And move, far away? From Spencer? And Sam and Freddie?

Of course, on the other hand, Sam and Freddie had their own lives. They had a child on the way. We were moving in different directions. Sam and Freddie's lives were virtually established, already down their chosen path, but my path was beginning to fork off into all sorts of different directions.

Brad was right; it was definitely something to think about.

~*Sam*~

"So...I guess this is all of it..." I said as I looked around the now empty bedroom where mine and Freddie's stuff used to be. It was so weird, seeing it vacant like this. We'd spent the last two years of our life living in this place, going through college, running iCarly as a full-time business, all of that. Being Carly's roommates.

That was the hardest part for me. I knew we had to do it, and with the way things had turned out with Brad, it was probably for the best, but I loved living with Carly. She'd been my best friend since I was nine. We were so close; I was closer to her than I was to my own sister. In some ways, I was closer to Carly than I was to Freddie.

I stood there, my arms wrapped around myself tightly, lost in thought, when I felt Freddie behind me, kissing me on the side of my head. I leaned against him, and his arms went around me, one hand rubbing my stomach.

"We'll be right downstairs," he reminded me, obviously getting what was going on inside my head at the moment. No surprise there, when did he not know what I was thinking? I looked up at him, letting out a sigh.

"I know," I replied softly. "But it's not gonna be the same. I'm going to miss living with her."

"We need it, baby," he replied, kissing me. "We're always right on top of each other...and Brad and I are going to end up killing each other if we stay like this."

I frowned at the mention of Brad. I was still so incredibly angry with him. We'd made it through the show without any hassle, as well as the last few days, but I'd been holding back, biting my tongue. I got that he was upset with me for what I'd said, but what he had said? Forget it, it was a lot worse. I was absolutely shocked that he'd had the nerve to bring up what had happened. I guess, in a way, I was glad to be leaving. But there was still Carly. I bit my lip, letting out a shaky sigh, and I heard Freddie groan.

"Don't you dare start crying again," he warned me, and I shrugged.

"I can't help it!" I responded. "Carly..."

"Baby, Carly's not going anywhere!"

"But we are!" I shot back, turning around to look at him. "We're leaving the loft. We're leaving the last two years behind..."

"To have our own place, like a normal married couple," he replied. "Start a family. Remember, our baby? Baby needs space. Baby needs a nursery. And we need our own place! You knew this day was coming, Sam."

"I know, I've just been putting it off, I guess..." I said weakly, and he just gave me a smile, kissing me softly.

"You know Carly's gonna be banging down the door several times a day," he replied. "Come on, this doesn't change anything between you two. You're still best friends."

"I know, but..."

"And I do think you're forgetting something else," he said with a grin, and I just rolled my eyes, smirking a little, knowing exactly what he was getting at.

"Oh?"

"Yeah, anytime, anywhere...all over the apartment. Without getting interrupted, or anybody yelling at us about it. And as soon as we get in that apartment, and we're alone..." His hands went to my hips, pulling me against him, and he kissed my neck, dragging his tongue over my skin. "All. Day. Long."

I gave him a sexy smile, my arms going around his neck, sighing a little as his lips continued their path across my neck, making a slow ascent upwards toward my jaw. "All night too?"

"Mmmhmm," he growled against my chin, before attacking my mouth with his. "Until you beg me to stop."

"I can't wait," I said, moaning a little as I felt him grind against me, feeling how eager he was to christen our new apartment already. I frowned suddenly, pulling away, and he sighed at the look on my face.

"What?"

"I can't believe the only apartment available was on the fifth floor. We're only going to be three doors down from the Harrisons!"

"I know," he said with a groan. "But we had to take what we could get, remember?"

"Yeah," I grumbled. "Just sucks."

"Yeah..."

"You guys DONE in here or what?" Spencer asked as he pushed the door open, tapping his watch. "I've gotta get back to April and Maggie."

"Chill, dude," Freddie said flatly, before looking around. "Yep, that's it. That's the last of it."

Spencer nodded, looking around the empty room. "I don't think I've EVER seen this room so clean before..." he trailed off, his eyes narrowing. "What happened to the wall?"

"Uhhh..." I looked to where he was pointing, before looking at the ground, turning a little red.

"It's from the headboard," Freddie responded. "Two years worth of..."

"Yeah, yeah, I get it," Spencer responded. "Ewww..."

"Oh, whatever, I bet your wall has some pretty decent dents in it," Freddie pointed out, and Spencer shrugged, giving him a grin.

"You're right. Lots of dents."

"Alright, can we get a move on?" I snapped, suddenly irritated. I wanted this to be over with so I could stop agonizing over it!

"Sure," Freddie responded, not in the mood to put up with my agitation. "Just these boxes." He bent down to pick one up, Spencer grabbing the other one. "Ready?"

"I guess so," I replied softly, before following the boys out of our now former bedroom, into the living room. Carly was sitting on the couch, looking forlorn, but Brad was nowhere in sight. I guess it was for the best, didn't need that jerkface mucking up my goodbye.

"Carls..." I said, and Carly jumped a little, broken out of her thoughts, before standing to her feet.

"Hey," she said softly, looking down. "So I guess you guys are done?"

"Yeah," I responded. "I..." I trailed off, biting my lip.

"Sam?" Carly asked, and I could hear her voice quiver, before she looked up at me.

"Yeah?"

"I..."

Neither one of us could speak, we just suddenly grabbed onto each other, both of us bursting into tears instantly.

"I'm going to miss you so much!" Carly cried.

"I loved living with you!"

"You're my best friend!"

"You're more than my best friend!"

"Oh, come on, you two!" Freddie yelled, slightly miffed. "We'll be DOWNSTAIRS!"

"SHUT UP!" Carly and I both yelled at him, and he made a face, shaking his head.

"Dude, you just don't get girls," Spencer pointed out, and Freddie just grumbled to himself.

"Obviously not," he muttered.

Well, technically, Freddie was pretty good at getting girls, after having two female best friends and a single mom raising him, but he definitely didn't get the way female friendships worked, and right now Carly and I were having trouble with ours. Carly was a pretty emotional person anyway, and I was just weepy from being pregnant, but right now we just couldn't stop crying, clinging to one another like we were moving to separate planets. Freddie was right, we WERE being ridiculous, but we just couldn't help it! I went back to ignoring the boys, focusing on Carly, continuing to cry.

"Even with everything that happened, I loved living here, with you. You know that, right?" I asked her, and she nodded, sniffling a little.

"You're the best, Sam! I'm gonna miss you, more than anything!"

"You can come by any time!"

"Ahem," Freddie said. "Almost any time."

"FREDDIE!"

"Geez, sorry." Freddie sat the box down, walking over to us. "I'm sorry. Carly, I had fun too. It was great living with you. You're an awesome roommate."

"Thanks," Carly said, wiping her face. "I hope the next person thinks so too."

"When are you going to start looking?" I asked, and Carly shrugged.

"We set up some interviews for next week," she replied wistfully. "But we won't be able to find another Sam. Or another Freddie." Her shoulders slumped pitifully, before she looked up at Freddie and hugged him tightly. "FREDDIE! Who's going to fix my computer now? Or re-program my DVR?"

"I'll still do all of those things!" he laughed, patting her back. "Come on, Carly! This doesn't change anything!"

"I know," she sobbed. "I know, I just..."

"Carly," I sighed. "Come on, you gotta be strong, you gotta..." I trailed off, before I started to cry again. "CARLY!"

"SAM!"

We hugged each other tightly again, and Freddie just groaned, knowing it was starting all over again. He let us continue fawning over each other for a few more minutes, before gently pulling me away from my best friend. "Come on, sweetheart. It's time."

I just nodded, wiping my eyes, before digging into my pocket and pulling out mine and Freddie's two keys and placing them in Carly's hand. "Here."

"God, why is this so hard?" Carly whispered, shaking her head. "I know you'll just be downstairs, but I hate this."

"Me too."

"I wish you didn't have to leave."

"I know," I said softly.

"Well," Carly said sadly. "I guess you'd better go, start moving into your new place."

"I guess so," I replied, looking down at the ground. "I guess I'll see you later?"

"Yeah, definitely. Call me in a few hours."

"I will," I responded with a fervent nod. "We can get smoothies."

"Yeah, it'll be fun."

"Alright, sounds good," I replied with a forced smile. "Well...bye."

"Bye."

I started walking to the door, following Spencer and Freddie, Carly close behind me. I stood in the doorframe, turning to wave, before I started to cry all over again, throwing my arms around Carly.

"CARLY!"

"SAM!"

"OH COME ON!" Freddie yelled.


	46. Chapter 46: Smile Lines

**A/N: So sorry for lack of updates, I've been working on putting the final touches on my book. Yes, that's right, my book. It's finished and has been released, for sale, in ebook format! Just to get the word out there, one of my distributors offers coupons, so for all my loyal ff readers, you guys will get a free copy of the book if you want it! All I ask is that you spread the word in return, and maybe review it on the website. I'm not sure about the rules on ff for promoting outside interests, so if you want more information about the book and the coupon for free copy, just look to my twitter! **

**Chapter Forty Six  
>Smile Lines<strong>

~*Brad*~

I couldn't get over how quiet it was in the apartment lately. Without Freddie and Sam constantly filling the space with their various noises...laughing, occasional sounds of passion and even the sound of their constant spats, the massive loft seemed even more spacious. It was difficult to get used to, but I supposed it would lessen after we'd found a roommate to fill the space. But something about it just seemed wrong. Despite how angry I was at the two of them, it was their room, and no matter who took it, it wouldn't be theirs. In my mind, it would always belong to Sam and Freddie.

I felt guilty every single day about the fight, what I'd said, what I'd done. I felt bad for getting into the physical altercation with Freddie, but what bothered me most was what I'd said to Sam. The second those words had come out of my mouth, I'd regretted it, but her slapping me lit a fire under me I was powerless to control. I definitely deserved it, but it didn't change the fact that my reaction had been instantaneous, instinctual. Still, I regretted it. The look on her face, the damage it had caused.

"Have you forgotten what it felt like to have your ribcage crushed?" I'd taunted, not knowing where the words had come from. Somewhere deep inside me, where the anger lived. I held a lot of anger in, I had my entire life. I was a pro at hiding it, better than Sam had ever been, but sometimes, I couldn't keep it buried. Sometimes, it would just come pouring out of me.

For all my joking and supposedly "never taking anything seriously", it was all a cover-up, a carefully concocted scheme created just so no one would know how angry I was. But I was. I was angry at how my life had turned out. I was angry at how screwed up my family was. I was angry that nobody ever seemed to know how to react to anything other than with violence. I'd told myself over and over, my entire life, that I wasn't a violent person, but I was. It was in my family tree, in my DNA, coursing through my veins. Despite my vehement protests, I enjoyed hitting other guys, even if it was just for sport in the gym, I'd offered up to protests to Freddie's plan to handle the Bill situation, all those years ago, and part of me had cheered when I'd found out how my dad had dealt with Griffin.

I was just like my dad. That was the worst part of all of it. I'd tried to force it out of me, deny it, but it was there, clear as day. I wasn't just like my dad, I WAS my father. A younger, skinnier, artsier version of him. And that was a terrifying thought. How long before I turned into a cold bastard like him? How long before I began treating Carly the way my dad treated my mom? Just thinking about it made me want to throw up.

And then, there was Sam and Freddie. A big part of me was still angry, when I sat around and thought about how hypocritical they'd behaved, but then there was that other part of me, looming large with guilt. Oh, we were civil. During rehearsals, production meetings, and the actual webcasts, we were civil. But for us, civil meant barely speaking, only when absolutely necessary, virtually no eye contact.

Honestly, part of me just wanted to blurt out "I'm sorry, please don't hate me any more!" every time I laid eyes on either one of them. But I didn't. Maybe it was my stupid pride still holding out, or maybe it was the fact that I was half-afraid Freddie...or even Sam would just deck me, and the whole thing would start over again. Not only that, I didn't know what TO say! How do you apologize to a girl for glossing over a very bad part of her life and basically mocking it, and how do you apologize to your former best friend for calling his wife a bitch and nearly breaking his cheekbone?

No, it was a done deal. Things had changed, and they would never be the same. Even things with Carly weren't the same. We were trying, but...she was so sullen and morose these days, sitting up in the studio for hours strumming away melancholy tunes on her guitar, or either downstairs holed up in Freddie and Sam's apartment. It seemed like the bigger Sam's belly got, the more Carly wanted to stick by her, popping into their place six or seven times a day at some points. Carly's anxiety about Sam's impending labor was growing, and it was beginning to get out of control. Of course, it was probably only going to get worse. Finals were soon, and then Freddie would be starting his internship and would be working all day, leaving Sam alone for long periods of time. Yep, things were bad, and I could tell they were only going to get worse.

But I couldn't think about that right now. There wasn't time. I had to focus on the impending roommate interviews, which were starting up today. There'd been an endless assortment of emails, phone calls, texts...all from people inquiring about the room. We hadn't let it slip that we were offering a room in the same place a famous webshow was filmed, partially because we weren't sure if it would put people off, but mostly because we didn't want crazed Seddie or Barly or whatever fans banging down our door begging to live with us. We wanted this whole thing to be low-key, and to find as normal a roommate as possible.

I finished showering and got out, toweling off and shaking out my hair, before getting dressed and heading downstairs, still mopping at my freshly washed hair with a towel. Carly was already downstairs, laid back on the couch as she read over one of her textbooks. Already cramming for finals. The panic was sure to ensue any day now. I leaned down, planting a kiss on her forehead, and she looked up and gave me a smile.

"Well, you definitely smell better now," she teased, sitting up. I made a face as I sat down next to her, and she gave a little laugh, leaning forward to kiss me. "I love when you first get out of the shower and you smell all Irish Spring-y."

"Oh really?" I said in a rumbly voice, my attempt at a 'sexy voice', smirking a little as I put an arm around her, pulling her closer. "So a two dollar bar of soap is an aphrodisiac now?"

"Something like that," she said with a wink, before looking down at her watch. "It's gonna have to wait though..." she started, and I let out a groan. Carly just gave me an agitated look, shaking her head. "We have interviews, remember?"

I groaned, laying back, my head in her lap. "Remind me why we're doing this again."

"Ahh!" she squealed, her hands going to my shoulders and forcing me to sit up. "You're getting me all wet..." she trailed off, giving me a withering stare. "And don't you dare say anything!"

"Wasn't going to. Too easy," I replied with a shrug, and she rolled her eyes.

"And we're doing this because we need to save the money...and because..."

"I chased off our two best friends," I grumbled, crossing my arms over my chest. "I know. I suck."

Carly just gave me a sympathetic look, squeezing my shoulder. "I know you feel bad about it."

"Yep."

"You know, you could apologize."

I just shook my head. "I doubt it would make a difference at this point."

"Just try! Why do you guys have to be so stubborn?"

"I dunno, we just are..."

Carly let out another sigh, looking over at me. "You know they would have had to move out eventually anyway. It's not...completely your fault."

"Gee, thanks," I grunted. "But I still feel shitty."

"Brad, I'm telling you, just apolo-" she was cut off by a loud knock at our door, and she stood up, taking a deep breath. "That's gotta be the first applicant. We'll finish this conversation later. Be nice, Brad!"

"I'll try, but no promises."

"Oh, come on!" she said as she walked towards the door. "Just be that charming guy I know is in there somewhere." She pulled the door open, and took a step back, before turning around to look at me, a confused look on her face. "Uh, it's Bryson."

"Oh, hey Bry!" I greeted my little brother with a wave, standing up. "Uh, look little dude, it's not really a good time right now, we're about to do interviews for a new roommate, and..."

"Well, that's why I'm here," Bryson interrupted me, leaning against the doorway.

"Come again?" Carly asked, her brow furrowed, and Bryson merely shrugged.

"I know you guys are looking for a new roommate, and I'm sick of mom and dad! All they do is fight, worse than before! They're either fighting, or going to those dumb parties, like every single night, and lemme tell ya, Heather? She's really bad, Brad. It sucks being left alone with her."

"I know Heather's doing bad," I said softly. It was true. If anything, she was continuing to go downhill. She was back to being the problem child, but her behavior before her ordeal was saint-like compared to her behavior now. I really hoped she wasn't on drugs or anything like that, but knowing everything that happened, there was no telling. And the idea of my parents still having problems, but continuing to go out and leave Bryson and Leah alone with Heather, knowing how she was? It was inconceivable. And what was my mom doing, going to those parties, while she was PREGNANT? What the hell was wrong with my parents? What the hell was wrong with my family? And by that rationale, what was wrong with ME?

Bryson just sighed, pushing past Carly and walking into the apartment, flopping down on the couch. "So can I move in with you?"

Ugh, that was absolutely heartbreaking. Despite the fact that my dad and I were getting along better, there was no way he'd let that happen! Besides, keeping track of a nine year old with everything already going on? Forget it. It couldn't happen, and I doubted Bryson would be better off here anyway. I just shook my head slowly.

"I'm sorry, Bryson. But you know that can't happen."

"I could pay you," Bryson offered weakly, and I just shook my head again, giving him a pat on top of his.

"That's really cool, man, but you couldn't afford it."

"What makes you say that?" Bryson shot back. "I've been saving my allowance! How much is it?"

"Fifteen hundred a month," I said flatly, and Bryson's eyes widened as he nearly leapt off the couch.

"Fifteen hundred a MONTH? Like one thousand five hundred? That's ridiculous! Are you crazy!"

"No, but the real estate here in Seattle is," Carly said with a sigh, perching on the arm of the coffee table. "Bryson, I know things are bad right now, but...we couldn't have you here. For one thing, we'd have to get permission from the state, and you know your dad wouldn't let that happen."

"A kid in my class got taken away from his parents," Bryson commented softly, staring at the ground. "I wouldn't be surprised if that happens to us."

As I stared up at Carly, she didn't speak, but I could tell she knew what I was thinking, and she was probably thinking the same thing. As much as I would hate it, and I'd probably rarely get to see them, if ever, Leah, Bryson, and Heather getting taken away from my screwed up parents probably wouldn't be the worst thing in the world. If anything, it would probably end up giving them an actual chance.

~*Sam*~

"Do you think my skin's going to explode?" I asked out of nowhere, and Freddie suddenly looked up from his computer, staring at me like I'd lost my mind.

"What?" he responded, looking confused. "What on earth are you talking about?"

"This!" I replied, leaning back against our new sofa, pointing to my stomach, which was getting bigger by the day, possibly even the second. "I'm huge!"

"Oh come on, Sam. You're not that big, and you're going to get bigger, so why don't you..." he stopped short, his eyes squeezing shut in a grimace at the sudden squeal of protest I'd made. "That probably wasn't the best thing to say to a pregnant woman, was it?"

"Gee, you think?" I snapped, and Freddie just sighed, getting up from the table and walking over to the couch, sitting down next to me. He leaned over to kiss me, but I just turned my head, letting out a grumble as I pouted to myself, arms crossed over my chest.

"Sweetheart, I'm sorry," he said, going in again for another kiss, which this time I gave into. Despite my overwhelming bad mood, Freddie's mouth has a way of doing things to me to ensure that my bad moods don't stick around for long, and as much as I tried to hold onto it, it soon melted away, and I let out a happy sigh against his lips, moving closer towards him, silently begging for more.

He tangles one hand through my hair as he kisses me slowly, almost lazily, a smooth, sweet seduction, his mouth owning mine. He's not in a rush to deepen the kiss, or rip my clothes off, the way we sometimes do. No, he just continues to move his lips over mine, content with the moment, content with what we have. I'm content too, but the more he kisses me, the more I want him. I can't control it. It's like an overwhelming urge inside me that cannot be quelled, a fire that cannot be stamped out. It's there, and it's not leaving. And it's growing inside me, threatening to burst forth from my entire being.

But still, he takes his time. He holds my head steady as he conquers my mouth with his, ignoring my frustrated whines as I begin to get more and more aroused. He just continues to kiss me, owning my entire being. It's happened a million times before, and it will happen a million times hereafter. He takes me every time, effortlessly claiming me as his, and most days I can't even put up a fight, sometimes urging him to continue. This is one of those times.

Freddie doesn't release my mouth for a second, not even to allow me to beg. His free hand drifts down to my hips, pulling me against him, and holding me still. I can't pull away, can't leap on top of him and dig my teeth into his shoulder. Can't even grind against him in that urgent way he always seems to pull out of me. No, I just have to take it, and it's driving me crazy. My hands grip his shoulders, nails digging in, and he hisses against my mouth, the distinct noise of the rush of pain and pleasure flawlessly mixing together to create a heady, intoxicating sensation that only drives him on. His hold tightens on my hip, but it's not to keep a grip on me, it's to keep a grip on himself. He wants to take his time, but it's becoming more difficult for him. He's losing his composure, fighting to keep the upper hand. I let my hands trail down his back, under his shirt and then back up, gliding over the soft skin of his back, and he lets out a slight moan, kissing me deeper, then reeling back, slowing down, as if mentally scolding himself. He doesn't want to rush. I can tell. Freddie's a big fan of drawing things out, trying to make them last as long as possible, and I can be too, but not right now. Right now, mama wants to get to the good stuff. At least have him naked.

I suddenly rake my nails down his back, catching him off-guard, and he groans against my mouth, nipping at my bottom lip reflexively. I let out a soft moan, pressing against him, and he finally breaks the kiss, trailing his lips across my cheek to my ear. A slight nibble on the lobe, and I can feel myself starting to get weak.

I want him. I need him. Right now. His tongue snakes behind my ear, flicking over a sensitive spot, and I gasp, whispering to him the thoughts racing through my head right now. The soft, rumbly laugh that escapes Freddie's throat when I tell him these things just seems to egg me on more, and I let out a little whimper, my skin feeling alive and tingly, pulse pounding, lower areas throbbing. Oh, Freddie, you tease. I hate it when you tease me, and yet, I love it at the same time. It feels amazing, yet has full potential to drive me mad.

We've been down this road thousands of times, and yet, each time lights me up, sparks the senses, as fresh as the first time. The passion overwhelms me, the feelings overpower me. He can control every reaction, every feeling, every twitch, moan, gasp, scream...with a light touch of his fingers, a flick of his tongue, a slow thrusting of his hips. No one can love me like he can. I'd never let anyone else even try, because I know it's pointless. He is a maestro, a virtuoso, and my body is his canvas, his orchestra, his masterpiece.

In a swift, fluid motion, he pushes me onto my back, one hand holding my head up until it hits pillow, mouth claiming mine again. His tongue dances across mine, moving in and out of my mouth in an imitation of other things to come. He pulls away, kissing over my neck as he hovers over me, one hand casually flicking the buttons of my shirt open, revealing new flesh with every unfastening. His mouth travels down lower, over the exposed skin of my chest, continuing to unbutton my shirt and kiss every inch of skin he can, over the swell of my growing belly.

Freddie kisses my stomach, that precious vessel for our growing child, and he looks up at me with those liquid brown pools of emotion, those eyes that seem to lock onto me and delve deep into my soul. Every time I look into his eyes, I melt. Every time he gazes at me as we lay together in bed, or in the mirror when he walks behind me and rests his head on my shoulder, I fall a little more in love with him. His eyes are beautiful, sweet perfection, a flawless work of art. As he stares at me, rubbing his hand over my stomach, kissing it again, he tells me I'm beautiful. He tells me he loves me. He tells me he'll never stop loving me. And I believe him. He's never given me a reason not to. He tries every day to make me remember, to make sure I don't forget. And it works.

He presses his lips to my stomach again, eyes closing for a moment, and then he moves to kiss back up my skin, heading for my mouth, one hand still rubbing my stomach, but then he stops suddenly, pulling away, a startled, shocked expression on his face. I know why he stops. I can feel it too. But I say nothing, just hold my breath and wait for it to happen again.

Freddie moves to the side a little, hand still pressed to my stomach, waiting. And it happens again. No longer a tiny little flutter inside me, lately the baby makes movements that really register, sending a smile across my face every time as I feel it inside me. But this time, it's not just felt from the inside, this time, it can be felt from the outside.

It could be a little hand, or a tiny foot, but it's definitely our baby, pressing against the inside of my stomach, the little limb pushing forth, and Freddie can clearly feel it against his hand. He doesn't speak, he doesn't move. He doesn't even breathe, just stares silently at my stomach as he rests his hand against my skin. I feel our sweet baby move again, and Freddie gasps quietly to himself. It's an amazing thing to feel, and I wonder if I look hard enough, can I see the movement? Can I see the little hand or foot pushing?

Right now, I am not watching my stomach. Right now, I am looking at my husband, my sweet, amazing Freddie, the way he bites his bottom lip as he stares at my growing body, his deep brown eyes beginning to mist over a little. I let one hand reach up and rub the back of his neck, and he finally turns his head, the spell caused by our baby seeming to be broken for a moment. He doesn't speak, just shakes his head a little, laying down next to me and pressing his face against his favorite spot, where my neck meets my shoulder. He kisses me softly there, and he begins to whisper to me as his hand rubs my stomach.

He tells us, the baby and I, that we're beautiful. He tells us he loves us. He tells us he'll never stop loving us. And we believe him.

He's never given us a reason not to.

~*Carly*~

I knocked on the door to Freddie and Sam's apartment, leaning against the wall. Brad and I had just gotten done with six different roommate interviews, and I was totally exhausted and a little weirded out by the variety of roommates that's offered after you post an ad on a dubious website. One girl had shrieked her head off when I opened the door and she spotted me, just yelling, "Oh my god, iCarly! Aaah!"

I hadn't known what to do with it, and I felt bad when Brad just closed the door in her face, but I didn't feel that bad. Could you imagine, living with a crazed fan? No way. We'd had a few normal people who'd just balked at the price and left. The only guy that was remaining who was willing to pay the rent and didn't seem to know who we were was this guy named Carlton. Carl, for short, he told us over and over.

You can call me Carl, he'd kept saying with a goofy smile as he stared at me. It kind of gave me the creeps. Still, he was the only one willing to pay the rent. Brad and I were still talking about it, but something seemed off about him.

The door to the apartment finally opened, revealing Freddie, and he waved me in with a smooth motion of his hand, giving me a slight smile, but not speaking. I followed him inside, where Sam was sitting on the couch, legs crossed, reading over her textbooks.

"What goes on?" she asked as she looked up at me, and I shrugged.

"Roommate interviews from hell."

"Ugh, really?" Sam asked, wrinkling her nose. "That sucks. So did you find someone?"

"Well, I think so, but..." I trailed off, rolling my eyes as I watched Freddie sit next to Sam, leaning over to kiss her on the side of her neck. He whispered something in her ear, and she just gave him a smile, kissing him. Sam was a definite nymphomaniac some days, but most of the time Freddie was worse than her. I got it, he was a guy, but couldn't he chill out long enough to let me talk?

"Ugh, Freddie, really? Why do you always have to be in sexy mode?" I complained, and Sam laughed a little while Freddie merely grunted, one arm still around her waist as he kissed her neck again.

"He's not in sexy mode."

"Yeah right!" I exclaimed, pointing at him. Sam just shrugged, one hand going to Freddie's shoulder and pushing him back a little. He had this moony look on his face, and if it weren't for the fact that I knew he couldn't drink, I'd believe he was wasted! He looked that far gone!

"He's not!" Sam replied, and she just held her arm out. "Give me your hand."

"What?" I asked. "Why?"

"Just do it!" she barked, and I sighed, edging closer to her and holding my hand out, my eyebrows lifting in surprise when she grabbed my wrist and yanked me toward her, holding my hand to her stomach.

"Sam, what on earth...oh my god!" I yelled as I felt a tiny little movement behind her skin. "Is that the baby?"

"Yep!" Sam replied with a happy smile. "Isn't it cool?"

"Oh my gosh..." I said softly. I pulled away and stood back up straight. Well, now I understood why Freddie was being so weird. He was definitely NOT in sexy mode. "Sam, that's amazing!"

"Isn't it?" Freddie replied, a happy smile on his face. "Not gonna be much longer..."

"Well, a few months."

"A few more months for me to get even bigger," Sam grumbled. "I look like a walrus."

"Sam!" Freddie exclaimed. "You do not! You're gorgeous." He kissed her neck again. "So gorgeous. I love you."

"Wow, he's really gone over this," I laughed, and Sam nodded, poking Freddie in the stomach.

"I'm definitely not complaining. So what up with the roomie situation? Did you find someone willing to pay the rent?"

"Eh..." I trailed off, making a face. "We found one guy, but he's...weird."

"How weird?" Freddie asked, before standing up and looking down at Sam. "You hungry?"

"Stupid question," she grunted. "I'm starving."

"I'll order some food," he replied. "Chinese?"

"Uh-huh," she replied, smiling as he took her hand and lifted it to his mouth, kissing it, before walking away, still holding onto her hand like he didn't want to let go and then finally letting her free, shooting her another moony look before going to grab a take-out menu. Sam stared at him for a moment, then seemed to snap out of it, looking over at me. "So how weird?"

I sighed, sitting down next to her on the couch. "Okay, it's not like I have anything against overweight, slightly sweaty people, but..."

"So he's fat and sweaty?" Sam asked with a grin, and I just nodded, grumbling a little. "What's his name?"

"Carlton. Oh no wait, Carl. He told me to call him Carl. Like eight times."

"Awww!" Freddie teased from the kitchen. "Carl and Carly!"

Sam laughed, poking me. "Brad better watch out!"

"Yeah right!" I responded. "I'm not really into guys who play dungeons and dragons."

"Hey!" Freddie yelled. "I used to play dungeons and dragons!"

"Yeah, til you found something better to play with," Sam replied, giving him a Look, and he nodded.

"That's very true."

"Freddie!" I laughed at his latest admission of his former nerdy habit. "You're such a dweeb."

"Uh, reformed dweeb, thank you very much," Freddie grunted.

"So are you guys are you gonna let him move in?" Sam asked. "Carl, I mean?"

I shrugged, leaning back against the couch. "Maybe. We're still talking about it. I don't know. He really weirds me out. Plus Brad's all in a tizzy right now."

"That's surprising," Freddie said sarcastically, and I gave him a withering stare.

"Shut up," I responded, aggravated. "I'm sick of this. You guys all just need to get over it!"

"Uh, Carly, do you remember what happened?" Sam responded. "He said..."

"You guys ALL said stuff! And once again, Carly's in the middle of it! I'm the one who has to suffer! My best friends and my boyfriend all hate each other! I just want things the way they used to be!"

"Things are changing, Carly," Sam said softly, rubbing a hand over her stomach, and I just nodded.

"Yeah, I know," I replied. As I stared at Sam's stomach, growing larger by the day, I got hit by that wave of anxiety all over again. No matter how much anyone tried to tell me, that gnawing feeling I felt in my gut that maybe something could go wrong with Sam's pregnancy continued to eat at me. I didn't care what people said about modern medicine, complications still happened, women still lost their babies in labor, women still lost their lives in labor. Yeah, it didn't happen often anymore, but it still happened! And I was worried sick about it!

"Sam! Chicken or beef?" Freddie called, and Sam shrugged.

"Pork."

"You can't have the pork from the chinese restaurant," Freddie replied. "I don't trust it."

"FREDDIE!"

"What?" he shot back. "I'm not even pregnant, and I won't even touch the pork!"

"That's because you're a prancey!"

"What?"

"You heard me, prancey!"

"I've told me a million times not to call me that!"

"Fine! You're a nub! Let me have my pork!"

"No way! I don't want a mutant baby!"

"It's half you, it's stuck that way!"

"Oh god, really?" I groaned as I watched Sam turn around fully on the couch and start yelling at Freddie full-force. He didn't seem to be deterred, he just kept yelling back. So much for being moony and happy! I rolled my eyes, standing up. "I've gotta pee."

As I walked to the bathroom, they didn't even seem to notice, just continued to argue. Ugh, they were so...Sam and Freddie. Desperately in love one second, ready to kill each other the next. As I stood in the bathroom, fixing my hair, I briefly began to wonder if all the arguing would end up catching up to Sam. She did tend to stay under a lot of stress, it permeated nearly every aspect of our lives. I sighed, looking in the mirror. Maybe I should try to break it up. Who knows what could happen if Sam got too worked up?

"Guys," I said as I walked out of the bathroom. "Maybe you should..." I stopped short when I caught sight of Sam and Freddie, standing in the middle of the living room making out like nothing had ever happened, and rolled my eyes. I still didn't get how arguing was a turn-on, but then again, Sam and Freddie were weird, had been arguing their entire lives, and just because they were married and having a kid didn't mean that was going to go away. "Never mind," I said with a sigh, edging towards the door. I always felt awkward just standing there watching them go at it like that, and now that they had their own place, I felt even moreso, almost like I was intruding on their space.

"I'll just go," I said, walking toward the door, rolling my eyes when Freddie just gave me a wave.

"Call me later!" Sam yelled, and I just gave a wave back, before walking out the front door and shutting it behind me.

Time to go back upstairs, hopefully Brad had gotten Bryson to calm down, and if Bryson had left, maybe I could get a little bit of loving myself. Still though, I couldn't help but wish things were the way they used to be, when we all got along. I kept holding onto hope that something would happen, force those three to get along again, but I was probably just holding my breath.


	47. Chapter 47: I Can't Explain

**A/N: Finally an update! Sorry guys, Christmas season + job in retail = certain death. I've been so busy the last few weeks it's insane! Things should start to mellow out a little bit now, and I've got the next two days off, so hopefully I should get a little bit more writing done!**

**Chapter Forty Seven**

**I Can't Explain **

~*Freddie*~

"Are you sure about this color?" I asked Sam one last time as we stood staring at the walls of our living room. One small square of paint, a light green called mint truffle, stood out, contrasting against the plain white walls, and Sam nodded, rubbing her chin thoughtfully, before shooting a glare over at me that could be read as somewhat threatening. Sam was in a mood today, and not a good one. I couldn't figure out if it was just the pregnancy hormones talking, or something else.

"I like it," she replied. "Don't you?"

I had to be honest, it wasn't my favorite color in the whole wide world. Not for a living room. I would have preferred something a little simpler, or just to keep the walls white, but whatever Sam wanted, she would get. I'd give that girl anything. Besides, paint wasn't all that important to me, and I'd hate to start a fight over something so insignificant. With the way Sam had been stalking around all day, snapping at me over nothing, it wouldn't take much to start another huge blow-up.

"I...I'm not crazy about it," I admitted, one arm going around Sam's waist and dropping a kiss on the side of her head. "But if you like it, we'll do it."

"Are you sure?" she asked, biting her lip, and I nodded.

"Are YOU sure?" I responded, and she shrugged a little.

"Well...yeah...and no," Sam replied flatly, shrugging a little. "I don't know, I..."

"Sam, it's just paint," I reminded her gently. "It can be changed. I think you're overthinking it."

"Well, sorry, it's just..." she trailed off, grumbling to herself, and I pulled her closer to me, kissing her on the forehead.

"What's got you so worked up?" I asked, smoothing her hair back. "It can't be the paint. What's up with you?"

"Finals," she grumbled, pushing me away a little, and I let out an annoyed sigh.

"Sam, you'll do fine, you've done really well this semester, and..."

"It's not that, okay?" she snapped, walking over to the couch and sitting down, her arms crossed over her chest.

"Then what?" I asked, sitting down next to her. "Why are you all agitated today?"

I tried not to smirk as I watched Sam try to hug her knees to her chest, get frustrated because she couldn't, due to her growing stomach, and give up, flopping down into a laying position, her head in my lap. I looked down at her, stroking her hair, trying to calm her down.

"Talk to me, baby. Why the bad mood?"

"Finals," she grumbled. "They're so...final."

My brow furrowed as I looked down at her, slightly confused.

"Yes, they're the end of the semester. What are you getting at?"

"I'm going to be behind!" she shot back. "I'm only going to be able to take two classes next semester because of the baby! And you're starting your internship next week, you're gonna leave me all by myself, all day!"

I gave her a sympathetic look, bending down to brush my lips across hers. "Sweetheart, you know I have to do it. You're gonna have an internship too," I pointed out, and she shrugged.

"Yeah, that was supposed to be next semester, which I can't do now. And you're going to be gone all day!" She looked up at me, a sad expression on her face, and I just sighed, continuing to twirl her hair around my fingers. It was almost comical the way Sam picked fights with me when deep down she just didn't want me to leave. It was kind of counterproductive, but hey...that was Sam.

"This is what normal couples do, Sam," I reminded her. "They work. We got lucky, being able to work together on a job we love, but iCarly's not going to last forever. You know that."

"I don't want to think about it," she responded. "It's been going on for..."

"Forever?" I finished, and she nodded.

"I'm going to be so bored."

"Well, Carly will be around when she's not at class."

"Yeah, but she'll have a full schedule too!" Sam replied.

"The baby will keep you busy," I reminded her, and she shrugged.

"Babies take a lot of naps, especially newborns. I dunno, with just Carly around now, and her in class, maybe I wouldn't be so bored if..." she trailed off, biting her lip. "Never mind."

My eyes narrowed as I looked down at her, pretty sure of what she was getting at.

"If what?" I asked, and one of her shoulders lifted in a little shrug.

"Nothing."

"Sam," I warned, shaking my head. "Don't you dare start that up again! You know how I feel about the Brad issue."

"But Carly says he's sorry!" she replied, sitting up and staring at me.

"Well, he certainly hasn't tried to apologize himself!" I shot back. "Did you forget what he said to you?"

"No!" Sam replied. "But...can't we just get over it? Can't we all just get over it? I just want things to be the way they used to!"

I glared at her, shaking my head again. "What, you telling me you miss Brad all of a sudden?"

"Like you don't?" she replied, and I just rolled my eyes. "Come on, Freddie. We had a fight, friends fight..."

"Yeah, well he fights dirty. Friends don't do that."

"You almost knocked his head off!"

"He called you a bitch! You hate that!"

"Yeah, but..."

"Sam!" I yelled. "I don't understand why you give that kid so much damn lee-way! Anyone else who talked to you like that, you would have broken their arm! What is so damn special about Brad, huh? I'm starting to get a little bit annoyed here! I'm the one who's married to you, and yet all you've been doing is chirping about Brad, Brad, Brad!"

"What the hell is wrong with you?" she responded, standing up. "He was your best friend too! And...you sound like you're jealous!"

"Well maybe I am!" I replied. "You've got my kid in you, and you're talking about another guy! Another guy, who...let's face it, we all know, is attracted to you."

Sam rolled her eyes in an exaggerated manner, gesturing to her stomach. "Oh yeah, this is attractive. I look like Free Willy!"

"Whatever, don't start that with me," I growled. "Sam, I don't want to talk about this Brad thing any more, got it? Forget the fight, okay, let's talk about everything that happened before that!"

"People make mistakes, Freddie!" she shouted. "I'm the Queen of Mistakes, remember?"

"That's different," I replied with a shake of my head. "You were in a bad place."

"And Brad's not?" she replied. "Dealing with alcoholism, his crazy ass family, and his dad on TRIAL? Come on, Brad's been majorly unstable this whole year!"

"Exactly!" I yelled. "Completely unstable! I don't want to be around that, I don't want you around it, and I certainly don't want our child around it!"

"You can't tell me what to do!" Sam replied. "If I wanna talk to Brad, I'm gonna talk to Brad!"

I just leaned against the couch, completely stunned. "I can't believe we're having this conversation. You were so angry at him, and now it's just...poof?"

"It's not poof, Freddie! I'm still angry, but...I'm tired of it! Poor Carly is always stuck in the middle, we can't hang out anymore, and yeah, we try to be civil, but the show's still suffering! Admit it! And I'm sorry, but..."

"But what?"

"But you've been grumpy too! You miss him too, you're just too stubborn to admit it!"

"No, I don't. I miss how things were, I miss the OLD Brad, but that asshole upstairs? No way. He can go to hell for all I care. And you fawning all over him isn't helping his case either!"

"I'm not fawning, Freddie! Are we really going back to that? An issue that's been dead for almost three years, and we're gonna go back to that? Seriously?" she shouted.

"Well, what do you expect me to think, Sam?" I shot back, completely gone from annoyed and now in the throes of full-on anger.

"I would expect you to think level-headedly!" she replied. "But I guess that's asking too much!" She headed for the door, grabbing her coat. "I'm out."

"What?" I exclaimed. "I thought we were supposed to be painting!"

"You don't like it anyway, and I don't want to be around you right now!"

"Oh, what? And you wanna go be around Brad?"

"No! I'm hungry. I'm going to the buffet down the road, where I can eat as much as I want, of whatever I want, and you won't be able to bitch at me about it!"

"Oh, Sam's going to eat, there's a surprise," I said sarcastically, regretting the words the second they'd left my mouth. Sam glared at me angrily, before walking to the door.

"I can't stand being around you sometimes! You're such a dick!" she shouted, before slamming the door loudly.

I let out a loud growl of anger, slamming my fist into my other hand, before leaning back against the couch. Well, that went well. I was absolutely stunned that Sam and I had just gotten into an argument over Brad. It wasn't the first one, but it was definitely the worst, and with Carly on my case about it every other day too, it was really starting to piss me off.

But still, no way in hell was I backing down. I was angry at Brad for what he'd said, what he'd done, the way he'd treated Sam. And the fact that Sam was ready to forgive made me even angrier for some reason. Maybe she was right, maybe I was jealous. I thought I'd gotten over it, but maybe not. Why now? Why had it come back all of a sudden?

I leaned back against the couch, my arms crossed over my chest and groaned to myself for a second. I was still angry, but I definitely didn't want Sam traipsing off by herself right now, especially not while she was mad at me. As that revelation finally clicked in my head, I nearly leapt off the couch and headed for the front door, hurrying down the hallway to get to her.

I barely made it to the elevator before the doors started to close, one arm shooting between the doors and catching Sam off-guard. She stared at me for a second, before rolling her big blue eyes and shaking her head.

"If the elevator had been acting funny at all, you would have just lost an arm!" she scolded me, and I just shook my head.

"Don't care right now," I responded, reaching in and grabbing ahold of Sam's hand and pulling her out of the elevator. "Baby, don't run off all mad at me."

"You deserve it," she snapped, yanking her hand away.

"Yeah, I know," I replied with a slight smirk on my face. "I'm a dick. I got it. Now come back inside, so I can apologize for it."

"Or you could just not be a dick, then you wouldn't have to apologize for it," she shot back, and I instantly had to bite my tongue. Girl was baiting me, trying to see if I'd get upset enough to draw her into another fight. Well, I wasn't in the mood for fighting. I had enough on my plate right now in the next two weeks, the last thing I needed was for Sam and I to be at each other's throats.

I drew in a deep breath at Sam's latest snarky comment, purposefully willing myself into silence as I took her hand again and pulled her down the hallway, back into our apartment, and shut the door behind me, locking it. I turned to find Sam staring me down, arms crossed over her chest. She still looked a little angry, but it was nice to see that the full-on rage that had been present a few minutes before had faded a little bit. I stared at her for a second, trying to collect my thoughts.

Why did we fight like this all the time? It had barely tapered off since we'd been married, although we didn't get into slapping matches or things like that any more, and before that? World War III. All the time. My eyes traveled over her angry face, and my eyebrows raised up a little as I took in the details. Her full lips were slightly parted and a deeper shade of red than usual, her eyes narrowed into an almond shape as she glared at me. Her breathing was a little bit more labored than usual, and a strand of hair hung in her face over one eye.

Well, damn. Now I remembered why I'd started picking fights with her, all those years ago. Angry Sam was HOT. If I wasn't half-afraid she'd kill me, I would have dragged her into the bedroom then and there, but considering the situation, I would have to apologize first before going down that road.

Yes, I was going to apologize, but before I did that, and even though we'd gone over the issue a thousand times, I still didn't know WHY Sam was so upset about the whole Brad thing. Part of me understood why, but in many ways, it still wasn't registering to me. Sam eyed me suspiciously as I reached for her hand, her eyes meeting mine in a silent challenge. She tried to jerk her hand away, but I wasn't having it, just moved faster and held it tightly. She could tell I wasn't going to let go as we stared each other down for a moment. With a sigh, I pulled Sam over to the couch, sitting down and pulling her into my lap. She squirmed for a second, then finally grumbled in resignation when she realized I wasn't going to let her up.

"Look, baby," I began. "I know we've talked about it a lot, but I'm still not getting why this bothers you so much. You honestly can't blame me for wondering..."

"I don't blame you," Sam interrupted, looking at me. "I just wish you understood."

"Then explain it to me," I replied.

Sam sat in my lap quietly for a second, biting her bottom lip, hair falling in her face. I brushed the strands off her cheeks, resisting the urge to kiss her. I loved when she bit her lip like that. It was her "thinking look", one that popped up whenever she was trying to choose her words carefully, but it was also incredibly sexy.

Focus, Freddie. Now is not the time. Later. But not too much later. Just as soon as we squash this little issue...

I tried hard to not roll my eyes suddenly, not at Sam but at myself. It still amazed even me sometimes that Sam could be furious with me, I could be furious with her, and still the only thing I was thinking about was being in bed with her!

I finally managed to chase away the dirty thoughts when Sam looked up at me again, words finally chosen.

"Remember when we met Brad?" she asked. "At the intern interviews?"

I nodded, not really sure where she was going with this. "You and Carly picked that idiot over Brad even though he was more qualified."

"Oh man," she said with a roll of her eyes. "He was pretty dumb. But the perfect decoy."

"Decoy?" I repeated, and Sam nodded.

"I was still pretty in denial over liking you. He was...another guy to focus my attention on. But...back to Brad. Meeting Brad. Okay, so...when we all met Brad, that was right around the same time things with my mom went from bad to worse..."

"Okay..." I trailed off, still a little lost, and she shook her head.

"And then all that stuff happened. With you and me, everything else. And then my whole life changed, the old life disappeared, and this...new one...kinda developed. I had all these people around me who actually cared about me for a change. And...we just shut out the rest of the world, had our own little group. Me. You. Carly. Brad. Just the four of us. And it worked really, really well for a long time." Sam bit her lip and let out another sigh, laying her head on my shoulder.

"The family I had is pretty shitty, you know that," she said softly. "So then, you came along. And that was amazing. It still is. And then I had Carly, who is closer to me than my own sister...and Brad. Like a brother. We had a lot of fun together. Played pranks, came up with devious plots, all that. And now it's just gone. And it's weird."

I didn't know what to say to that. I knew Sam and Brad had been close before, but it still bothered me, made me jealous even, that it had hit Sam this hard. I was supposed to be able to make her feel better about anything, but I couldn't fix this. And that bothered me more than anything. I felt Sam's hand on the side of my neck, making tiny little circles over my skin with her fingertips as she pressed her face against the other side of my neck, kissing me there.

"It doesn't mean I have feelings for him," she reminded me. "It doesn't mean I love him. It doesn't mean I love you any less. It just...sucks, okay? I want things to be like they were before. Everything's changing, Freddie."

"I know, sweetheart," I responded, kissing her gently. "I know. But that's life. Things change. You can't stop it. You can only move forward."

Sam let out another sigh, and I felt her body relax against mine. That meant she was done talking, and done arguing. I wrapped both arms around her, laying back on the couch so she was on top of me, stroking her hair softly, until I began to hear soft snores, signaling she was asleep.

Well, I guess I would have to wait to get what had been on my mind during this argument. But as Sam nuzzled against my chest, hair tickling my neck and smelling like her apple shampoo, it occurred to me that wasn't such a bad thing. I kissed her on the top of the head before laying back and shutting my eyes, quickly drifting off to sleep.

~*Carly*~

"I'm telling you, this is a really bad idea!" I hissed at Brad as we walked out of our bedroom, heading for the stairs.

Brad gave me a Look, rolling his eyes a little bit. "Carly, we've talked about this. He's the only one willing to pay full asking price for the rent. You know I hate to haggle."

"But he's creepy!" I whined. "He stares at me!"

"Hey, I can't blame him," Brad replied with a wry smile. "You're hot."

"Brad!"

"What?" Brad shot back. "It's true."

"Yeah, but...most guys would get really upset if a guy stared at their girlfriend like that!"

Brad shrugged as we walked down the stairs. "I'm honestly not that worried about losing you to him, Carly," Brad said with a laugh.

"Yeah, I've got a big enough nerd as a boyfriend already," I teased, and he made a face.

"Hey!" he exclaimed, poking me, and I laughed a little.

"Come on, let's get this over with. I'm just going to start spending a lot more time upstairs," I replied with a groan.

We headed down the rest of the way to the living room to find our new roommate Carlton, or Carl, as he'd fervently told me to call him, sitting patiently on the couch, looking about in wonder.

"So..." I said awkwardly, bouncing from foot to foot nervously. "Think you'll enjoy living here?"

"Oh, I know I will Carly," Carlton responded, placing an emphasis on my name that was slightly unsettling. "I must thank you again for allowing me to live here."

"Yeah, well, you agreed to pay the rent, so..." Brad put in. I could tell Brad was a little bit uncomfortable around Carlton too, something was just off about the guy. He was a little bit shorter than Brad, and quite heavy, with thick glasses and a pretty bad case of acne, wearing a shirt that looked a little too small with a drawing of a wolf on it and khakis. His hair looked greasy and unkempt, like he hadn't bothered to wash it in a few days.

There was an awkward silence for a few moments until Brad finally cleared his throat.

"So," he said. "Let's uh...go over a few apartment rules. Okay, so you're renting a room from us, and in addition to the bedroom and your own bathroom, you've got unlimited use of the entire first floor. Kitchen, living room, elevator, whatever. Second and third floor, completely off-limits, especially the studio where we do our filming."

"I understand," Carlton replied. "Anything else?"

"No alcohol in the house," I put in, ignoring the sudden glare Brad shot my way. "We just...we're not fans of it." Ha, that was a lie. Brad was the biggest fan there was, just a reformed fan. I was so proud of how well he'd been doing lately. Aside from that one slip up the day he ran into his mother at Sam's doctor appointment, he'd been totally sober, not having any weird side-effects of not being able to indulge. He wasn't so tired and hungover all the time now. He focused on his film stuff. He focused on me. We talked. Really talked. About the future. Not like before, when he'd blurt out things he wanted in the future with me and I'd just nodded, too worried about confrontation to disagree. Now it was like we were trying to figure out which direction we wanted our lives to go...together. It was different. Amazing. I had gone from being somewhat wishy-washy about Brad to seeing myself as having an actual future with him.

Of course, right now, the only thing I could focus on at all was the future with this new roommate. Something about him just didn't fit. It was obvious he was somewhat socially inept, but it seemed to be more than that. Of course, maybe my past experiences with Matthew...and the fact that the first hearing over that matter was coming up, was just making me jumpy, but I couldn't be sure. Still, I hated when people judged me based on how I looked, so part of me wanted to give this guy a chance.

"Uh, we don't really party anymore," I heard Brad say, breaking me out of my thoughts. "So no ragers in the apartment, got it?"

Carlton nodded, thinking things over for a second, before his arm slowly lifted in an extremely awkward hand raise, staring at me.

"Yes?" I asked finally with a sigh, trying to show this guy some patience.

"Might I have a small gathering of friends from time to time?" he asked, and I shrugged, glancing over at Brad, who just gave me a strange expression I couldn't really read.

"Uh, sure?" I responded. "And what do you do at these...gatherings?"

"Dungeons and dragons mostly," he replied with a smile. "And sometimes we watch anime marathons. It's a fun time. Carly, you should join in some time."

"Uh..." I laughed nervously. "I keep a pretty busy schedule, but...maybe. If I have time."

Brad and I stood there awkwardly for a minute, studying our new roommate. He took nerd to a level I'd only assumed were caricatures, archetypes, for film and television. We all liked to tease Freddie about being nerdy, but Carlton made Freddie look like a bad ass! I couldn't believe I had to live with this guy, but I struggled to keep my junior high girl tendencies in check. I'd put all that shallowness behind me, I wasn't about to slip up now!

"Well," I said, forcing a smile and reaching out for Brad's hand, gripping it like a lifeline. "We'll just give you some privacy, let you get settled in."

"Okay," Carlton replied, standing up and heading for his new room...Sam and Freddie's old room. Oh god, I missed Sam! Brad and I watched him go, shutting the door behind him, before scrambling up the stairs ourselves, hurrying for our own bedroom. I heard Brad fling the door shut as I threw myself onto my couch.

"Oh god," I whined. "Brad, seriously? This guy's gonna be so weird living with!"

"He does seem a bit eccentric," Brad agreed. "And he's totally got a crush on you."

"Shut up," I grunted, sitting up and slumping down on the couch. I dared to look up at Brad, a scowl plastered across my face, and I rolled my eyes as I watched the broad smile creep across Brad's lips.

"Carlton loves Carly," he teased, leaning over me and giving me a quick poke.

"Stop!" I yelled, pushing him away.

"Awww...he's in love with you," Brad taunted, laughing when I pushed him away again. "How come you always have nerds falling all over themselves for you, huh?"

"No clue," I responded. "Some how one even managed to creep into my bed and stay there for two years."

"Very funny," Brad replied flatly, flopping down next to me. "So he really makes you uncomfortable?"

"A little," I admitted, and Brad shrugged.

"If he does anything out of line, I'll take care of it, but I doubt he will. Seems pretty harmless to me."

"I guess," I replied. "But I still don't get it! How come you're not going all jealous boyfriend on me?"

"Like I said," Brad responded with a laugh. "I'm not worried."

I rolled my eyes, letting out an agitated sigh. "You're so arrogant."

"Yeah, I know," Brad replied, his arm going around my shoulders and pulling me to him. "Chicks dig it." I had to roll my eyes again, and opened my mouth to protest, but was immediately cut off by Brad kissing me intently. I let out a soft gasp, surprised by his sudden gentle attack, feeling all my anxiety over the roommate situation begin to melt away, and the only thing left in my mind the feeling of Brad's amazing mouth.

~*Brad*~

I had to smirk in satisfaction as I took stock of Carly's unconscious, sleeping form laying next to me. She was sprawled out, sheets tangled around her, the moon light coming in through the windows casting a silvery sheen on her bare back. She was in a deep sleep that could only be brought on by hours of passion, and forgive me for bragging, but I definitely delivered in that department. Poor girl had drifted off less than ten minutes after it was over, and she hadn't moved for over an hour. She was completely gone. It was better than her spazzing out over every little thing like she'd been doing lately. Finals were right around the corner, and with the new roommate that creeped her out also being thrown into the mix, I could tell there was going to be some hardcore freaking out over the next two weeks. Too bad I couldn't wear her out like this every time she got a little apprehensive, but if I did that, I'd probably never get anything else done.

I watched Carly sleep for a little while, unable to drift off myself, before sitting up and pulling a pair of shorts on in the dark, rising to my feet. I walked across the room, grabbing my laptop off the coffee table and opening it, bringing up my screenplay.

I had finished writing the first draft, after nearly two years of painstaking work. It had everything a good screenplay needed. Drama, suspense, betrayal, intrigue, a touch of comedy, sub-text, metaphor. I was pretty proud of it, but I still had this gnawing feeling it somehow wasn't good enough. Even though I'd spent hours editing and revising. I was running out of material to edit, running out of lines to rewrite. I was on the last two pages, and after that, there'd be nothing left to do except submit it, to send it off to faceless agents and studios, to join the sea of other hopeful filmmakers, many of whom turned out to be nothing. I refused to be one of those unlucky cases. I'd shop this thing around for as long as it took. I wouldn't fail. I couldn't.

I sat in the dark, eyes flickering across my laptop screen as I read over the final pages. About fifteen minutes total of rewriting, and I sucked in a deep breath as I realized I was sitting there staring at a finished, submission ready screenplay. Years of work had finally come to a close, and now I was looking at the final product. Surreal.

I opened my email and sat in silence, staring at the screen with mixed emotions. Should I email to the contact list I have, right now, or think it over? Read the whole thing over tomorrow morning to see if there's anything I missed? Get a second opinion?

I shook my head, growling to myself a little bit. Come on, man. This is no time to shy away from an opportunity. This is what you've been waiting for. To prove everyone wrong.

I glanced over at Carly, still sound asleep, and bit my bottom lip.

Prove some people wrong, and remind other people that I can actually do some things right.

Keeping that in mind, I quickly attached the file with my screenplay to my email, embedding all the contacts of people in the film industry I had, and with one more deep, hopeful breath, my finger seemed to move on its own, guiding the mouse to its intended target.

Click. Message Sent.

"Oh, shit," I said softly to myself as I leaned back against the couch, slightly in shock at what I'd just done. I'd completed my first screenplay and sent it off to twenty different agents. Just dove in, and took a risk.

The only thing I could do now was wait.


	48. Chapter 48: Pendulous Threads

**Chapter Forty Eight:  
>Pendulous Threads<strong>

~*Sam*~

I tried to ignore the annoyed look Freddie was giving me as I paced back and forth across the living room, biting my nails nervously.

"You know," he said. "If you keep that up, you're going to wear a trench in that floor."

My head snapped up to glare at him, and he bit his lip in response, immediately silent. With a roll of my eyes and a nervous sigh, I began pacing again.

"I don't think I studied enough," I commented, more to myself than to Freddie. "I've been so tired and there's been so much stuff going on..."

"Baby..." Freddie began, rising to his feet and reaching for my hand, pulling me to him. "You'll do fine. Promise. You know the material."

"But do I know it well enough?" I asked, and Freddie rolled his eyes, smirking a little.

"Of course you do! Just calm down, sweetheart! You're starting to sound like Carly!"

At that statement, I just grunted, crossing my arms over my chest. I knew I was being a little bit ridiculous, and I knew it wasn't out of the ordinary for me, at least not these days. Sometimes I felt like I didn't even have control over my own emotions any more. All those hormones and chemicals coursing through my body...it was making me a little loopy, to be honest, and all the stress that had been going on lately didn't exactly help me in that department! I was so ready for finals to be over, but another part of me wanted the semester to drag on. I wasn't sure what I was going to do with myself in the fall, with Freddie gone most of the day. I knew the baby would keep me busy, but...being away from him for most of the day? I wasn't used to that, and I hadn't been used to it in quite a few years. Even when we were arguing, if he was away for more than two hours I would start to miss him.

I tried to continue holding onto my agitation, but as Freddie wrapped his arms around me, his lips finding my neck and moving slowly up towards my ear, I could feel it begin to melt away, and I sighed in spite of myself. I felt Freddie's lips curl into a smirk against my skin as I relaxed in his arms, a slight purring sound emitting from my throat as his hands slipped under my shirt to rub my skin.

"There you go," he whispered. "Relax, baby."

"I'm so stressed out," I whispered back, laying my head on his shoulder, and I felt him nod.

"I know, sweetheart. I know. Just try not to let it overwhelm you, okay? Just a few exams, that's all. Nothing you haven't gotten through before."

But there was a lot going on now that I hadn't had to deal with before. In less than four months I'd be going through labor. And once that happened, I'd be a mother. And Freddie would be starting the internship in a few days, and he'd be gone for most of the day, the entire summer. How was I going to handle that?

"I wish you didn't have to do the internship," I admitted softly. "I'm happy for you, but..."

"You'll miss having me around every second of the day?" Freddie finished, and I nodded.

"I don't like being away from you."

"I know, honey. I know. But it's okay. This is normal."

"Well, normal sucks," I grunted, pouting a little. Freddie let out a soft laugh, kissing my neck again as he pulled me closer against him, rocking us back and forth softly, his strong arms around me. I let out a happy sigh, snuggling against his chest. There was no other place in the world I'd rather be than in his arms. I felt so safe there, like no harm could ever come to me. I tried to move closer, frowning when I realized I couldn't. There was something blocking me. A quick look down, and I couldn't help but smirk when I noticed it was my stomach. As if on cue, baby Benson moved a little, a barrage of tiny hands and feet squirming away inside me. Freddie felt it too, pulling away to press a hand to my stomach, a relaxed smile on his face. He kissed me softly on the lips, then my forehead.

"We've gotta get to work on the baby's room," he commented, and I nodded. "Did you figure out what colors you wanted?"

"Light yellow walls, and we can do light green accents," I suggested, and Freddie gave me a smile.

"Sounds good, baby," he replied, kissing me again. "And the furniture?"

"Light wood," I responded. "Actually, Carly and I were planning on..." I was cut off by a loud knock at the door. "That's gotta be Carly." I pulled myself away from Freddie, walking towards the door and pulling it open. "What up?"

"I hope you're ready for a major cramming session," she said with a sigh.

"Not really," I grunted. "But what choice do we have?"

Carly didn't respond, just flopped down on the couch next to Freddie, her head hanging back.

"I'm gonna fail," she moaned.

Freddie rolled his eyes, poking her. "You're not gonna fail," he replied. "You say that every semester!"

"Yeah, well, this time I have a clear shot at it! Chemistry?"

"At least you're not taking Non-Linear Equations," Freddie responded. He grabbed one of his textbooks off the coffee table, flipping it open and showing it to her. "This is what I have to deal with."

Carly glanced over the material for a second, her eyes wide. "Why on earth would you do that to yourself?" she exclaimed, and Freddie shrugged.

"Kind of a requirement for an Electrical Engineering degree, Carly," he replied with a shrug. "A little bit of pain and suffering now, but the pay-off will totally be worth it in the end."

"Yeah, I guess you're already on the way, what with your awesome internship and everything," Carly commented.

At the mention of Freddie's internship, I grunted, walking away from them and heading for the kitchen, opening a cabinet and pulling out a glass. I shut it with a loud, banging noise, and Carly jumped in her seat, visibly startled by the sound. I didn't look up, just continued to bang around the kitchen. But I could feel Carly's eyes on me, and even though I wasn't looking at her, I knew the expression she wore. Raised eyebrows, a look on her face that clearly read, "Seriously?"

"What up with her?" I heard Carly murmur to Freddie, and he snorted a little bit.

"She's not happy about the internship."

"Sam!" Carly scolded me. "You know he needs the credit!"

"Yes, Shay, I'm aware of that, thanks," I grunted.

"She knows," Freddie replied. "She's just not looking forward to me being gone for nine hours of the day for the entire summer."

"Nine hours?" I exclaimed, slamming the fridge shut. "I didn't know it was nine hours! This is bullshit!"

"Baby," Freddie said, rising to his feet suddenly and walking over to where I was standing. "Calm down. It's not a big deal." He reached for my hand, but I jerked it away.

"It's a huge deal!" I exclaimed. "You're going to be gone the entire day! How am I supposed to deal with that?"

"Sam, everybody deals with that," Carly pointed out, and I glared at her.

"Well, we never have."

"Relax, sweetheart," Freddie replied, grabbing my hand again and not letting me go. "Don't get all worked up. It'll be okay."

"Just forget it," I snapped, walking away from him and heading over to the couch. "Carly, let's get this damn studying over with. We have tons of shopping to do."

"Okay," Carly said slowly. "But I don't know how much help I'll be in the baby shopping department, especially since we don't know what you're having!"

"It'll be fine," I grumbled. I knew I was being a brat right now, but I couldn't help it. The idea of Freddie being away from me for that long every single day was unsettling. We'd never been apart that long, since the day we met, and after we got married? Every single second together, outside of class. We hated being apart. And now it was going to happen in a big way.

I didn't even want to think about it, and I struggled to focus on the studying that had to be done, but I couldn't. All I could think about was being away from Freddie. Maybe I was a little too dependent on him.

But I couldn't help it, and I didn't care.

~*Brad*~

I got off the elevator, heading down the hallway to my parents' apartment. As I passed by the apartment I knew belonged to Sam and Freddie, a twinge of guilt and longing hit me. Carly was in there right now, having a cram session with Sam, and that was fine, but what bothered me was I wasn't there too. In the past, we'd all cram together, but now, because of my stupid mouth, that was all over with. It sucked. I still didn't know how I was going to apologize, or if it would even mean anything.

I put it out of my mind as I approached the door to my parents' apartment, and I frowned suddenly as the sounds of shouting wafted through the door. My eyes squeezed shut in annoyance. They were fighting again, and in front of the kids. This was ridiculous.

I banged on the door loudly, and the shouting stopped for a moment. I heard footsteps, and then the door jerked open, revealing my dad. He stared at me, and I regarded him with a scowl.

"Fighting again? Nice, dad."

My dad shook his head, and grabbed my arm so quickly I didn't have a chance to react, yanking me into the apartment and shutting the door behind me. I wrenched my arm away, glaring at him.

"What the hell was that for?" I yelled, and that's when my eyes focused on the little blonde girl standing a few feet away from me. I sighed, lifting my eyes upward. Brilliant, Brad. You just swore in front of your baby sister. Leah stood there for a second, her fingers in her mouth, before walking over to me. I scooped her up, balancing her on my hip and kissed her on her little forehead.

"Hey, Lee-Lee."

"Bwad is mad?" she asked, and I shook my head.

"Not at you," I reassured her, then focused my attention back on my parents. "What's going on now? What's with all the yelling? And in front of Leah? Are you insane?"

"Enough, Bradley," my mom replied with a roll of her eyes. "We don't need you, the child, lecturing us, the parents."

"Well, maybe you should consider acting like parents then," I offered, ignoring the glare my mom gave me.

"We are," my dad replied. He turned in the direction of Heather and Leah's room. "Heather Marie Harrison! Get out here, NOW!"

I shot a confused look over at my mom, who just shook her head angrily.

"Heather!" my dad bellowed. "Get in here!"

The door to the girls' room finally opened, but I didn't recognize the girl who walked out of it. I stood there in shock for a moment, still holding Leah, trying to find my voice.

"What...what did you do to yourself?" I asked in disbelief, and Heather shrugged.

"Relax Brad, it's just hair dye."

As I stared at Heather, it occurred to me that everything about her that was innocent and untouched was gone. Vanished. The old Heather, my sweet, somewhat snarky little blonde sister was gone, and in her place stood a morose, empty looking girl, outfitted in depressing looking clothes, heavy, jarring makeup, and severe black hair that made her fair skin look pale and sickly. Even her eyes looked different. They were the same pale shade of blue, but ringed with thick black eye makeup, and completely devoid of any spark or emotion. She looked empty. Broken. Dead inside.

I stared at her for a second, then shook my head.

"That better be a fake," I said, gesturing to her nose ring.

Heather shrugged, not looking as if she cared one way or another. "Nope. It's the real deal. This is me. Get used to it."

"Heather..." I began, but I was cut off by my dad shouting again.

"That ugly piercing is coming out! And your mother is taking you to the salon to get that junk washed out of your hair! Have you lost your mind?" He glared at me, shaking his head. "This is all your fault! You started this whole rebellion thing!"

"This isn't about me!" I roared, and I felt Leah squirm in my arms, a little whimper escaping from her throat. I sent a comforting hand down her back, bouncing her a little. "Shh, it's okay."

My dad continued to glare at me, silent, and I shook my head, before focusing my attention on my mom.

"And what's your thoughts on this?" I asked. She shook her head slowly, eyes focused on me, not blinking. "Well?"

"This isn't how my family was supposed to turn out," she said softly, before turning and walking towards the master bedroom. "This isn't how my life was supposed to turn out!"

"Wait, mom!" I yelled after her as the bedroom door shut. I set Leah down, walking over to the door and turning the knob, growling to myself when I realized it was locked. "Are you serious right now?" I yelled, banging on the door. "You can't keep walking away from everything!"

I was met with silence, and I grunted in frustration. I guess nothing would ever change with my parents. My dad was a controlling dick who thought every problem needed to be handled with an iron fist, and my mom? She just preferred to act like problems didn't exist. I felt a tug on my pants leg, and I looked down to find Leah holding onto me. I bent down, scooping her up in my arms.

She didn't need to be put through this all the time. I knew my parents argued a lot, and Leah was acting freaked out, downright scared even. Heather was sitting on the couch sulking, seeming to be in another world as my dad paced back and forth in front of the couch, yelling at her. She didn't make eye contact, not even as the volume of my dad's voice grew, the ferocity of his words becoming more intense.

"You don't care at all what you've done to this family, do you?" my dad yelled at her. "I could lose my job because I was trying to protect you! Because you made a stupid decision! Everything that's happened is your fault!"

Heather winced a little bit at that comment, but continued to stare at the floor, unmoving. As for me, I could feel my anger beginning to boil over, bubbling at the surface, threatening to explode inside me. Heather didn't deserve to be talked to like that. Leah didn't deserve to have to watch this, and someday be subjected to it herself. None of them did.

I was so stunned I nearly dropped Leah as I watched my dad grab Heather by the arm and jerk her off the couch. She finally had a reaction to that, a cry of alarm that echoed through the entire apartment. That was enough. Moving quickly, I set Leah down quickly, ignoring her cries, as I rushed over, stepping between Heather and my dad and giving him a hard shove backwards.

"Back off!" I yelled.

"You stay out of this!" my dad yelled, and I shook my head.

"Not this time." I turned to look at Heather. "Where's Bryson?"

"In his room," she replied. "With the radio turned up."

"Get your stuff. Leah's too," I responded, picking Leah back up. I turned back to my dad. "I'm taking Leah and Heather and Bryson. Until you calm the hell down."

"You can't do that," my dad replied.

"Oh?" I responded, holding Leah tighter. "I can, and I will. Unless you want me to get CPS down here. This has gone on long enough, Dad."

My dad glared at me, shaking his head. "You're not gonna be happy until you've ripped this entire family apart, are you?"

"That's the thing, dad. You did that, all on your own. But I'm not going to let you do to them what you did to me." I walked to Bryson's door, still holding Leah, and banged on the door loudly. "Bry! Get your stuff, dude! It's time to go!" The door creaked open, and Bryson looked at me in disbelief.

"Go where?" he asked, and I shrugged.

"You guys are coming with me."

Bryson stood there for a second, not speaking, and his gaze slowly drifted over to my father.

"You stay where you are," my dad growled. "Or you're in big trouble."

Bryson regarded him with a fearful expression, before looking back at me. "Are we going to have to go back?" he asked, biting his lip, and I shook my head.

"No."

Bryson nodded, and then suddenly, he shot forward, hugging me so hard that it nearly knocked me over and alarming Leah.

"Get your stuff," I said. "Hurry up."

"I'm going to have you arrested for kidnapping the second you step out that door," my dad threatened.

"You do that, and you'll never see them again, because this whole family's gonna get investigated by CPS. You and mom need to work out your issues, stop taking it out on them. I won't let you. You did it to me, you're doing it to Heather, I will NOT let you hurt Bryson and Leah."

"Thought you wanted things between us to get better," he pointed out, and I shook my head.

"Pointless. We both know it's never going to happen," I responded. Still carrying Leah, I banged on my mom's door. "Mom! I'm taking your kids! Quit acting like these problems don't exist!"

Still nothing.

"MOM!" I hollered, banging even louder. "Did you hear me? I am taking your CHILDREN!"

Still silence. I grunted, kicking the door in frustration, before glaring at my dad.

"You two should have NEVER had children," I growled. "Heather! Bryson! Now! Hurry up!"

Heather and Bryson both scrambled out of their rooms, Bryson carrying one backpack and Heather carrying two. I sighed, taking in a deep breath. "Let's go."

Heather and Bryson headed over to the door in silence, and I followed behind them, still carrying Leah, when my dad grabbed my arm suddenly, jerking me back.

"You are not taking my kids," he growled, reaching for Leah. I twisted away quickly, shielding my little sister, and with my free arm, gave him a hard shove backwards.

"Back off," I growled back. "You had your shot, you screwed us up. You want them back, it's gonna be a fight."

"I'm willing to fight," he replied. "They're MY kids."

I just shook my head. "They're people. Not objects. You don't own them. This is about what's good for them, not your stupid pride. Get it through your head. My eyes shifted down the ankle bracelet he was wearing. He was still on house arrest until the final verdict, and if he left the apartment, he'd get thrown in jail. General populace and everything. He knew it, and I knew it.

That's why he didn't follow me as I ushered my brother and sisters out of the apartment and onto the elevator. We stood there in silence for a moment, and Heather cleared her throat.

"So what now?" she asked, and I shrugged.

"Honestly, I have no idea," I admitted. "I just didn't know what else to do, okay?"

"Okay," she said softly. "What about Carly?"

"What about Carly?"

"Don't you think you should have asked her first?"

I shook my head. "Probably. But...she'll understand."

"We're not going back, are we?" Bryson asked, and I sighed.

"Not if I can help it."

I knew what had to be done, and I knew I had a long road ahead of me. There'd be legal proceedings, taking over all the responsibilities of a parent, everything. I was possibly in over my head. But what choice did I have?

As I stood in the elevator with my siblings, I pulled my phone out of my pocket.

"Hey, Spencer? It's Brad. I kinda need to talk to you..."

~*Carly*~

I trudged off the elevator slowly, completely exhausted from the day's events. My brain had been completely fried, first with studying, and then going shopping with Sam to buy stuff for the baby's room. I had never seen Sam so on the fence about anything, and it had taken nearly three hours for her to find bedding she was satisfied with.

The entire time, Sam had been ranting and raving about Freddie's internship. She was nervous about being away from him for that many hours of the day, and I suspected a little bit jealous that Freddie would be able to experience the working world for a change, and she'd be stuck in the apartment all day. To me, it seemed like their problems were just beginning, and I was not looking forward to it at all.

But nothing could have prepared me for what awaited me inside my own apartment. I opened the door slowly, half-afraid Carlton would be sitting there on the couch, staring at me. Thankfully, he wasn't, but what was there instead caught me off-guard nonetheless.

I did a double take as I looked around the apartment, iCarly props scattered everywhere, and who should be in the middle of it, but my brother!

"Spencer!" I scolded. "What are you doing?"

"Hey, kiddo!" he said in an upbeat voice, like this was all normal. "What's up?"

"Why are you in my apartment?" I asked. "And why are you sculpting with our props?"

"Hey Carly!" I heard another voice say, and that's when I noticed Bryson on the other side of Spencer, merrily sculpting away. I struggled to wrap my head around this, but I didn't know where to begin. What happened in the four hours I was gone?

"How come you never told me about this kid?" Spencer asked, gesturing to Bryson. "He's awesome!"

"Uh, yeah, he's great, but...Spence, why..."

"He's an amazing artist! Great sketches, but when I found out he'd never did anything three dimensional before..."

"Spencer..."

"I can't wait to show April some of these drawings! Bry, you're gonna let me borrow your portfolio?"

"Sure! Is she a really good artist?"

"Aw, she's the best, man! Her paintings are amazing, and..."

"Spencer!" I yelled, my hands on my hips. "What is going on? Why are you here?"

"Uh...maybe you should...talk to Brad," Bryson muttered, and I looked at him suspiciously.

"Why? What's going on? Where is Brad?"

"He's upstairs in the studio with Heather and Leah and Maggie."

"What?" I exclaimed. "Why? Why is my apartment covered in children?"

"He'll explain everything," Spencer responded. "Hey, what's up with that creepy roommate of yours? He's like...Buffalo Bill or something."

"Ooh, Silence of the Lambs! Love that movie!" Bryson exclaimed.

I looked at Bryson in surprise. "You're ten! You shouldn't be watching stuff like that!"

"Dad says it builds character."

I had to roll my eyes at that. "Oh, yeah, character. Your dad's got that in spades. I'll be right back. You guys try not to set anything on fire, got it?"

"No promises," Spencer and Bryson both said, and I rolled my eyes again. Seems like Spencer found the perfect little sidekick, and that was fine. I loved my brother, and I knew Brad loved his brother, but we already had to deal with Carlton the creepy roommate, I wanted as much privacy as we could possibly have in this place. I had no idea what was going on, and as I walked up the stairs, all kinds of things were rushing through my head. Something was going on. Something big.

I flung the studio door open, walking in. "Brad, what's going...oh my god," I breathed as I took in the sight of the goth girl formerly known as Heather. "What happened to you?"

"Doesn't matter, it's going to unhappen," Brad said in a gruff voice, and Heather rolled her eyes.

"I'm not taking the nosering out."

"You're taking it out!" Brad replied. "And you're going back to your real hair color."

"Whatever," she grunted, crossing her arms over her chest.

"Okay, somebody, please! Tell me what's going on?" I yelled. "Brad, why is there a daycare in my studio right now?" I gestured to Maggie, Leah, and Heather. "And why are our brothers downstairs making art out of our work props?"

Brad leaned against the desk, running a hand through his hair, and he let out a sigh. "Carly...look, I know you're going to be really upset with me..."

"Why?" I barked. "What did you do? Did you drink again?"

"Carly!" Brad yelled. "No! And not in front of the kids, come on!"

"Then what did you do?" I asked, and Brad shook his head.

"I didn't really do anything, except...I just...reacted. Maybe not in the best way, but..."

"You're being cryptic again, Brad. What's going on?"

"Things got heated, at my parents today," he replied, staring at the ground. "I...I took the kids."

"What, like, for the afternoon?" I asked, and Brad shook his head.

"No."

My eyes widened as I finally realized what was going on. "You can't fight your parents on custody for your siblings, Brad."

"I can, and I will. It's gone on long enough. The way my dad just yells at them, my mom just runs away from the problem...Leah is scared, Carly! Bryson is scared too! And Heather...well...well look at her!" Brad yelled, gesturing at Heather.

"Hey!"

"Oh, you know I'm right!" Brad responded, giving her a look. He focused his attention back on me, sighing. "Carly, I'm sorry, I didn't know what else to do."

I was absolutely stunned, completely caught off-guard. Never in a million years would I have seen this coming!

"So...why is Spencer here?" I asked lamely. Ugh, Carly. A million questions running through your mind, and you pick the most unimportant one.

"I needed some advice," he responded. "I figured...Spencer did a good job with you, if anybody can help me figure this out..." he trailed off, sighing. "Are you mad?"

"I'm a little...caught off-guard," I admitted. "But I'm not mad." How could I be? Brad was just trying to help his siblings. I didn't know how bad things could have gotten today, but just knowing what Brad had to put up with while he lived there, it could have been anything. I sat down on the desk next to Brad, and kissed him on the cheek, taking his hand in mine. "I just don't know how this is going to work, baby."

"I didn't know what else to do," he said again, and I shrugged.

"I know. It's okay. But...if you're serious about this...you know who you need to talk to."

"He's not going to accept my apology."

"Just try," I encouraged him. "Come on. We need Freddie in this. If this thing goes through a court of law, we need his Uncle on our side."

"It's not going to work," he replied mournfully, his shoulders slumping in defeat.

"Brad," I replied gently, squeezing his hand. "Just try, okay? You guys were best friends. This fight has gone on long enough. And now, you really need his help."

"I'm going to need a lot more than Freddie on my side," Brad grunted.

"Well, you have me. And...Spencer. April. Sam."

Brad shook his head. "Sam hates me too."

"Sam will be on your side for this. I know her. Think about it, Brad. You pulling your brother and sisters out of an unhealthy environment, Sam's background. She'll help."

"This is a lot to deal with," Brad replied, staring at the ground. "I don't know what I was thinking."

"You did what you thought was right," I replied, rubbing his shoulders. "You're such a sweet, thoughtful man."

Brad looked up finally, staring at me. "You really think so?"

I nodded, leaning forward to kiss him. "Definitely. We've got a long road ahead of us though, you realize that, right? This is going to be really hard."

"I know."

"You're not going to just be their brother any more. Now...what about the baby?"

"I don't know what to do about the baby," Brad grunted, referring to his unborn sibling. "That's gonna be a tough one."

"Well, it'll get figured out. But...the sooner we get the ball rolling, the better."

"Are you sure you're okay with this?" Brad asked, and I shrugged.

"Honestly, I'm not sure yet. But...we'll get through it. Promise."

Brad just let out a sigh, swinging his legs back and forth. "I hope you're right, Carly."

_Yeah_, I thought to myself. _So do I._


	49. Chapter 49: Are You In?

**Chapter Forty Nine:  
><strong>**Are You In?**

~*Freddie*~

"How on earth did you manage to get paint in your eyebrows?" Sam asked as she examined my face carefully.

I shrugged, giving her a grin. "Well, the way you paint, flinging it everywhere..."

"I do not fling!" she responded with an amused expression on her face, leaning forward to kiss me. I kissed her back, lifting a hand to tangle through her hair.

"You've got paint in your hair," I commented, and she shrugged.

"So do you. But at least some of it made it onto the walls."

At that statement, I looked around, staring at the living room. We'd finally managed to get the living room painted, and while it still wasn't my favorite color, I had to admit, it looked okay. Less like an apartment, more like a home. Our home. Sam wanted that, needed that, and I would give the girl anything she asked for. I moved behind her, wrapping my arms around her waist and kissed her on the side of her neck.

"Do you like it?"

She nodded, observing the room. "I do."

"Good."

"Do you like it?" she asked, biting her lip, and I nodded.

"I think it's growing on me. So..." I kissed her neck again, lingering longer than I had before. "Are we tackling the baby's room tonight, or..." I continued to kiss her neck, one hand leaving her waist to travel over her ribs, smirking against her skin at the sound of the shaky breath she'd just sucked in.

"Do you want to paint the baby's room?" she responded breathlessly, and I laughed softly, continuing to kiss over her neck, pulling her shirt aside slightly so my lips could travel over her shoulder as I ground my hips into her.

"Does it feel like I want to paint the baby's room?" I replied, and she shook her head.

"No," she responded with a little laugh, leaning back into me. She rested her head back on my shoulder, looking up at me, and I closed the distance between us, kissing her. Softly at first, then deeper, more determined. I felt a hand go to the back of my head as she gave herself up to the kiss, moaning softly against my lips.

"What should we do instead?" I asked, kissing her again.

"I have a few ideas," she replied with a smile.

"Oh?" I responded. "Care to share?"

"Show, don't tell," she replied. She turned around suddenly, pressing against me, before grabbing the back of my head and kissing me forcefully. I growled against her mouth, grabbing her hips and pulling her against me closer.

"Have I told you lately how gorgeous you are?" I asked her, busying myself with unbuttoning her shirt, and she shrugged.

"Maybe I forget."

"Maybe I should remind you," I responded, finally getting the last button undone. I let one hand slide underneath her now open shirt, over her hip, up her ribs, and behind her back, unfastening her bra effortlessly with one hand. I'd come a long way from my days of fumbling with those stupid things...in the beginning, it had taken me ages to unhook her bra, and that was with two hands. Of course, I guess we'd had lots of practice. Briefly I wondered how many times we'd slept together in the course of our relationship, but as I felt her kissing my neck, her hands under my shirt and lightly dragging nails over my back, I stopped trying to do math in my head. I couldn't focus on numbers right now, there was only one thing going on in my head.

Must. Get. Sam. Naked.

Her mouth found mine again, kissing me passionately, hands going for my belt. She could feel how riled up I was already, and she looked up at me, smirking.

"Someone's ready to go," she commented, and I nodded.

"You have no idea," I responded.

Sam laughed. "Yeah, I mean, it's only been...what...nine hours since the last time?"

"Nine and a half," I growled, kissing her again. "Too long."

"How are you going to make it through the day when your internship starts?" she teased me.

"I get lunch breaks."

She laughed again. "What, are you gonna come home on your lunch breaks and make love to me?"

"Every damn day," I replied, kissing over her neck again. "It's gonna be hard for me too, baby."

"I know," she whispered.

I'd been trying to put up a good front for Sam. What with all her freaking out about being away from me for most of the day, one of us had to be the stronger person. Thing was, I wasn't stronger, just better at hiding it. But the idea of not being able to be around her killed me. I was excited about working for Cisco, but not at the prospect of being away from my wife. Still, had to keep it together. Maybe a little bit of apart time would be good for us.

Just not too much apart time, I noted as I pulled her over to the couch, my brain drifting back to the task of getting her naked. I always wanted her, no matter how bad of a mood either one of us were in. I pulled her sweats off, quickly followed by her underwear, and I pulled away to stare at her for a second.

Man, she was gorgeous. The pregnancy hadn't taken away from it one bit, if anything, it had enhanced it. Her skin sort of glowed, her hair looked fuller and shinier. She was beautiful. I leaned down to kiss her again, whispering in her ear how beautiful I thought she was.

"I love you," she whispered back.

"I'll never stop loving you," I reminded her, kissing over her collarbone and enjoying the way it made her whimper and arch into me.

"Baby, take your clothes off," she begged. "Now. I need to feel your skin."

"Patience, gorgeous," I replied with a grin, sitting up to take my shirt off. As soon as I did that, I heard a loud knock at the door.

Sam and I both groaned, and I stood up, pulling her to her feet.

"Every damn time," I muttered. "Go get dressed, I'll see who it is, and chase them off."

Sam headed in the direction of the bedroom, grumbling the entire time about being interrupted again, and I trudged over to the door, not bothering to put my shirt on. As I pulled the door open, my jaw dropped and my eyes widened.

"You've sure got some balls coming over here," I commented as I crossed my arms over my chest. "Can I help you?"

"Who is it?" I heard Sam shout from the bedroom.

"It's Brad."

"What?" Sam exclaimed. I heard a bunch of rustling and banging around in the room, Brad and I just staring at each other awkwardly, before Sam came rushing out towards the front door.

"What the hell are you doing here? Is this about work? A simple text woulda done it, man."

I had to roll my eyes. Despite all the pressure Sam had put on me about smoothing things over with Brad, she was a stubborn little thing, and she still felt slighted. I knew her, one apology and all would be forgiven, but only if he apologized first. Otherwise, the feud would continue.

Brad shook his head, hands in his pockets, eyes downcast. "It's not about work," he replied softly. "I...I need to talk to you. Both of you."

He looked incredibly nervous, not making eye contact and shifting his weight back and forth awkwardly, but I guess I couldn't blame the guy for being nervous. Forget me, even being five months pregnant, Sam could have knocked him out in a heartbeat. Brad had to have known, one step over the line and there'd be one hell of a beating waiting for him.

"Is Carly okay?" I asked, and he nodded.

"This isn't about Carly," Brad replied. "Look, I...I really need to talk to you guys, and..."

"So talk," Sam chirped, crossing her arms over her chest. She glanced over at me and shook her head. "Freddie, go put a shirt on. Stop threatening the boy with your man muscles."

I merely grunted, stepping away long enough to scoop my shirt off the couch and pull it over my head. I walked back over to the door, where Brad was still looking awkward and Sam still looking like she wanted to pounce.

"So what's this about?" I asked, and Brad shrugged.

"Do you think it's a good idea, doing this in the hallway?" He turned his head, glancing in the direction of his parents' apartment.

"What, you want us to let you in here?" Sam snapped. "Why, so you can call me out on other painful experiences that happened in my life?"

"Sam," I muttered, nudging her.

"What?"

"You were the one who said that we should..."

"Well it doesn't mean that I'm just gonna let shit go!"

"Yeah but that doesn't mean that you need to act all..."

"Can you guys PLEASE stop fighting?" Brad interrupted, sounding like he was begging. "Please. I've seen enough of it today."

At that statement, Sam and I gave each other confused looks, before looking back at Brad.

"What happened today?"

Brad sighed, looking off down the hallway again, and I rolled my eyes.

"Fine. Come in."

~*Brad*~

I sat down on Freddie and Sam's couch nervously, looking down at my shoes. I couldn't believe I was doing this. I knew I needed to apologize, I knew I needed their help, but man, I was really worried about getting hit. I didn't know if I ran the risk of getting hit by Sam or Freddie, but I'd been socked by both of them enough in the past to know that either way, I didn't want that!

Freddie and Sam both stood there, glaring at me, waiting for me to say something.

"So, uh...this is a nice couch," I said lamely, and Sam shook her head.

"We're not talking about the damn couch," she hissed. "You had a reason for coming here. What was it?"

I took a deep breath, leaning against the couch. "Look, Sam...I...I'm sorry, okay?"

Sam's facial expression softened up a little, but she still continued to glare at me. "What are you sorry for?"

"I'm sorry I didn't believe you. Over the blackmail thing. I'm sorry you had to lie for my dad, especially when he doesn't deserve it. And...I'm sorry. For what I said to you. I didn't mean it. I was upset."

Sam glanced over at Freddie, almost as if she was seeking his approval over the whole thing, and he shrugged, as if to say 'your call'. She looked back over at me, still dubious, and shook her head a little, lips pursed.

"Freddie, dude, I'm sorry for everything I said, and for swinging on you, giving you a black eye, all of that. I'm really sorry how things turned out. I don't want that. I...I hate that we're not friends anymore. Both of you."

Freddie nodded, seeming to consider my apology carefully for a second, before looking over at Sam and then back at me.

"If my wife forgives you, then I guess we're okay," he said finally. "Sam?"

Sam stared at me for a second, shaking her head. "I'm still really mad at you," she told me. "You know, I honestly thought out of everyone I knew, you would be the last person on earth to say to me what you did. I mean, shit, we had this thing, Brad, and..."

"A thing?" Freddie interrupted, glaring at me.

Oh god, Brad is dead! I started to stand up, possibly to run for my life, when Sam reached over and punched Freddie lightly on the arm.

"Not that kind of thing, nub!" Sam scolded him. "Come on! Regardless of how much of horndog Brad is, making a pass at a pregnant woman? That's too perverted even for him!"

"Hey!" I exclaimed. "I'm mildly offended by that."

"Well, I was majorly offended by what you said, so deal, pretty boy!" Sam snapped. "Look, Freddie, you know what I mean! Brad and I were like partners in crime..."

"Okay, fine, I'll give you that," Freddie grunted, and Sam rolled her eyes before continuing to speak.

"And partners don't turn on each other!" Sam shouted on me. "Dude! You fucking hurt me bad with that shit! You're supposed to be my friend!"

"I am, Sam!" I replied, standing up. "Come on! I didn't mean it. You know that. There was just so much stress..."

"I know," Sam responded. "Believe me, I know. It was stressful for us too. You have no idea what your dad's cop buddies put us through."

"No, I know. Carly told me," I replied. "That's why I felt like such an ass afterwards. I shouldn't have said what I did. I shouldn't have acted the way I acted."

"You're right, you shouldn't have," Sam replied.

"Can we just...go back to the way things were?" I asked hopefully. Sam and Freddie were silent for a moment, staring at each other, that weird telepathy thing they did that baffled everyone else around them. After a minute or so, they looked back at me, and Sam shrugged.

"Okay. I guess we're cool," Sam replied.

Immediately a sense of relief washed over me. I was so glad this whole thing was over. I desperately wanted to be cool with my friends again. I'd missed them both, terribly. I just hoped we'd stay cool, and that they wouldn't think I was just using them for their help in the matter with my siblings.

Of course, all sense of relief immediately vanished when Sam approached me so quickly I didn't even have time to react, slamming her fist into my stomach so hard I doubled over in pain first, then fell to my knees, gasping for breath.

"What...the...hell...was THAT?" I gasped out painfully, and Sam towered over me, shaking her head.

"If you EVER call me a bitch again, I will break your neck, got it Brad?"

"Yes!" I replied. "I'm sorry! God, am I sorry."

"Sam," Freddie said, motioning with his head in the direction of the kitchen, and she simply growled at him.

"Fine," she replied, heading into the kitchen, and a second later, I heard her rifling through the freezer. Freddie bent down, offering me his hand, and I grabbed it as he pulled me to my feet.

"Thanks," I said, and Freddie shrugged.

"You know she's been saving that one up for awhile now," Freddie commented, and I nodded.

"Yeah. I deserve it, I guess."

"No shit," Sam responded as she tossed me a bag of ice, which I immediately placed on my stomach. "So...you didn't come by just to apologize, did you? Something else is going on."

And that was Sam, able to spot a problem a mile away. Still, I was hesitant to talk about it, afraid they'd take it the wrong way. I sucked in a deep breath, leaning back against the couch.

"What's going on, dude?" Freddie asked. "Something's up with you."

"I took the kids," I replied simply, and Freddie and Sam both looked at me strangely.

"What do you mean, you took the kids?" Sam asked. "You're gonna have to give us more detail than that."

I nodded, sighing in frustration. "When Carly was here today, I stopped by my parents' apartment. To hang out with Leah."

"Okay," Freddie said slowly. "Go on."

"Heather, she..." I shook my head, still trying to make sense of the day's events. "She's not doing good, man. She dyed her hair, black. And she pierced her nose. But it's not how she looks, really...it's...she's not Heather any more. She needs help, real help. And my dad thinks he can fix everything by yelling at her."

"Sounds like your dad," Freddie responded with a roll of his eyes. "So what happened?"

"Leah was scared. Like, really scared. My dad just kept yelling, kept yelling. My mom, ran away, locked herself in their room like always. So...my dad's yelling, and he just grabs Heather, yanks her up hard. Scared her. And...that was all I needed to see. I got Leah, got Bryson, Heather, told them to pack up their shit, and that was it."

"And your dad didn't go after you?" Freddie incredulously, and I shook my head.

"Ankle bracelet," Sam commented softly. "He can't leave the apartment."

"Yeah, apparently his kids aren't worth going to jail after all, unless he can get out of it, like he did with the whole Griffin thing."

"We still don't know if he'll get off," Freddie replied. "There hasn't been a verdict yet."

"Nah, he'll get off. You guys gave...very convincing testimonies."

"Yeah, once a liar, always a liar," Sam replied wistfully. Freddie grabbed her leg, shaking it a little bit, and she looked up at him.

"Baby, no," he replied, leaning forward to kiss her. "Don't do that."

"Sorry," she replied, before looking back over at me. "So you took the kids. Where are they now?"

"Upstairs. With Carly. And Spencer."

"Spencer?" Freddie asked. "You called Spence?"

"Well...yeah," I replied. "Spencer took care of Carly for...what...seven, eight years? I figured he could give me some good advice."

"Dude," Freddie responded. "You're gonna need more than good advice. Spencer didn't fight Carly's dad for custody."

"I know..." I replied. I leaned forward, resting my head in my hands. "I don't know what I'm supposed to do."

"You did the right thing, Brad," Sam reassured me. "But...it's gonna be really hard. You're going to need a really good lawyer, and you're going to need..." Sam trailed off, looking over at Freddie, who just sighed, rising to his feet.

"I'll call Uncle Milton," he said flatly.

"Thank you, baby," she replied with a smile, before looking back at me. "Okay, so...first things first, we're gonna have to file some paperwork. But before we do that, we need to look at every single angle we can. How to discredit your parents as unfit, how to pump up your image a little bit, reversals of those, figure out where the kids' heads are at..."

"Wait..." I interrupted. "So...you're gonna help me? Just like that?"

"What are you, brain damaged?" Sam snapped. "Of course we're gonna help!"

"Seriously?" I asked, and Sam nodded.

"Look, what happened sucks, okay? But I'm over it. I have been for awhile. I was just waiting for you to apologize."

"You decked me in the gut!"

"Yeah, well, I was waiting for that too," she replied with a grin. "And I feel much better now."

"Well I guess that's good," I grumbled. "So...you really think I have a shot at this?"

Sam snorted inelegantly. "Please. With Uncle Milton in the loop, and ME, you've got it in the bag, dude."

I had to smile at that. Once Sam put her mind to something and got going, nothing could stop her, like a little blonde freight train.

I could hear Freddie in the kitchen, explaining to his uncle what was going on, and after a few minutes, he hung up, walking back into the living room.

"What time's your last final tomorrow?" he asked, and I groaned, slumping back in defeat.

"Oh, god! Finals! I completely forgot, man! But...I should be done by four."

"That's good, because we have an appointment with my uncle at four thirty tomorrow. Be ready."

"Alright," I responded. "I guess I can get Carly to watch the kids if she's done with finals, or...maybe Spencer. He seems to have taken a shine to Bry."

"Well, that's not surprising," Sam said with a laugh. "Better watch out, Spencer might try to adopt him." With that, she stood up, heading in the direction of their bedroom.

"Sam, where are you going?"

"Getting my books, and then we're going upstairs. Spencer and I have work to do."

"Work? Spencer? Sam!" Freddie yelled. "We have finals in the morning! You need to sleep!"

"There's no time for sleep!" Sam hollered as she walked out of the bedroom, struggling under the weight of all the massive law books she was carrying. "This is serious shit!"

"Well how is Spencer going to help you?" Freddie shot back.

"He went to law school!"

"For three days!"

"Yeah, but he was also a pre-law as an undergrad. He knows the material! Now get your shoes on, and let's go!"

"But...but Sam..."

"No buts, Freddie!"

"But we didn't even get to finish..."

"Later!"

Freddie growled for a second, before shooting a glare at me.

"What?" I squeaked, and Freddie shook his head.

"Dude..."

"Oh god, did I interrupt special time again?" I groaned.

"Yeah," Freddie muttered. "Sam, I hope you know they're getting blue!"

"Oh quit whining," she replied. "I'll take care of you when we get back."

"You bet your sexy ass you will!" he shot back. "Alright, let's get this thing started, we've all got a lot on our plates over the next few months."

"Freddie, help me!" Sam yelled, and with that, the massive pile of books she was carrying clattered to the floor.

"Sam!" he scolded. "I told you to stop lifting heavy stuff! It's not good for the baby. Let me carry them." He bent down to pick up the fallen books, eyes widening at their weight.

"Here," he said, thrusting a few books into my arms.

"Alright, let's go. I've been dying to check out the creepy roommate anyway," Sam replied as we walked to the elevator. "Is he super weird?"

"That's an understatement," I replied. "He's always staring at Carly. I dunno what it is about nerds, but they all seem to love her..."

"That explains so much," Sam replied, staring at Freddie, and he scowled at her.

"Look, I told you, decoy!"

"Oh come on, at least part of you liked her. The nerdy part."

"You know what, Sam? If you don't like my parts..."

"Oh please, I love your parts," Sam replied with a smile, kissing him. "Even the nerdy ones."

"In the elevator," I reminded them, but they ignored me, making out like I wasn't even there. I guess some things never change.

"Good to be back, Brad," I told myself.

~*Sam*~

"What time is it?" Carly asked mournfully as she laid her head back on the couch.

"Almost two," Brad responded with a groan. "Babe, why don't you get some sleep? You've gotta get up in five hours."

"Thanks for reminding me," she grumbled. "Are you sure? You don't need me to help?"

"Well, there is one thing you can do," he responded. "Make more coffee?"

"I can do that," she replied, standing up. She walked behind Brad, wrapping her arms around him, leaning down to kiss him. "I love you."

"Love you too, babe."

"And...and I'm proud of you," she replied.

"You are?" he asked, and she nodded.

"Took a lot of guts to do what you did. What you're going to do."

"Yeah, I know," he replied.

"Do you know though?" Spencer asked as he looked up from one of my textbooks. "For real, I mean? I mean, just with Leah...you're looking at a fifteen year commitment here."

Brad nodded, taking a deep breath. "I know. But...it's worth it. They're worth it."

I shot a look over at Freddie, who just gave me a nod. We hadn't really gotten to talk about it, because Spencer and I had began to construct a case for Brad immediately, but Freddie and I were both really impressed...and surprised...by what Brad was doing. He'd changed a lot, after he gave up drinking, but this was a whole new level. He was about to undergo something really hard, and would permanently alter his life. And Carly's life too.

I watched Carly move about the kitchen, making a fresh pot of coffee, and I pushed my chair back, standing up.

"I'll be right back," I told the guys, bending down to give Freddie a quick kiss. With that, I headed into the kitchen, standing next to Carly.

"So..." I started, and she looked over at me for a second, before grabbing me into a fierce hug.

"Shay!" I squeaked, arms flailing. "You're crushing the baby!"

"Sorry!" she replied, pulling away. "I'm just so glad you and Brad are okay again! And Freddie too! This is awesome!"

I had to smile at that, shaking my head. "Yeah, it's great, Carls, but...what are your thoughts about what's going on now? With the kids?"

Carly leaned against the counter, sighing. "Well, I'm still trying to figure it out," she replied as she tucked a piece of hair behind her ear. "I...I love Brad. And I know his family's really important to him. He needs my support. So...I'm going to support him."

"But how do YOU feel about it?" I pressed, and Carly shrugged.

"Well, it's a little bit daunting, honestly. The idea of taking care of three kids? But...at least I'll understand what it's like, being raised by your brother and all, I'll be able to help them with that. And...they're not so bad, you know? Heather is...she needs help, that's for sure, but...she'll be okay, I think. And...Leah's adorable, and Bryson's cool. I think we can make it work."

"Yeah, but...if you include creeper, that's six people living in this apartment, Carly! It's gonna be really intense, you know?"

"I know, but...wait," Carly gave me a suspicious look. "Are you trying to talk me out of it?"

"What?" I shot back, sounding incredulous. "No! I'm just trying to get you to see all angles of it! Why would I talk you out of it?"

"I dunno...pregnancy hormones?"

"Carly!"

"What? I'm sorry...it's just...you've been a little..."

"A little what?" I demanded, hands on my hips.

"Uneven," Carly said weakly.

"Wha...uneven?" I exclaimed.

"Carly!" Freddie shouted from the living room. "Don't poke the bear!"

"So now I'm a bear?" I exclaimed, glaring at Freddie, who visibly shrunk under my gaze. Slightly disgusted, I turned my attention to Brad and Spencer. "So do you think I'm a bear?"

Brad and Spencer's eyes slid over to one another, looking slightly fearful, and Spencer leaned toward Brad.

"Don't answer that," he said in a soft voice. "It's a bear trap."

"I am not a bear!"

"Alright, everyone calm down!" Carly said. "Sam, you're not a bear. Most of the time."

"Gee, thanks," I grunted, and Carly rolled her eyes.

"Come on, back to work. You guys aren't going to get anything done by arguing over who's a bear."

"I've gotta be getting back anyway," Spencer replied, standing up. "April's gonna kill me for staying out this late."

"Well, at least she came and got the baby," Carly offered.

"Alright, so...you guys have the meeting with Uncle Milton tomorrow after finals, right?" Spencer asked Freddie and Brad, who nodded.

"We can finish working on some stuff afterwards...you guys can all come over," Spencer offered. Freddie shot a look over at me, and I shrugged.

"Yeah, we can do that," Freddie replied.

"Alright, well, I've got a long drive ahead of me, I'll see you guys tomorrow. Good luck on finals." With that, Spencer headed for the door, shutting it behind him. With a groan, I flopped down on Freddie's lap, burying my face in his neck.

"God, finals," I moaned. "It's so late, Freddie."

"Yeah, it is getting pretty late," he responded, stroking my hair. "You need to be in bed."

"Sorry, guys," Brad said, looking distressed, and I shook my head.

"It's fine, don't worry about it. Let's just...all get through tomorrow, and then...oh god."

"Should we review?" Freddie asked, and I shook my head.

"Don't review."

"I gotta review," Freddie replied. "Okay, so...finals, internship, the trial for Brad's dad, the trial for Carly's stalker, and now putting together a case to get custody for Brad of his siblings...all in the next two weeks."

"Dude..." Brad moaned. "How? Why?"

"I have no idea," Freddie replied, still playing with my hair. I looked up at him, and he gave me a smile. "Of course, maybe because I've got something so good in my life, have to take some bad shit now and then, just to balance it out."

"Aw, baby!" I said, kissing him. He kissed me back eagerly, and I could tell he was getting a little excited. I was sitting on his lap, so I could REALLY feel it. At that realization, I stood up. It was super late and we had tests together, plus Freddie had manned up over the Brad thing, hadn't hit him, and even agreed to help him, so in my opinion, boy deserved a reward. I grabbed Freddie's arms, pulling him to his feet.

"We should go," I said. "It's late, and...stuff."

"Good stuff?" Carly teased, and I nodded, laughing.

"GREAT stuff."

"Have fun with that, we have a three year old in our room right now," Carly said.

"Babe, I'm sorry, it's just..." Brad began, and Carly cut him off.

"It's fine, baby. Don't worry about it. I told you, we'll get the sleeping arrangements figured out."

"Maybe the Carlton guy will go ubercreep and you guys can throw him out!" I suggested, and Carly rolled her eyes.

"After dealing with Matthew, I'd rather re-work the sleeping arrangements than deal with more creeps. Besides, I guess he's not so bad. Just...awkward. And...lacking hygiene."

"Well, whatever," I said with a shrug, smirking at the way Freddie was dragging me towards the door. He was ready to go already, and didn't want to wait any longer. "Night guys."

"Night," Carly replied.

"Good luck on your finals!" Freddie added, before dragging me out the door and pulling it closed. We walked down the hallway hand in hand, and Freddie leaned against the wall as he waited for the elevator.

"So..." I said, swinging his arm back and forth. "Brad..."

"He's not gonna have an easy time with this," Freddie said. "But...you know...if he actually pulls it off...it might be good for him. Make him grow up a little."

"Yeah, Spencer was pretty bad before Carly moved in with him. I mean, he'll probably always act like he's twelve, but...he's gotten...better. I guess."

"I think Brad may fare better than Spencer, don't you think?"

I stared at Freddie for a second, giving him a knowing smile.

"Don't."

"You missed him."

"I did not."

"Liar," I said with a grin, poking him. "You missed Brad!"

"No I didn't!"

"You love Brad!"

"Shut up, Sam!"

"Aw, Freddie got his boyfriend back! Bromance!"

"Sam, I'm serious!"

"Okay, fine," I replied as we stepped on the elevator, and I gave him a quick kiss on his cheek. "I'm sorry. I won't tease you."

"Thank you," Freddie replied, giving me a kiss. "Now, can we please get back to..."

"Brad and Freddie sittin' in a tree..."

"SAM!"


	50. Chapter 50: Stress

**Chapter Fifty:  
><strong>**Stress**

~*Freddie*~

"How do I look?" I asked Sam as I finished getting dressed, turning around look at her. She sighed, staring at me for a second.

"You look great," she said softly. "You always do."

Sam was sitting in the middle of our bed, looking slightly mournful, hugging her knees as best as she could, what with the belly in the way.

I knew she wasn't in the best frame of mind right now. Finals were over, and that was a relief, but today was the first day of my internship, and Sam wasn't looking forward to it. I was on the fence about it. I didn't want to leave Sam by herself, but I was excited at the prospect of working for Cisco and setting myself, my family, up for a decent future.

Still, Sam seemed so sad, just staring at me wistfully as she toyed with a strand of long blonde hair. I sat down on the bed next to her and put a hand on her cheek, kissing her softly.

"I love you," I reminded her, and she nodded.

"I love you too," she whispered. "You'll hurry back?"

"Of course, baby. Nothing could keep me away from you," I replied. I kissed her again, my hands going to her shoulders, rubbing them softly. "I want you to do something for me today."

"What?"

"Try to get some rest," I responded. "You've been under a lot of a stress lately, and that can't be good for you or the baby."

"But, I wanted to get some stuff done today," she argued, and I laughed a little.

"I'm not saying stay in bed the entire day, just...take it easy, alright? Don't push yourself."

Sam grunted a little, obviously annoyed by my comments, and she rolled her eyes.

"Freddie, I'm not a weakling! I can handle shit, I'm a big girl, I..." I cut her off instantly, pressing my lips to hers, unable to keep from laughing as she continued to rant against my mouth. I pulled away, and she glared at me.

"Stop doing that!" Sam exclaimed. "I can't keep my train of thought when you do that! You make me so mad sometimes, Freddie! You think I'm weak, and..." I pushed her hair off her shoulder, kissing her bare skin. "You act like I can't do anything now that I'm pregnant and..." I kissed further up, over her neck, my tongue flicking at her earlobe, and she sighed, her ranting beginning to wear off. She moaned pitifully as I pushed her onto her back, kissing her again, her arms going around me.

"I hate you," she murmured, and I laughed.

"You love me. You just hate that I can do that to you."

"Yeah, well...I...dammit," she muttered. "Fine, I'll try to take it easy. But I wanted to get the baby's room finished this week, and there's a lot to do with the whole Brad thing."

"We'll get the baby's room finished, sweetheart. I promise. And...you know Brad's getting an actual lawyer, right? Uncle Milton recommended a really good that specializes in family law. I don't want you putting a bunch of pressure on yourself over this."

Of course, I knew my words were falling on deaf ears. On the one hand, it was good for Brad that he had people like my wife and Spencer supporting him on this, because they'd both had experience in that department, Spencer with taking care of his younger sister, and Sam growing up in a home that desperately needed intervention from outside parties. But I worried that Sam would get a little bit too engrossed in it, not only because of her background, but because she studied law. Still, I supposed it wouldn't be the worst thing in the world...it would definitely give her something to do while I was gone for most of the day.

Finals had come and gone, and the semester was finally over. I couldn't remember any other semester being so stressful. It had seemed to drag on forever, and I was glad Sam would finally get a break from everything. On the other hand, I wouldn't be. I was incredibly nervous about starting at Cisco today, my head full of doubts. Would the people I worked with get along with me? Was I smart enough to handle it? Was I really as knowledgeable about computers and technology as I thought?

Ugh, so much pressure. This wasn't just about a summer internship for school credit, this was about impressing the people in the big leagues, so I might have a shot at a future in the company. So Sam and the baby would be well taken care of. What if I failed? Not just the internship, but if I really screwed up, could I get blackballed, and then nobody in the field of my choice be willing to hire me?

"Do you need more coffee?" Sam asked me, and I shook my head.

"I don't think that's such a good idea."

"Freddie..." Sam said with a sigh, sitting up and getting behind me. I let out a groan as I felt her hands knead and massage my tightly wound shoulder muscles. "Stop freaking out, baby. You'll be fine. I promise."

"How do you figure?"

"Because you're brilliant," Sam replied with a kiss on the side of my neck. "I know you can handle this."

"I hope you're right, sweetheart," I responded, and Sam laughed a little.

"I'm always right," she replied. She sighed as she looked over at the clock. "Well, you'd better get a move on, or you'll be late."

"Not a good way to start my first day," I grumbled, rising to my feet. Sam sat there on the bed, staring at me, and I gave her a smile, leaning down to kiss her. "I love you. So much. I'll be back soon, okay?"

"Okay. Be careful. And don't let the nerds bring you down!"

"Sam!" I laughed. "I'm a nerd, remember?"

"Sexiest nerd ever," she quipped. "Just do your best, I know you'll be awesome."

"Thanks baby," I replied. "Love you."

"Love you too. Now go, you're gonna be late!" she scolded me with a swat on my ass, and I laughed, jumping away from her, before bending down to kiss her one last time.

"See you soon. Go back to sleep," I told her. With that, I took her hand in mine, lifting it to my mouth and planting a kiss on the soft skin. "Bye, baby."

"Bye."

With that, I left the apartment, heading downstairs to my car. The office wasn't too far away from our place, only twenty minutes including traffic, but twenty minutes was a lot of time to allow my nerves to build up. Briefly I wondered if I should have upped my dose of Xanax just for the day.

The place was huge, and I was barely able to find my way to the elevator. As I stood inside, the elevator traveling up to the HR department, I couldn't help but bounce with anxiety. There was so much pressure, so many things were riding on this. I better not screw up. I better not screw up.

That's all I could tell myself, over and over, the entire elevator ride. I tried to calm myself down, but it wasn't working. I never had been very good at calming myself down, that was Sam's department. Girl was a total pro at it, but it made me realize that she hadn't ever really allowed me to try to calm myself down. She always stepped in, and I'd become a little bit dependent on it.

As the elevator doors opened, I realized I would have to get over it, because I'd be under a lot of stress here, with no Sam. I approached the front desk nervously, and the secretary, a girl who looked a little older than me with strawberry-blonde hair and blue eyes, eyed me carefully.

"Can I help you?"

"Uh...Fredward Benson. I'm supposed to start work here today, as an intern?"

"Oh!" she replied. "Right." I watched her pick up the phone and dial a number. "Hey, CG, new guy's here." She looked back up at me. "It'll be just a second, CG will show you the finer points of internship here. I'm Lisa, nice to meet you...Fredward..."

"You can just call me Freddie," I replied.

"Sounds a lot better," she responded. "First internship?"

"Uh-huh."

"Nervous?"

"You have no idea," I replied.

Lisa laughed a little. "Wait until you meet the other interns."

"What?" I responded, confused. "What does that mean?"

"They're very...competitive."

Uh-oh. That's all I needed. A bunch of competitive computer nerds trying to bring me down. I was going to have to step my game up before the game even started!

At that moment, the door flung open, and in walked another girl. Like Lisa the secretary, she looked a few years older than me, but unlike Lisa, she looked downright intimidating. She was tall, but the heels she was wearing looked even taller, and the stark contrast of black pencil skirt and crisp white button up made her look serious and not to be messed with. So did the black plastic frames she wore, along with her brown hair pulled back into a severe bun.

"I'm CG," she said. "You're the new intern?"

"Uh, yeah. Freddie. Freddie Benson. Um...CG?"

"Yep," CG replied matter-of-factly. "My real name's actually Cassie Gregory, but the CG really stands for Computer Geek."

"Okay..." I replied. "Well, it's nice to..."

"Anyway," CG interrupted me. "I started off here as an intern two years ago, and then at the end of the summer, they offered me a job, as a Jr. Systems Analyst, but I'm also in charge of new interns. So let's get going, we have a lot of ground to cover."

I shot a look over at the secretary, who just shook her head at me woefully, as if to say, "You're in trouble." With a sigh, I followed CG as she took off down the hall, her heels making a click-clacking sound that echoed off the stark white walls.

"So what can you do?" CG asked me, and I shrugged.

"What do you mean?" I asked.

"Are you a hardware guy or a software guy?"

"Both."

CG raised her eyebrow at me, an amused expression on her face. "Both, huh? Well, you probably won't have time for both. Best to stick with one and blaze forward. What's your major?"

"Electrical Engineering."

"Hardware it is," she chirped, changing the direction of her path so suddenly I almost ran into her. "This way. Try to keep up."

CG led me down the hall and through a door, revealing a myriad of cubicles. It was huge, and you could hear the whizzing of servers in the background. She led me through the maze of cubicles, stopping outside of one.

"Hey, guys, stop looking at porn!" she chided three guys who looked a little bit older than me, sitting around at their desks.

One of them, an Asian guy with spiked hair, glared at her.

"Funny, CG."

"Got a new recruit for you," she stated, ignoring his comment. "This is Freddie."

The guys all nodded at me, and I gave a small, nervous wave.

"What's up?"

"Okay, so...this is Dave...or Dongle, as we call him," she said, referring to the Asian guy, and I wrinkled my nose.

"Dongle?" I asked. "Like...the software encrypter?"

"Yep," Dongle replied. "I build encryption keys, so it just kinda fit." He turned to the two other guys who were sitting with him. "And this is Spock and Mud."

Spock? Mud? Dongle? CG? There sure were a lot of weird nicknames in this place. Would I be given a nickname? Would it be lame?

"Uh...so...so why do they call you guys..."

"Trekkie," Spock replied, a slightly chubby guy with blonde hair who reminded me a little of Gibby.

"And my real name's Clay, so...self-explanatory," Mud replied. "So, you're the new intern, huh? You look kinda young."

"I'm nineteen," I replied, and the guys eyebrows all went up.

"Nineteen? And you got in here?" Dongle asked. "How'd you pull that off?"

"Well, I had some pretty good references..." I replied.

"Ah yes, nepotism. Interesting," CG replied sarcastically. I tried to prevent myself from glaring at her, saying something snippy, but it wasn't easy.

"CG, lay off the boy!" Spock scolded her. "Doesn't matter if he had a reference, if he was a total dumbass he wouldn't have gotten in here."

"Well, whatever," CG replied. "I'll let you guys give little Freddie here the run-through. I've got things to do." With that, she left, the click-clacking of heels echoing through the room. I watched her walk away, then wordlessly looked back at the guys.

"Well," I said, clearing my throat. "She's a little...intense."

"Don't mind CG. She's very competitive," Mud said.

"I think you made her nervous," Spock added with a little laugh. "So, have a seat, junior."

"You guys can't be much older than me," I declared as I sat down in an empty chair, and they all laughed.

"Yeah, but...come on man, we're nerds. Whatever we can find to make fun of somebody, we'll take it. Get used to it, Wonder Boy."

I had to laugh at that, shaking my head, and Dongle gave me a look.

"What's so funny?"

"Nothing, my friends call me that so...it's kind of fitting."

"Wonder Boy it is," Mud replied. He stared at me for a second. "You look really familiar."

Uh-oh. Here it comes.

"Yeah, he does," Spock commented. "I don't know why, but..." He stared at me for a second, and then his eyebrows went up in recognition. "Dude! You're the dude!"

"Way to be descriptive, Spock!" Mud declared, throwing a pen at him.

"He's the dude from that show!"

"Oh, shit!" Dongle exclaimed. "Yeah, you're from that webshow! What is it...iCarly?"

"That's the one," I replied, leaning back. "Tech producer."

"Yeah, screw the reference, THAT'S how you got in here," Spock said. "I don't watch it a lot, but from what I've seen, that show's pretty funny. Some hot chicks too."

"Yeah man," Dongle agreed. "The blonde one? Super hot."

"Totally," Spock agreed, before looking over at me. "You ever hit that?"

I rolled my eyes, trying to push down my annoyance at them talking about how hot Sam was. I crossed my arms over my chest, staring at them. "Yeah, quite a lot. She's my wife."

"WIFE?" they all exclaimed.

"Damn, dude!" Mud added, slapping my leg. "How'd you get a chick so hot? And why'd you get married?"

I shrugged, not wanting to go into details of Sam's past. "Because I love her. It just seemed...right."

"How long have you guys been married?"

"Three years in July."

"Whoa," Dongle said, his eyebrows going up. "Guess you wanted to lay a claim on that one early."

"You have no idea," I said with a laugh. "She's awesome. We're having a kid too. Due in September."

"Man, you ARE Wonder Boy!" Mud stated. "Cisco, a webshow, married with a kid on the way? When do you have time to sleep?"

I just shrugged. "It gets stressful, but...whatever."

"Cool, man," Spock replied. "So...the other one, Carly? Is she taken? Hook a bro up!"

I had to laugh at that. "Yeah, she's taken. Has been for awhile."

"Ever tapped that?"

"Dude!" Dongle yelled. "You need to get out, man! Find a woman!"

"Women don't dig nerds!"

"Guess I lucked out," I said with a laugh, and they all nodded. "But no, I've never...tapped that."

"Well, whatever," Mud replied. "So...we should probably get back to work before boss man comes by and yells at us." He stood up, pushing his chair back. "I'm gonna take you to the servers, let you take a peek at them. You'll probably start off there, doing tests on them, making sure they run correctly, all that."

"Sounds good," I replied, standing up too. I gave a little wave to Dongle and Spock. "Sure I'll see you guys around again."

"Most def," Dongle replied. "Later, Wonder Boy."

With that, I followed Mud over to the servers, all the while wondering what I'd gotten myself into.

~*Carly*~

"Brad, wake up," I said gently. "It's after eleven."

"I'm absolutely exhausted," Brad groaned, burying his face in his pillow.

I sighed, laying back down next to him and kissing his bare shoulder, one hand going under the blankets to rub his back. He sighed, squirming a little bit. Brad had definitely been put through the ringer over the last four days, first with the fight with his dad and forcibly taking his siblings out of the apartment, then finals. We'd still had a show to do finals night, and even though all of us were absolutely exhausted, it was the best show we'd had in awhile, mostly because Brad, Sam, and Freddie were on speaking terms again. It was amazing, like nothing had ever happened. Everyone had simply snapped back into action and picked up where they'd left off.

It had definitely lifted Brad's spirits a lot, but everything that had been going on had done absolutely nothing for his sleeping habits. Getting Leah used to sleeping in a new place had been difficult. Getting Heather to turn the television off before four AM had been even more difficult. And even though Brad had been exhausted and mere hours from his exams, he'd woken up on Friday at six AM to get the kids dressed and ready for school. The weekend had been a little bit crazy, but thankfully April hadn't had a problem with letting us come over on Friday, and then again on Saturday. We'd slept over that night, and it was a lot easier dealing with the three kids in a big house. Bryson and Spencer had been occupied for most of the day Saturday, working on art. And even though Maggie was nearly two years younger than Leah, they played together, and had a lot of fun.

But now it was Monday. Brad had woken up again early, taken the kids to school, and went right back to sleep. We were both surprised that aside from a few threatening messages from Brad's father, no moves had been made to take the kids back. It made Brad wonder, whether they really wanted them at all.

It wasn't good for Brad to think like that, and I was determined to not let that thought get too firmly rooted in his head. I was so relieved the semester was over, and we'd have the whole summer free, but our problems were not behind us, they were just beginning.

I was going to stand by Brad no matter what, but deep down, I was worried. I didn't know what kind of stress this would put on our relationship. I didn't know if I'd be strong enough, or capable enough, to handle taking care of these kids. Spencer was absolutely right in saying it was a lifelong commitment, but I wasn't sure if I was going to be able to do it.

But I had to try. I loved Brad, and I would support him no matter what. We'd dealt with way worse over the last three years, and if some of the craziness that had went on hadn't broken us up, this wouldn't either. I was sure of it.

I continued to rub Brad's back, giggling at the way it made him purr like a big cat. I applied a little more pressure, and my brows furrowed.

"You're tense."

"You're just now noticing?" Brad mumbled into the pillow, then let out a groan as my hands traveled over the tightly wound muscles of his lower back. "Carly, I swear to god, if you keep doing that, I will do ANYTHING you want. I will buy you anything...do you want a pony?"

I had to laugh at that. "No thanks, I'm good. I'm actually enjoying being able to grope you."

"I'm enjoying it too. I'm so tired, babe," Brad moaned.

"I know," I replied, kissing his shoulder again. "You'll get used to it, I guess."

"How am I going to handle next semester?"

"The same way you handle every semester. Put everything off until the last second, and then uber-cram before the tests."

"Oh yeah," Brad replied. "I forgot how great I am at that."

"You can't take all the credit, you learned it from Sam."

"Yeah, but she stopped as soon as she hit college. Talk about a role reversal."

"Yeah, she's definitely not the same Sam..."

"She still hits like the same Sam," Brad grunted. "I have a little fist shaped bruise right in the middle of my stomach."

"Well, did you deserve it?" I asked, continuing to massage his back, and he groaned.

"Yeah, I totally did," he replied. "Oh man, this feels so good. Please don't stop."

"I won't," I replied, kissing his back, and he sighed a little.

"You're an amazing girl, you know that, Carly?"

"You're pretty amazing yourself, baby," I replied. "Taking over the kids, without even being asked? Pretty incredible."

"Yeah, I just hope I can handle it. If I screw up..."

"You're not gonna screw up."

"My dad screwed up."

"Brad," I said softly, my hand going to his shoulder and rolling him onto his back so I could look at him. "You're never going to be like your dad if you don't want to."

"I don't want to," he said softly, shaking his head.

"And you're not," I replied, kissing him. I felt his hand go to the back of my neck as he kissed me back, sitting up a little to deepen the kiss.

"I love you, Carly," he whispered against my lips.

"I love you too, Brad."

"This doesn't bother you?"

"It...worries me. But it doesn't bother me."

"What worries you?"

"Can I handle it?"

"You can handle anything. I love you."

I bit my lip, staring at him. "And I love you."

Brad continued to keep his eyes locked with mine, almost like he was unable to look away. "Carly..."

"Yeah?"

"I...I want...never mind."

A perplexed expression flickered across my face. "You want what? Say it."

"I...nothing. I'm hungry, that's all. And exhausted. Not thinking clearly."

"Oh," I replied. "Well, you want me to make you some breakfast?"

"Do you mind?"

"No, as long as you don't mind eating it," I replied, and Brad gave me a grin.

"Well, you haven't screwed up eggs yet, so..."

"Shut up!" I replied, thumping him, and he laughed. "Go back to sleep, I'll wake you up when your food's ready."

"Mmmkay," he responded sleepily. "Love you."

"I love you too," I replied, giving him one last kiss before I stood up. I trudged over to the bathroom, shutting the door behind me. I had been in bed for just as long as Brad, but hey, all the kids were still at school, and we were officially out, we deserved a little extra sleep after those horrible finals. I looked in the mirror and groaned at the state of my hair and face. Brad had to have been the most perfect guy on earth, being able to kiss me and look at me with my messy hair and smeared eye makeup. I looked like a raccoon that had gotten beat down! I quickly washed my face and put on moisturizer, before picking my hairbrush up.

Huh, that was weird. I was really bad about remembering to clean out my brush after using it on my hair, and sometimes a week or two's worth of strands would be tangled in it. Brad wasn't exactly a neat freak, but he always gave me crap about cleaning out my hairbrush, and he hated whenever there'd be a bunch of hair lodged in the shower drain. He and Sam used to butt heads all the time over Sam's long blonde hair being all over the apartment, but she couldn't really help it. Girl had a LOT of hair. My hair wasn't as long or as thick as Sam's, but like every girl, I still managed to shed some, and it really grossed Brad out. He was so weird about things like that.

I looked at my brush carefully. Yesterday it had been full of lost strands, and today it was spotless, almost looking like a brand new hairbrush, not a speck of hair on it. I looked in the trash can. No hair.

"Hey, Brad?" I called, and he regarded me with one of his man grunts. "Did you clean out my hairbrush?"

"Are you crazy?" he called back. "I'm not touching that nasty thing!"

"Well, somebody did!" I replied.

"Maybe Heather used it," Brad yelled from the bed. "But I certainly didn't, and wouldn't touch it."

"Why are you so weird about hair?" I responded, walking back into the bedroom.

"I dunno! It's dead cells anyway, so...touching hair that's fallen out, it's like touching...dead things. I don't like it."

"You're such a strange boy," I replied, sitting on the bed and brushing my hair. "You don't mind playing with the hair on my head."

"Well, it's still attached," he muttered. "And it's not like I play with it a lot. At least I don't have a hair fetish like Freddie does."

"Yeah, he is pretty weird about Sam's hair," I agreed. "But I'd still like to know what happened to my brush."

"Maybe the cleaning fairy paid you a visit," Brad replied, burying his face in the pillow. "Oh god, why am I so tired?"

"I dunno, baby, but I'm gonna go make you breakfast now, and then you've gotta get up. We've got stuff to do."

"I don't wanna do stuff," Brad groaned.

"Well, we have to," I reminded him. "We have to look at how we're going to rearrange and split off the studio, go shopping and try to find some beds, and you promised to change the A/C filter! And we have to go pick Leah up from preschool at two. Plus, Spencer's coming over, and Sam, and..."

"Carly," Brad cut me off, grabbing me and pulling me down to him. "I know. I'll get up. I'm just tired, okay?"

"I know," I replied, laying my head on his chest. I laid there for a minute, listening to his heartbeat, when I felt one of his hands go under my shirt, running over my back. I lifted my head to find Brad staring at me intently.

"I know that look," I said, giving him a fake glare. "Thought you were tired."

"Never too tired for you, babe," he replied, lifting his head to kiss me.

"What about breakfast?" I asked, gasping in surprise when he suddenly flipped me onto my back. I moaned a little as his mouth find my neck, one hand running over my side, inching my shirt up.

"I'm working up an appetite," he quipped.

I couldn't even think about arguing with him as he pulled my shirt off, nor did I want to. He took his time with me, making love to me slowly, passionately, intensely. I could tell he was working off a little bit of stress, not only that, but it was kind of hard to find any time to be together over the last two days, what with Leah being in our room and all.

We were so engrossed in each other, we didn't even hear the door creaking open, until a surprised gasp rang out.

"Holy shit! Oops!"

"Sam!" I yelled, throwing the sheet over me. "What the hell?"

"Sorry!" she replied, still standing there. "The door was unlocked! So I let myself in, and...whoa. Dude. You may wanna visit the tanning bed."

"Will you get out?" Brad snapped, covering himself up, and Sam just grinned at him.

"I'm just saying man, get some sun on those cheeks! Your ass is whiter than snow!"

"Sam!" I yelled, flushing with embarrassment. "Get out!"

"Sorry!" she said again. "Hurry up, will ya? I'm bored." With that, she left, shutting the door behind her. Brad fell back onto the bed with a groan.

"Man..."

"You know, she's probably getting back at us for all those times we interrupted her and Freddie," I commented, and Brad just grumbled to himself.

"Yeah, but they're ALWAYS doing it."

"True," I replied.

"And my ass is not that white."

"It's pretty white," I teased.

"No it isn't!" he shot back. "My ass is awesome, thank you very much."

"Awesomely white."

"Carly!" Brad exclaimed.

I just laughed, kissing him again. "C'mere, whitey. Finish what you started."

~*Sam*~

"Well that was extremely ridiculous," I grunted, brushing dust off my knees. "We probably should have cleaned the back of the studio once or twice over the past three years, you know?"

"Tell me about it," Carly groaned, wiping her forehead. "But at least the beds are here now."

"Three kids, one room...in our studio," I commented. "When are you gonna get nerdboy to move out?"

"Sam!" Carly scolded. "I can't just kick him out! He hasn't done anything!"

"Yeah, but you need the space, Carls!" I replied. "I know you, you always want to be the nice girl, but...these are special circumstances. Bryson doesn't need to room with girls."

Carly sighed, wiping her hands. "I know, but...it's gonna be hard no matter what."

"Well, Freddie said when he gets off work he was going to help Brad put up that partition wall, to keep the shooting area a little more blocked off. That'll help," I offered.

"I know, but...man...this is so much to take in," Carly replied.

I gave Carly a sympathetic look. "I know it's a lot for you to deal with, Carls. And I know we've talked about it, but...are you sure you're okay with it?"

Carly stood there for a second, fiddling with her nails. I could tell she was trying to choose her words carefully.

"I...I don't have a problem with it," she finally said. "I just really worry whether Brad and I can handle it, you know? It's a lot to take in! Three kids, and one of them is a sullen teenager who needs to be in therapy, and Leah...she's not even in kindergarten yet. But...you know what's weird?"

"What?"

"Leah hasn't cried for her mom or her dad once since she's been here," Carly replied. "I mean...when I moved in with Spencer, I wanted my dad still, and I was eleven! Do you remember how upset I was?"

"Yeah, I remember," I replied. Carly and I had been best friends for two years when her dad suddenly got the position on the submarine, and I had been really worried I was going to lose her, but then Spencer had surprised all of us when he agreed to take Carly in. But still, it had been hard on her at first. I couldn't really see her point of view, because I had spent most of my life begging someone to take me away from my mom. But I understood it, I suppose, for people with normal parents. It was very odd for a three year old to not want her mom.

"It's just...knowing that...she's so little, and still...not crying for her mom, but being superglued to Brad the way she is...it worries me. Like...maybe there's a lot more going on than Brad and I knew about."

My brow furrowed, thinking over Carly's comments carefully.

"You're right. It is strange."

"I think all of them need to go to a shrink," Carly replied. "I mean, it's not that I think they're crazy or anything, but we need a trained professional to deal with this. Something was going on in that apartment, you know? Maybe...maybe things got even worse after Brad left."

"Yeah, maybe," I replied. "But still, you haven't really talked about..."

"Look, whether I'm ready to handle it or not, knowing what I know now?" Carly replied. "We have no choice. I can't just sit here and let them go back to that. And I know Brad won't either."

"I know, Carls, it's just..."

"I'm back!" The door to the studio swung open, announcing Brad. He walked over to Carly, giving her a quick kiss. "Hey babe."

"Hey yourself," she replied. "Where's Leah?"

"Downstairs, watching television," he replied. "I had to bribe her with animal crackers to stay up here, but..."

"Animal crackers?" I interrupted, suddenly feeling a craving. "You have animal crackers?"

"Yeah, for LEAH," Brad said pointedly, giving me a Look. "Go clean out your own fridge, blondie."

"Brad!" Carly exclaimed, smacking him on the arm. "Be nice!"

"What?" Brad replied. "I'm just messing with her!" Without waiting for me to respond, he changed the subject. "Looks good up here...I didn't realize how messy this place was."

"Yeah, it was pretty bad," Carly replied. "But Sam and I busted our butts, and now look! You can practically see yourself in the floors!"

"Just don't tell Freddie you were doing this," Brad told me. "I'll inevitably get blamed for it. He..."

"I know, I know," I replied with a roll of my eyes. "He doesn't want me to push myself. It's kind of annoying. He thinks I'm just a weakling now or something."

"Sam!" Carly replied. "Freddie doesn't think you're a weakling. He just worries about you and the baby!"

"I know," I replied. "But...I'm fine. A little tired after all that manual labor, but I'm fine."

"Well, I told you not to move all those heavy boxes..." Carly started, and Brad poked her.

"You let her MOVE BOXES?" he exclaimed. "She's not supposed to lift anything heavy, Carly!"

"Well, I didn't LET HER do anything!" Carly replied, glaring at him. "She did it all on her own!"

I rolled my eyes as they started arguing about me, heading for the door. I was thoroughly annoyed at the way I'd been treated with kid gloves lately. First my husband, then my best friend, now my best friend's boyfriend? It was too much to deal with!

"Well, while you guys are sitting here talking about me like I'm not in the room, I'm going to use the bathroom. Excuse me," I stated, walking out the door. They seemed oblivious to it, continuing to argue. They were starting to sound like me and Freddie! I rolled my eyes as I went into the bathroom, looking at myself in the mirror and frowning at my reflection. At least it was getting warmer outside, I could start going out and getting some sun. I was looking very pale.

I did my business quickly, curious to get back and see whether Brad and Carly were still arguing. But as I stood up and turned around, something caught my eye. I felt my stomach drop as I focused on it.

"Oh god," I whispered. "No..."

Oh god, no, no, no! With shaking hands, I reached down and brought my hand back up, a few inches from my face, and instantly burst into tears as I caught sight of the bright red blood on my fingers.

"CARLY!" I screamed. "BRAD!"


	51. Chapter 51: Time Off

**A/N: Whoa...well that was a strong reaction to the last chapter! Didn't want to leave you guys with a cliff-hanger that bad, so here you go!**

**Chapter Fifty One  
>Time Off<strong>

~*Carly*~

"Well, while you guys are sitting there talking about me like I'm not in the room, I'm going to use the bathroom. Excuse me," Sam said, walking out of the room.

Brad gave me a Look. "Carly, you should NOT have let her lift those boxes. They're pretty heavy, and Sam's almost six months pregnant. It's not a good idea."

I gaped at Brad, slightly dumbfounded. "Brad, I didn't LET her move them! I turned around, and she was moving them! And I told her not to, but she just called me a prancey and kept doing it! You know how Sam is!"

"Yeah, I know, but..." Brad trailed off, shaking his head. "I'm sorry. I know it's not your fault. I'm just...a little on edge right now. Leah's really freaking me out. Not to mention Heather."

"How's Bryson doing?" I asked, and Brad shrugged.

"He's Bryson. He doesn't really like to show a lot of emotion, you know? He'll talk eventually, I'm sure."

"Well, he needs to, and soon, because he's going to be able to give us the best idea of what's really been going on," I responded.

Brad sighed, leaning against the desk. "I know. There's probably a lot more going on than even I'm aware of, you know?"

"Yeah, I know," I said softly. "But at least you got them out of there."

"I just hope I can keep them out of there," Brad said with a sigh. "I mean, I really thought my parents...at least my mom...would do SOMETHING to stop me, but...there's nothing! It's like they don't even care!"

My brow furrowed and I rubbed my chin thoughtfully. "Brad...what do you remember about being little?"

"What do you mean?"

"I mean, as far back as you can remember? Anything stick out?"

Brad shrugged, his eyes flicking back and forth, and I could tell he was thinking carefully. "I dunno. I mean, I used to stay at my grandparents' house a lot."

"Why? Did both your parents work?"

"No," Brad replied. "My mom's never had a job. She got pregnant with me when she was a teenager, and she's been a stay at home mom ever since."

"A stay at home mom? But...you stayed at your grandparents' house a lot?"

"Yeah, I..." Brad stopped talking, frowning. "That's not normal, is it?"

"Not really, no," I replied softly. "How long did it go on?"

"Until...I was old enough to watch Heather and Bryson..." Brad responded. He drew in a deep breath, oddly stoic, and then CRASH!

"Brad!" I exclaimed, staring at the spot on the wall he'd suddenly hurled a glass at. "What did you do that for?"

"Ten is too young to babysit, right?" he practically growled. "I mean, it's too young. Right? Would you let a ten year old babysit? Would you let a ten year old babysit a NEWBORN? Bryson was only a few months old!"

"Brad..."

"Shit. Shit. I can't believe I didn't see this before, Carly! They're not coming after the kids because they don't want the kids back!"

"Then why would they keep having kids, Brad?" I asked, and Brad shook his head firmly.

"I don't know. They never used birth control...but...they're...swingers...holy fuck! I never thought about this before! We could be...half siblings? What if Dad's not the father of Leah or Bryson? Or the baby? Oh my god, Carly!"

"Brad, please calm down," I said softly, touching his shoulder.

"I can't," he replied. "I can't. Don't you get it? They didn't want us, they just...dealt with us. Passed us off to my grandparents, and then put all the responsibility on MY shoulders...Carly...this is...I don't...holy shit."

"Baby, stop!" I cried, grabbing his arms and shaking them. "Just stop! Okay? We can handle this! It's alright! The past doesn't matter, I promise! We're going to get custody of your brother and sisters, we'll...we'll figure out how to work around everybody's schedules...everything will be fine!"

Brad sucked in a deep breath of air, trying to steady himself, and then he looked up at me. "Yeah. Everything will be fine."

"I'm not going anywhere, Brad," I told him. "I love you. We're gonna make this work."

"Yeah," Brad said softly. "We're gonna make this work."

"Just relax," I said, kissing him. He kissed me back half-heartedly, and I pulled away, rubbing his shoulders. "Baby. Relax."

"I'm trying," he replied.

"I know," I said. My brow furrowed when I noticed the way he was staring at me, biting his lip. "What? What is it?"

"Carly, I...look, I know we talked about it, and we decided it wasn't the right time, but..."

"CARLY! BRAD!"

I looked over at the door in alarm at the sound of Sam's frantic yells, all thoughts of whatever Brad was trying to say gone, and then I looked over at Brad worriedly.

"Sam?" I called.

"CARLY!"

I pulled away from Brad, rushing to the door, with him close behind me. Sam was still in the bathroom, and I banged on the door.

"Sam? What's wrong?"

The door jerked open so quick I squealed a little in surprise, but my surprise quickly changed to a panic when Sam stood in the doorway, tears running down her face, holding her hand out.

"Look," she sniffled. "Look."

"Oh my god," I said. "Please tell me your nose is bleeding or something."

She didn't respond, just shook her head.

"Move," Brad said, grabbing my arm and pulling me aside, stepping in front of Sam and pressing a hand to her forehead. "Warm," he muttered, and then stared at her for a second. "Are you having contractions?"

Sam shook her head. "How do I know?"

"Trust me, you'd know," Brad replied. "Are you in pain at all?"

"No."

"How bad is it, Sam?"

"I don't know," she sniffled. "What do I do?"

Brad didn't respond, just turned to me. "Call an ambulance. I'm gonna call Freddie."

"He's at work!" Sam responded. "Oh god, what's gonna happen to the baby? What's going to happen to me?"

"Sam, you gotta calm down, okay?" Brad replied. "It could be anything. But it's gonna be okay, alright?"

"How do you know that?" she cried, sounding like she was going to panic, and Brad grabbed her shoulders, shaking her slightly.

"Because it has to be!" he replied. "Just stay calm! If you freak out, it could make it worse. Carly, put her in the elevator, she doesn't need to walk down the stairs. And then call the ambulance."

"Oh god. Oh god. Oh god," I kept saying over and over. My worst fear had come true. I'd worried almost every day about complications with Sam's pregnancy, and now it was actually happening. What if something was wrong with the baby? What if something was wrong with Sam?

"Carly!" Brad said sternly. "That's not helping!"

"I don't know what to do!" I replied, starting to cry.

"Do what I told you do, babydoll. Okay? And then calm down. And you gotta keep Sam calm too, okay?"

"What the fuck do I do?" Sam cried. "Oh my god! What if...what if..."

"Sam!" Brad yelled. "Don't think about it, okay? Just keep calm! Okay? We're gonna get you to the hospital, I'm gonna call Freddie, everything's going to be fine. You just need to relax. Keep breathing."

"Easy for you to say!" she cried. Oh great, now both of us were freaking out.

"Carly, you gotta calm her down!" Brad yelled as he dialed Freddie's number, lifting the phone to his ear. "Answer the phone, asshole!"

"He's probably got it on silent," Sam sniffled. "Oh god...he's gonna be so mad at me! He told me not to push myself too hard today...oh god..."

"Okay, Sam, relax. We gotta get you downstairs, okay?" I told her, trying to remain calm like Brad had told me to. He was right, if I panicked, Sam would panic, and that would likely make everything worse. No matter how scared I was, and let's face it, I was terrified, I'd have to keep it bottled up, for Sam's sake. I grabbed her by the arm, leading her into the studio and onto the elevator. Sam leaned against the wall, her hands on her stomach, and continued to cry.

"Sam...it's gonna be okay." I put a hand on her shoulder, trying to calm her, and she shook her head, continuing to cry.

"Freddie's never going to forgive me if something happens to the baby," she whispered. "It's all my fault...I shouldn't have done all that work, I..."

"Sam! Stop it! It's not your fault! Like Brad said, it could be anything!"

"I'm BLEEDING, Carly!" Sam cried. "Whatever it is, it's BAD!"

The elevator door opened, and I led Sam into the living room by her arm, trying desperately to maintain my composure.

"Look, just sit down on the couch, okay? I'm going to call the ambulance."

Sam nodded, sitting down and still holding onto her stomach.

"I'm really scared, Carly."

"I know," I said softly. "But you'll be okay."

Sam shook her head. "I don't care about me. Just the baby. I just want the baby to be okay."

"You'll both be fine."

But as Sam sat on the couch, quietly crying to herself, it occurred to me that maybe they wouldn't be.

~*Freddie*~

Even though I missed Sam already, I was in nerd heaven as I sat around taking apart and putting together servers all day. It was definitely different being around people with the same passion for computers and technology as me. I loved my wife, and I loved my friends, but sometimes the whole "let's pick on Freddie for being a nerd" thing got old.

Still, I missed my Sam, and I hadn't gotten to talk to her all day. I hoped she was staying out of trouble. I'd been trying my best to get Sam to take it easy lately. With all the stress, school, and setting up the new apartment, Sam kept herself pretty busy. Too busy, in my opinion. She stayed up too late and got up too early. I didn't want to sound like I was hounding her, so usually I tried to be sneaky about getting her to chill out...bribing her with food, surprising her with a movie she'd wanted to see. But now I wasn't there to keep an eye on her. And let's face it, when Sam gets bored, it usually means trouble.

She'd better be in bed, I thought to myself as I walked out of the building and pulled my phone out of my pocket to call her. I didn't know the rules on cell phones at work, so I'd just kept mine on silent, like I did in class.

My brow furrowed when I looked over my phone and noticed I'd had eight missed calls from Brad, but nothing from Sam. Shrugging, I called Sam, frowning after it rang a few times and went to voicemail. Maybe she was asleep. I'd try her again later.

But, while I was out here, I'd better call Brad, find out what was going on. I was pretty sure it had to do with his siblings, or him freaking out about something.

It barely rang once before Brad answered the phone.

"Dude! Don't keep your phone on fucking silent!"

"Dude, I'm at work! What's the big chizz?"

"You gotta leave, now," Brad replied.

"Why?" I asked, starting to be concerned. "Is everything okay? Is Sam okay?"

It was quiet for a moment, and that worried me even more. "Brad. Is my wife okay?"

"No, man. She's not."

"WHAT?" I exclaimed, ignoring the looks from other people standing outside the building. "What's wrong? Tell me what's going on!"

"Not sure, bro. All I know is she started bleeding, all of a sudden. We called the ambulance. Carly's at the hospital with her right now, I'm still at the loft with Leah. I haven't heard anything back yet."

"Shit. Alright, I'm on my way," I said. I looked back toward the building, trying to decide if I should go back in and tell them I was leaving.

No chance, I thought to myself as I pulled my keys out of my pocket and ran full speed to my car. I did manage to call into work and tell them what was going on, and things seemed alright, but I wasn't concerned with work. I was concerned with my sweet Sam.

As I sped down the road, I couldn't help but remember the last time I'd sped this fast, I was on my way to the hospital. To see Sam. Because she was hurt, and she'd gotten hurt while I was gone.

As I screeched into a parking spot, slamming on breaks, I sat there for a moment, trying to catch my breath.

"I swear, if she makes it through this, I'm never leaving her again."

That's all I could tell myself, over and over, as I walked into the hospital, heading for the maternity ward. I was beginning to get scared that I wouldn't have a reason to come back here. I passed the nursery, staring through the glass for a moment, at all the newborn babies laying there, some sleeping, some crying, some just looking around.

What if that didn't happen for us? What if we wouldn't be taking our son or daughter home? What if I wasn't taking Sam home?

I began sticking my head in hospital rooms frantically, not bothering with, or thinking clearly enough to track down a nurse or orderly to find out what room Sam was in. I was beyond the realm of rational thought, just running down the hospital hallway like a madman. Look in that room, poke my head in this other room.

I flung another door open, sticking my head in.

"FREDDIE!"

"Oh thank god," I breathed, relieved to find Sam sitting up and conscious, staring at me with those big, beautiful blue eyes. If the baby turned out to be okay, I wanted them to have those eyes. I crossed the room quickly, kissing her.

"Baby, are you alright?" I asked her, kissing her again, and Sam shook her head.

"I don't know."

"What happened?"

"I just...I was at Carly's, and I went to use the bathroom, and I was bleeding..."

"Are you still bleeding?" I asked, and one shoulder lifted in a shrug.

"I don't know."

"God, where is the doctor?" I heard a familiar voice say, and that's when I finally noticed Carly sitting down looking at us.

"Hey," I said. "Thanks for staying with her."

"She's my best friend, how could I not?" Carly replied.

I nodded, then turned my attention back to Sam.

"Baby, I'm so sorry..."

"It's not your fault!"

"I shouldn't have taken this stupid internship, I'm gonna quit..."

"Freddie!" Sam exclaimed. "You can't quit! You need it for-"

"I'm never gonna leave you, every time I do something bad happens, and..."

"FREDDIE!" Sam yelled, grabbing my shoulders. "Baby, stop it! This isn't your fault, okay?"

"I know but-"

"It's mine," Sam said softly, looking down. "You told me to take it easy, but I didn't."

"Baby, it's alright," I replied, kissing her on her forehead. "Let's just wait for the doctor to get here, and..."

"SAMANTHA BENSON! You are not supposed to be sitting up! Lay back down!"

Sam and I both turned towards the door to find my mom standing there in her nurse's uniform, scowling, arms crossed over her chest.

"Hi, Marissa," Sam said flatly. "Guess you're done with your rounds?"

"I turn my back for twenty minutes and look at you! What's next, are you going to do an Irish jig? Lay back down!"

"Oh god, can't I just..."

"Right now!"

Sam gave me a look of disbelief, before obeying my mom and laying back down, pouting the entire time.

"So I'm just supposed to lay here until the doctor gets back?"

"Yes!" Carly and my mom both yelled.

I was incredibly worried about Sam, but I had to admit, it was a little bit entertaining watching my mother baby someone who wasn't me. I managed to shoo her away so Sam wouldn't get too stressed out over it, and then perched on the edge of the bed next to Sam, holding her hand so tightly she had to tell me to knock it off. We were all silent, still nervous about what the doctor could have to say.

Dr. Boyd arrived about fifteen minutes later, and Sam quickly sat back up.

"Sam," Dr. Boyd said gently. "You need to lay back down."

"Fine," Sam grumbled, laying back. "So...is my baby going to be okay?"

"Well, I looked at your ultrasound, and the culture we did on you...it's a placental abruption."

"A what?" I asked, my eyebrows raising. Sam didn't say anything, she just looked worried, and after feeling a crushing pain shoot through my hand, I looked down to see Sam with a deathgrip on it.

"Easy, baby," I told her, kissing her on the side of the head.

"The placenta's separated from the uterus," Dr. Boyd replied. Before she could open her mouth further, we heard a squeak come from Carly's direction, and Sam and I both looked over at her.

"Is she going to die?" Carly exclaimed, leaping to her feet.

"Carly, sit down," I told her calmly. "Sam's okay." I looked over at Dr. Boyd. "Sam's okay, right?"

"She's alright, Freddie. The bleeding wasn't severe, and I'm going to check her one last time to make sure it's staved off. Now, Sam, you need to know that there's an increased risk of premature labor or stillbirth now."

"Stillbirth?" Sam whispered, starting to look a little pale. I held her hand a little tighter and kissed her on her forehead, trying to remain calm.

"How can we go about making sure that doesn't happen?" I asked.

"It's not foolproof, but she's going to need to be on bed rest."

"Bed rest?" Sam yelled, sitting up quickly, but my hand went to her shoulder, pushing her back into a laying position.

"Bed," I said firmly. "Now rest."

"I can't be on bed rest!" Sam cried. "I'm not even into the third trimester yet! I'm just supposed to lay around? For over three months?"

"If you want to ensure the health of you and your baby, then yes," Dr. Boyd told her. "I mean it. You've probably been pushing yourself really hard, haven't you?"

"Not that hard," Sam grumbled.

"A lot of stress on you and the baby?"

"No..." Sam said, and I gave her a Look.

"Sam," I said flatly, and she sighed.

"Okay, fine. But I'm always under stress. It's normal."

"Well, it can't be normal any more, I'm afraid," Dr. Boyd replied. "Have you been lifting anything heavy lately?"

"Well, I did help Carly clean the studio, and I moved the prop boxes..."

"The PROP BOXES?" I exclaimed. "Sam! Those are forty pound boxes! How could you do something so stupid?"

"I'm sorry, okay?" Sam shot back, sounding a little hurt. "I didn't think about it, I just wanted to get things done!"

"Sam, baby, I've told you a million times, you've GOT to take it easy! Please! For the baby, honey."

"Well, I guess I have to now, don't I?" she replied, looking over at Dr. Boyd, who nodded.

"I'm sorry, Sam. And, while we're on the subject of the baby's safety, with the abruption and everything, intercourse is going to have to be off the table until after you give birth."

At that statement, Sam and I looked over at Dr. Boyd in shock.

"WAIT, WHAT?" We both exclaimed.

"Oh god," I heard Carly mutter.

I looked over at Sam, who seemed like she was still having a little bit of trouble wrapping her head around the idea of a three month bed rest AND no sex, and leaned over to kiss her softly.

"It's alright, baby."

"No it's not!" she exclaimed. She looked at Dr. Boyd accusingly. "You said it was okay!"

"Well, at this point, it isn't safe for the baby," Dr. Boyd replied. "Now, we're going to keep you overnight for observation, and if everything's okay, you'll be able to go home tomorrow."

"Ugh, great," Sam grumbled. "Another hospital stay."

"It's okay, Sam," I told her. "Just overnight. Not a big deal."

"Easy for you to say!" she replied.

"Well, I'll be back in a little while to check on you," Dr. Boyd said. "I'll let you two talk this over."

"Thanks, Dr. Boyd," I told her. "For taking care of her."

"Not a problem, Freddie. See you two in a couple of hours."

Dr. Boyd left, shutting the door behind her, and I looked over at Sam, still looking shocked.

"Baby..."

"Three months, bed rest. Three months, no sex..."

"Actually, if you include the six weeks after the baby..."

"CARLY!" Sam exclaimed, her voice coming out in a whine. "Not helping!"

"Sorry," Carly replied weakly. "But...Sam, come on. At least you're okay. And the baby too."

"That's what's important, sweetheart," I put in, kissing her hand. "I don't care about the sex, as long as you're okay."

"Bullshit," Sam replied. "You care! How can you not care? It's...it's how we connect, relieve stress, get closer, I mean...baby, come on! It's not just sex with us, you know that! It's more than that."

"I don't need to have to sex with you to be close to you, Sam!" I replied.

At that point, Carly stood up, pushing her hair behind her ears.

"Well," she said awkwardly. "I think I'll let you guys...talk. Brad's probably dying to know what's going on..."

"Wait!" Sam cried, reaching out for Carly. "Come here."

Carly approached the bed a little nervously, letting out a gasp when Sam grabbed her into a tight hug.

"Thank you," she said. "For keeping me calm, and staying with me this whole time."

"Sam!" Carly replied. "You're my best friend! Of course I'm going to stay with you!"

"I know, but...you didn't have to, but you did anyway..."

"No, I had to. Again, you're my best friend. It's my job, Sam."

They hugged again, and Carly pulled away, giving her a smile. "I'll see you guys..."

"Wait!" I replied, hugging her too. Probably not as hard as Sam had, but still pretty hard. "Thanks. For keeping an eye on her."

"No sweat," she said. With that, she gave us both another smile, heading for the door. "Keep me posted."

"Oh, we will, for sure. Bye, Carly," I responded. The door shut, and I looked back over at Sam, silent for a second.

"Forty pounds?" I asked, and she groaned.

"I'm sorry."

"Sam! How many times did I tell you? Don't push yourself! Take it easy! And now look! Something REALLY bad could have happened, and..." I stopped suddenly as I took stock of the look on Sam's face, her eyes downcast, chin trembling. "Oh, shit...baby, no, don't..."

Too late.

"...cry," I said with a sigh. "Dammit. Baby, come on." I sat back down on the bed, pulling her against me. "Shh, don't cry. I'm sorry. Please don't cry."

"I can't help it," she whimpered. "I was scared too, okay? I didn't think just lifting some boxes would cause so much damage! Women work full-time jobs while they're pregnant, and they do fine! Why just this one time..."

"Baby, it's not just the lifting, okay? We've both been under a lot of stress! Everything that's been going on, plus what happened today, it adds up!"

"I know," she whispered, still crying a little. "I'm sorry."

"It's not your fault, baby," I replied. "Now, are you going to listen to me this time when I tell you to chill out?"

"Yes."

"You promise you're going to stay in bed, like Dr. Boyd said?"

"Yes."

"Say it."

"I promise."

"Good," I replied. "And I'm going to hold you to your promise, because I'll be around to keep an eye on you."

"What?" Sam asked, sounding a little confused.

"I'm gonna quit the internship, okay? Every time I leave, something bad happens to you. I feel like...like I can't let you out of my sight."

"Freddie," Sam said with a roll of her eyes. "That's not true. Did something bad happen to me every time you went to class? Or went to the gym? Or downstairs to do the laundry?"

"Well, no, but..."

"Yeah, the Bill thing. Three years ago. And then this. But the baby's okay. And I'm okay. Something bad does not happen every time you leave. That's just life."

"Yeah, but..."

"Baby, please don't turn into your mother," Sam begged.

"I am not turning into my mother!" I replied indignantly, and Sam rolled her eyes.

"Yeah? Twenty bucks says you'll start checking me for ticks!"

"Sam! Quit being dramatic!"

"You're the one talking about quitting your dream internship! I'm not being dramatic, you are!"

"But, baby..."

"Freddie," Sam replied, grabbing my hand. "Think about what you're saying."

"I thought you wanted me to stay home," I commented, and Sam shrugged.

"Yeah, and someday I wanna eat my weight in butter, but it doesn't mean it's a good idea!" she replied. "I'm not going to let you throw away your dream just because of me."

"Because of my wife and child."

"Who are both okay, as long as I follow the doctor's orders and stay in bed," Sam shot back. "I'm not going to let you quit."

I gave Sam a Look, shaking my head a little. "We both know you're not going to stay in bed unless I make you stay in bed."

"That's not true! I was really scared, Freddie! I'll do anything to keep the baby safe and healthy...I'd even switch to a vegetarian diet if I had to."

At that statement, my eyebrows lifted in surprise. "Now you're just being silly."

"Yeah, probably, but you know what I mean, baby!" Sam replied. "You can't quit."

I sighed, running a hand through my hair. "Fine."

"Promise me."

"Ugh, fine, I promise I won't quit."

"Was it okay though?"

"Yeah..." I replied, before shaking my head. "I'm sorry, I can't really think about it, I'm still kinda freaked out about all this."

"Me too," Sam said softly. We were both silent for a few minutes, and I looked over at her to find her staring at me intently. Just like that, we reached for each other, holding on tight and kissing passionately.

"I was so scared," Sam whispered after she'd pulled away, our foreheads still touching.

"Me too," I replied in an equally soft tone. "I'm glad you're okay."

"I love you."

"I love you too," I said. "My sweet, sweet baby. You scared me. You gotta take it easy, baby."

"I know," she said in a hushed tone. "I know." She paused, biting her bottom lip. "What about the sex?"

"What about it?"

"It's gonna be like four months..."

"It's alright, sweetheart."

Sam shook her head. "It's not. We can't go more than a few hours without getting antsy, how are we supposed to go a few months?"

"To keep you and the baby healthy, I'll do anything."

"Yeah, but..." she bit her lip again, looking away. "I just..."

"What is it, baby?" I asked, grabbing her chin and forcing her to look at me. "Tell me what's on your mind?"

"I love being with you," Sam replied softly. "It's...I don't know how to describe it, but...having you...inside me, it's the closest you can possibly get, and I love it. It makes me feel...like...like we're...one."

"We are one," I responded with a grin. "We're Seddie, remember? A four month break from sex isn't going to change that, baby."

"Still, it'll be hard," she said. "What if...you get..."

"Sam, if you're going where I think you're going with this, I'm going to thump you."

"I'm serious!" Sam cried. "What if you get...bored..."

"Samantha Benson," I said through gritted teeth. "That's the stupidest thing you've ever said in your life. I love you. I want you, and only you. No other woman can come close to what you give me or make me feel, and that has nothing to do with your body."

"But..."

"Yes, I love making love to you. We both know this. It's a little addicting. But the only person I want to be like that with, I'm looking at her right now."

Sam was silent, still looking a little dubious, and I responded by kissing her softly.

"You can be so silly sometimes, Mrs. Benson," I teased her.

"Remember how it was after the attack?" she reminded me. "We couldn't even make it the six weeks, and we were at each other's throats half the time."

"Well, I'd like to think we've gotten our hormones a little more under control this time..." I replied. "And anyway, this is for the baby too. I'm more than willing to forgo if it means I get a healthy daughter or son."

"Okay," she said with a nod.

"Besides..." I replied. "If you were paying attention, Dr. Boyd said no INTERCOURSE."

"Yeah, sex," Sam stated. "Duh."

"Yeah, think about it...there's plenty of other things that don't involve sex, baby..."

"So..."

"I'm gonna ask her, just to be safe, but if she gives the okay...I can still keep you satisfied," I said with a smile. "You know I can."

"And if she doesn't give the okay?"

"Then think about how good it'll be when the day finally comes," I replied. "Come on, this isn't the worst thing that's ever happened."

"Three months, bed rest? It's pretty close," she grumbled. "I'm going to be so bored!"

"Well, you know Carly's going to be superglued to you the whole time," I offered. "I'm probably going to have to chase her out every night when I come home."

"Probably," Sam agreed. "I mean, did you see her? When the doctor said placental abruption..."

"Yeah, totally postal."

"That must have been what happened," Sam said softly. "With her mom."

"Seems like it..." I said, and then my brow furrowed suddenly. Sam gave me a look, her eyes narrowing.

"What? What's wrong?"

"If that's what did it...I mean...Carly's fine."

"So our baby could be fine," Sam replied softly.

"Yeah, but..." I didn't want to say what I was thinking, but it didn't matter, Sam could read me like a book, and she grabbed my hand.

"Please don't worry about that," she whispered. "If you worry, I'll worry, and like the doctor said, stress isn't good for the baby."

"Please promise me you'll stay in bed," I begged, my voice coming out in a gasp. "Please. If anything happened to you..."

"Nothing's going to happen to me, baby," Sam replied. "You can't get rid of me, remember?"

"Why would I want to?" I replied with a smile, leaning forward to kiss her.

Even though we were still in a hospital room and things had almost taken a turn for the worst, I could feel my anxiety melt away. I knew it was going to be hell on my poor Sam, having to be in bed all day and do nothing, but I didn't care. All I cared about was keeping her safe.

All I cared about was keeping her with me.


	52. Chapter 52: Stellar

**Chapter Fifty Two  
><strong>**Stellar**

~*Brad*~

I walked aimlessly around the maternity ward, trying to find Sam's room. Carly had gotten back around an hour ago, and I was relieved to hear that Sam was okay for the most part. I already knew she wouldn't be thrilled about the whole bed rest thing. That was going be hard on Sam, who was usually pretty active and got bored easily.

Of course, the no sex thing was probably going to kill them both.

Obviously, I hoped it wouldn't come to that, but we were talking about Freddie and Sam, Seddie, Mr. and Mrs. Benson, two people with the most outrageous libidos I had ever seen in my life. I liked to think of myself as a guy with a pretty healthy sexual appetite, but those two definitely put me to shame. They were even worse than my parents! But hey, I had to give it to them, that level of sexual intensity, and still only eyes for each other? As long as they could keep their heads on straight and not let the stress and tension overwhelm them, I was pretty sure they'd be fine.

I finally found Sam's room, knocking on the door gently, before poking my head in.

"Anybody in here?" I called.

"Yeah man. Come in," I heard Freddie call. I pushed the door open, walking in to find Sam laying in the hospital bed and Freddie sitting on the bed next to her, toying with her hair. There was that hair fetish again!

"Hey guys...everybody okay?"

"Yeah," Sam replied. "We're good. Well, as good as can be I guess."

"Yeah, Carly told me about the whole bed rest thing. But at least you and the baby are okay, right?"

"Right," Freddie replied, bending down to kiss Sam on her forehead. "As long as she STAYS IN BED!" He gave her a firm look at that last statement, and she rolled her eyes.

"Yes, Fredward. I told you, I'll stay in bed."

"As long as we're on the same page," he grunted, before looking at me. "So...where's the youngins?"

"At the loft, with Carly."

Freddie's brow furrowed, giving me a Look. "You left Carly alone with two kids and a sullen teenager?"

"Yeah, I was a little worried at first, but...she told me to go, she had to get used to it anyway."

"How's all that going?"

"It's going alright, we got the beds set up in the studio..."

"So I heard," Freddie replied, glaring at Sam, who simply scowled.

"I guess the partition's going to have to wait...I mean, I don't really trust Spencer with it, you know? I'll take every bit of advice he can give me, but...building stuff? I'm afraid he'd..."

"Set it on fire?" Sam finished, and I nodded with a roll of my eyes.

"How does he do that?"

"No idea, but he's been doing it as long as I've known him," Sam responded. "So...Leah."

"Yep, Leah."

"Still acting super attached to you?"

"Well, yeah, but...luckily she likes Carly. She still put up a fight when I tried to walk out the door though."

"Awww..." Sam said. "That's kind of sweet."

"And kind of worrying, honestly," I replied, leaning back and letting out a sigh. Freddie regarded me carefully as I did that, eyebrows lifting.

"Everything alright?" he asked, and I shrugged.

"Yeah. I mean, obviously it's been a stressful day, and I'm tired."

Freddie shook his head slowly, implying he didn't believe me.

"Nah, there's something else. What's going on?"

"If I said I didn't want to talk about it, would you let it go?" I asked.

"Nope," Freddie and Sam said together, and I rolled my eyes.

"Come on, Brad. Out with it. What's going on?"

"I love Carly."

"Okay," Freddie said with a laugh. "We knew this already, and that's not something to be stressed about."

"No, you don't get it. I LOVE Carly."

"No, we get it...we just don't get why you're acting all...well...like this," Sam replied, gesturing toward me.

I let out a grunt, not really sure how to say it, before I just began to ramble, spitting my words out at top speed.

"I know we agreed to call off the engagement, that it was too soon, but I don't want it called off any more! I want it back on! I love that girl! Do you hear me? I LOVE her! I don't want to marry her just because we've been together three years, I want to marry her because I can't possibly be without that girl! She's stood by me through SO MUCH shit this year, man! Do you know how much? A lot! What kind of girl does that? An amazing girl, that's who! And I know she's going to think I'm moving too fast, but I don't care! I want that girl! I wanna marry her, I want her to be Mrs. Carly Harrison, and I want her to have my babies!"

"Whoa!" Freddie said, his hands going up. "Settle down, before you give yourself a hernia or something!"

"I can't help it, man!" I yelled, standing up. "I wanna marry that girl! I can't keep this bottled up any more! I've almost spilled twice today!"

"You know, spilling wouldn't be such a bad thing," Sam commented thoughtfully, and I stared at her for a second.

"Yeah, it would. She'll think I'm rushing into things again, or not being serious. And maybe I am rushing, but I am definitely 100% serious. I don't want to be her boyfriend. I want more than that. I wanna be...her husband."

"Aww," Sam replied. "That's sweet. Why don't you tell her these things?"

"Yes, and when am I going to find the perfect romantic moment to do it? In the middle of showing Leah how to work the training pants? Making cactus shaped pancakes for Bryson?"

"Cactus shaped pancakes?" Freddie replied. "That's new..."

"Yeah, Bry's a weird kid, what can I say...that's not my point! There's never going to be a right moment to tell her! What if I freak her out?"

"I don't think you will, honestly," Sam spoke up. "I mean, we've had some conversations..."

"You mean she wants the engagement back on?"

"Well, she didn't say that in so many words, but..."

"Ugh," I interrupted her. "Forget it. I don't wanna put any more pressure on that girl."

"You're such a pansy," Freddie muttered, and I glared at him.

"What?"

"A-ha!" Sam exclaimed, poking Freddie. "I AM rubbing off on you!"

Freddie just rolled his eyes, looking back over at me. "Just do it, man. You did it before, you can do it again."

"And look what happened last time!"

"Yeah, you didn't break up! And that's a very good sign! Look, I'm not saying bust out a full-blown proposal, just...feel her out a little, see what she thinks about the whole thing. Hint at it, you know?"

"Yeah, I guess," I grumbled. "Man, I just...I don't want to lose her. And I'm kinda worried."

"About?"

"If she's gonna freak out over this whole thing with the kids."

"She's not freaking out," Sam replied. "She's a little nervous, but...you are too."

"Yeah, no shit," I grumbled. "Those kids have been screwed with enough. What if I screw them up worse?"

"Brad!" Sam yelled, throwing an empty paper cup at me. "You're not going to screw up! Everybody knows how important your family is to you!"

"Just not my parents," I grumbled. "I tried, you know? I tried to work things out with my dad, but...he hasn't changed. Not at all. And my mom..." I shook my head, sighing. "I feel like I don't even know her now. I thought her family was important to her, but it's not."

"Join the club," Sam muttered. "Look, you know what you've gotta do. Your parents screwed up. They ARE screwed up. There's probably no way to undo that. But I think you've got a clear shot at fixing those kids. Heather...okay, Heather's going to take some work. Bryson too, but not as much. And Leah? She's young enough that I don't think you'll have as much trouble with her."

"I hope you're right, Sam," I replied. "Well, I just wanted to stop by and see how you're doing, I won't keep bothering you guys..."

"You're not bothering us, dude," Freddie replied with a wave of his hand. "We're just sitting around."

"Am I really going to be expected to lay around and watch THIS CRAP all day, for three months?" Sam complained as she changed channels on the television idly. "I forgot how horrible daytime TV is!"

"Well, maybe you can finally get around to reading those baby books I bought you," Freddie teased. "You know those heavy things made of paper that are collecting dust on the bookshelf?"

"Very funny," Sam grumbled. "But I can't just read all day!"

"Well, I'll make sure you have plenty of good movies," Freddie replied, leaning over the bed to kiss her. Sam just gave a shrug, causing Freddie to give her an exasperated look, before turning his attention back to me. "So...maybe tomorrow if things aren't too hectic, gym?"

"Seriously?" I asked, a little surprised, and Freddie nodded.

"Yeah, why not? It gets boring without a sparring partner."

"Uh...okay. Yeah. Sounds good," I replied. I rose to my feet, looking at my watch. "Well, I really need to head back, lots of stuff to be done."

"Are you going to your dad's hearing?" Sam asked suddenly, and I made a face. I hadn't even thought of the hearing with all the things that had been going on, but it was on Wednesday, only two days away.

"I mean...I don't know. I guess so, the kids are going to be in school, so...maybe. And then...that stupid stalker thing is next week...you know what? I'm sick of all this court shit, man!"

"Yeah, well, you'd better get used to it if you're serious about going after those kids," Sam replied with a shrug, and I rolled my eyes.

"Yeah, good point. Well, I'll see you guys later...try to have a good night."

"Won't be any good nights for four months," Sam muttered, crossing her arms over her chest. "But we'll try. Later, pretty boy."

"Bye, blondie. Later Freddie."

"Bye," he replied.

With that, I walked out of the room, heading through the hospital and out to my car. The whole drive back to the apartment, my brain was in a fog, swirling with worries over the kids, anger at my parents, doubts on whether I'd be able to handle everything.

And then I thought about Carly. I didn't know why, but for the last few weeks, I hadn't been able to stop thinking about our broken engagement, and how much I'd regretted bringing it up in the first place. At the time, I had thought it for the best, because I knew Carly was having doubts, but now I wasn't so sure. Carly always tended to have doubts about things, especially in the beginning. Should I have just let the doubts run their course? Or what if it really was the right decision? Even more to the point, could I have taken it back? It had only been a few months since the whole ordeal, but god, I wanted to take it back, put that ring right back on her finger, pick up where we'd left off. I loved that girl, more than anything. I'd never stopped loving Carly, nor had it diminished one bit, but this year, the last few months? I'd been through hell and back, and Carly had stood by me the entire time. Even while I was making a drunken ass out of myself. Even though I'd just jumped up and taken control of my brother and sisters while we were barely twenty years old. I knew most girls wouldn't be willing to go through the same. Carly wasn't most girls, she was THE girl, the only one I wanted, the one I wanted to spend the rest of my life with, and I wasn't content with just being her boyfriend any longer.

Only problem was, figuring out how to tell her that.

~*Freddie*~

"Okay, so...I still can't have my ringer on, but I'll be damned if I'm keeping my phone on silent any more, so I'll have it on vibrate. It'll be in my pocket the entire time, I swear."

"Freddie..."

"The second you feel like there's a problem, even if you're not sure, call me, okay?"

"Freddie..."

"And just in case, I'm leaving the number to the office too, if I don't answer for some reason, call there. Carly's supposed to come by in a few hours, until then, you should probably get some more sleep..."

"FREDDIE!" Sam yelled abruptly, giving me a Look. "You're going to be late! Stop fussing over me and get going! I'm fine!"

I gave Sam a Look of my own, shaking my head. "You are not fine, Sam. You're on bed rest for a reason. Carly's got a key now, so your ass better stay in that bed, or it's going to get back to me, and then..."

"Baby, come on!" Sam whined. "I know the risks of what can happen if I get up and walk around, okay? I'm not going to do it! You know I love the baby, I don't want anything to happen to him or her any more than you do."

I sighed, sitting down on the bed next to Sam, running a hand over her stomach. "Man, I really wish I knew whether it was a boy or girl."

"Well, we'll find out soon enough," Sam chirped, and I rolled my eyes.

"You're still hellbent on this surprise thing, aren't you?"

"Yep," she replied breezily. "Come on, it'll be cool."

I was quite surprised at Sam's insistence on waiting to find out, that she'd managed to wait this long, but if it was what she wanted, she was going to get it. I'd have to come up with as many little things as possible to keep her happy while she was on bed rest, otherwise the poor thing might go insane, and by that rationale, I would too. I was exhausted already, and the day had barely started. I hadn't even gotten Sam back to the apartment for half an hour, and already I had to get dressed and go back to work. I had to admit, I was a little nervous going back, anxious to see whether or not I'd catch flack for leaving early on my first day. But I didn't really care, I had a damn good reason for leaving early. The whole reason I'd taken the internship was to make a good impression so one day Sam and the baby could be well taken care of, so I wasn't about to let the job come before them...the job was FOR them!

I looked over at Sam, the expression on my face clearly reading, "I'm not messing around this time!"

"Alright, well...I mean it, Sam! Stay in bed! Unless you have to use the bathroom, stay in bed! There's a whole pile of movies, books, the PearPad...should keep you occupied until I get home, plus Carly popping in every now and then."

"Okay," she sighed. "Baby, you really need to get going, you had to leave early your first day, I don't want you to be late!"

"One more thing," I replied, getting off the bed and walking to the bedroom door, pulling it open. "You can come in now!"

Sam's brow furrowed as I called out into the living room, the curiousity of whoever I was speaking to obviously getting to her. Her look changed from curious to horrified a few seconds later.

"Morning, Sam!" my mom said brightly.

"Your mom?" Sam cried, looking at me like I'd just invited Jabba the Hut into our apartment, and I shrugged.

"Hey, she's a nurse, and she's the only person besides me who can keep your butt in line. Deal."

"I thought I'd check your blood pressure," my mom said, opening her little nurse kit she was carrying. "Among other things, to make sure you and the baby are still okay. And then I thought we could play a little mah-jong! And I brought sodoku too! Doesn't that sound great, honey?"

"Yeah, Marissa, it sounds...awesome," Sam replied, giving me a death glare. I'm sure if she could have, she would have leapt out of bed and throttled me, but as it were, there was nothing she could do. I just gave her a smile, bending down to kiss her.

"I am so mad at you right now," she hissed, and I gave her a shrug.

"Yeah, but you still love me, right?"

"Very begrudgingly right now, but yeah, I guess I do," Sam grumbled. "Call me on your lunch break."

"I'll call before that," I promised her, kissing her again. "Love you, baby."

"Love you too," she replied. "Kick ass today!"

"Samantha!"

With that, I pressed my lips together to keep from laughing, walking past my mom and giving her a quick kiss on the cheek. "Bye mom, take care of her for me."

"Oh, you know I will. Have a good day, Freddiebear."

"Okay. Bye."

"Alright, now let's check your blood pressure, shall we?" I heard my mom say, followed by the sound of Sam's groaning as I walked out of the room and out the front door.

Alright, so technically, I wasn't mad at Sam for pushing herself too hard, and I knew dealing with my mom could be frustrating sometimes, but as far as I was concerned, it was just a price Sam was going to have to pay. I'd warned her, over and over, and she didn't listen, putting both herself and the baby at risk. I wasn't happy about it, but I wasn't angry with her either. I knew how Sam was, and knew why she overcompensated sometimes. My wife was not a delicate girl, but the pregnancy had forced her to slow down, and it bothered her. She'd always thought of herself as somewhat invincible, which is why she'd been pushing herself so hard lately. Well, it all had to come to a close, because I wasn't going to allow it any longer. I couldn't let her put the baby...or herself at risk, and if I had to bring in my mother to make sure of that, well so be it!

I was very nervous as I walked into the office, worried that I was inevitably going to get yelled at...or fired...for leaving early on my first day. It was something I was prepared to deal with, but I really hoped it wasn't going to happen. If it did, I'd have to start over from scratch, and I definitely didn't want that!

I walked up to the receptionist's desk to find CG standing there, leaning over the desk and talking to Lisa. Lisa gave me a smile, waving a little.

"Hey, Freddie!" she said. "How's your wife?"

"She's okay," I replied, my shoulder lifting in a shrug. "But...bed rest for three months."

"Ouch," Lisa replied. "That sucks. So what happened?"

"Placental abruption," I said, making a face.

"Oh, that sucks!" Lisa responded. "Yeah, you better make sure that girl stays in bed!" She turned to CG. "See, this is why me and my husband don't want kids yet!"

CG shrugged, turning to me and looking me up and down.

"So, dipping out early your first day," she said coolly. "Impressive."

I gave her a Look, shaking my head. "Wouldn't have done it unless it was an absolute emergency. And it was. She could have lost the baby."

"Do you really need to be having kids at your age anyway?" she replied. "I mean...you're a little young, don't you think?"

It was a really good thing I'd never hit a girl before, but oh man, at that second, I really, really wanted to. I had been under the impression that CG was just intense and competitive, but I was wrong. She was a total bitch! I was biting my tongue so hard at that second, I was surprised I was able to come back with something intelligent and non-threatening.

"Yeah, well, I've done a lot of things people said I was too young for. Being a tech producer of a webshow that gets two million hits per episode, getting married, having a kid. Guess that's why they call me Wonder Boy."

"Oh, is that it?" she replied. "I thought it was because people were wondering why you were here."

"CG!" Lisa exclaimed. "Oh my god! Why are you so mean to the interns?"

"Not all of them, just certain ones," CG shot back, glaring at me.

"Ones she's threatened by," I put in, pleased at the color that began to creep into CG's face. I'd made her angry. Good, game on, because I wasn't going to play nice any more.

"You think I'm threatened by you?" she said with a laugh. "That's really funny. You're not gonna last in here, you know that? You're too young, and you have too much going on to fully dedicate yourself to the job. Maybe you'll last the summer, if you're lucky, but other than that..." she trailed off, laughing.

That made my blood boil. I'd never, in my entire life, come across somebody who thought I wasn't good enough, wasn't smart enough, to handle this sort of thing, and it had definitely lit a fire under me. She probably wasn't worth going head to head with, but I was definitely going to make the chick eat her words.

"Keep thinking that, CG," I replied with a smile. "Now, if you ladies will excuse me, I do believe I have some work to do."

"You'll probably be lost, after bouncing out early," CG practically hissed at me, and I just shrugged.

"Eh, I think I can handle a little server."

"Uh, Freddie?" Lisa said quietly. "The servers went down last night. Spock and Mud have been trying to fix them, the higher-ups too, but nothing's happening."

"Oh," I replied. "Well that's unfortunate. I'd better go take a look then."

CG snorted, shaking her head. "We're flying in a specialist from San Francisco. He's gonna fix it."

"Not if I fix it first," I replied. With that, I gave a little nod to Lisa, and a knowing smirk to CG, before heading off down the hallway.

"You're not gonna fix it! You don't know what you're dealing with!" I heard CG yell down the hallway.

"And you don't know me!" I yelled over my shoulder.

I headed down the hallway to the server rooms, where Spock, Mud, and a few other guys were standing around the servers, some of them cursing to themselves, some of them frantically thumbing through manuals, all of them looking worried and freaked out.

"Yo, Wonder Boy!" Spock greeted me. "Check out this disaster!"

"Move," I replied, pushing him aside and dropping to my knees in front of the server. I reached into my pocket, and Mud's eyebrows went up.

"Dude, why are you carrying a pocket knife on you? We're not allowed to have things like that here!"

"Technically it's a switchblade, and it's something I picked up from my wife," I muttered. "Always good to have one on you." I flicked it open, pulling open the little trap door of the server.

"Dude," Spock said in a hushed voice. "What the hell are you doing?"

"Earning my nickname," I responded.

~*Sam*~

"Um, Marissa?"

"Yes, Sam? Have you finished your sudoku puzzle yet? Or do you need help with it?"

"Um, no...I just...sudoku's not really my thing, you know? I'm not really a big fan of numbers..."

"So what are you a fan of?" Marissa asked, looking up from her crossword puzzle.

"Eating," I replied. And having sex with your son, I silently added.

Too bad THAT was off the table. The whole idea of it was driving me crazy, not just because, well, let's face it, mama enjoys her special time with Freddie, but I was really worried. Freddie and I had this intense chemistry that hadn't slowed down one bit over the years, and now all of it was about to come to a screeching halt. I worried about the effect it was going to have on us, whether it would diminish the connection, whether or not the chemistry would still be there when we were finally able to be intimate again...

And come on, Freddie's a guy. I know he loved me, and while I was sure he'd never actively cheated on me, as the saying goes, if a guy's not getting it at home, he'll look for it somewhere else. I loved Freddie, and I trusted him, but still...the thought was still looming large in the back of my mind.

But not only that. It had only been 24 hours since I'd been put on bed rest, and I was bored out of my mind already. I really appreciated that Marissa was trying to help, but her idea of a good time, and my idea of a good time? They definitely didn't mesh.

Marissa rolled her eyes at my latest comment about food.

"So you're saying you're hungry? I just made you a sandwich!"

"Well, no...but you asked me what my hobbies were!"

Marissa rolled her eyes again, standing up and reaching into her bag. "Alright, time for more drastic measures."

Drastic measures? What the hell did that mean? My eyes widened as I focused on what she was holding.

"Why do you have giant needles in your bag? You better not try to stick me with those things!"

"Sam!" Marissa exclaimed, exasperated. "Calm down."

"Then tell me what those are for!"

"They're knitting needles, dummy!"

I froze, giving her a perplexed look. "Did you just call your daughter-in-law a dummy?"

Marissa ignored my question, pulling out a large ball of yarn and sitting down on the bed next to me. "I'm going to teach you how to knit."

I eyed her like she'd completely lost it. "Why would I want to knit? I asked J'mamaw a few years back if she knitted, and she said it was for old ladies! That should tell you something!"

"Oh, come on, Samantha," Marissa replied, and I glared at her for using my full name. "Don't you think it'd be nice? Knitting your son or daughter a sweater? Or a hat? Maybe some little booties?"

"Wait," I replied, snatching the needles from her. "So, you're telling me I can make stuff for my baby? I won't be sitting here completely useless?"

"If you let me teach you, then no, you won't. And you're not useless, Sam! You're a precious vessel, like...an incubator, for your child."

"Alright, fine, I'll let you teach me, but on one condition," I replied, and Marissa's eyebrows went up.

"Oh? What's that?"

"Don't ever call me an incubator again!"

"Oh, fine," Marissa replied. "Okay, now, first thing I'm going to show you is the starting stitch. Take your needle in your left hand, and wrap the yarn around like this..."

~*Carly*~

As I hustled and bustled around the kitchen, I heard the door open, but was a little bit too preoccupied to look up.

"I'm back!" It was Brad.

"Hey Brad!" Bryson called from his spot on the floor in front of a very large pile of silver airducts.

"Yo, man!"

"Uh, Spencer. Hi," Brad said. "What's up?"

"Not much, man...just working on some sculptures, thought we'd bring Maggie over to play with Leah."

Across the apartment, I saw Brad's brow furrow. "We?"

"Yeah, me and April."

"Uh, hi!" I called, waving. Brad looked in my direction and gave me a smile.

"Hey babe," he walked into the kitchen towards me, giving me a kiss. "Holding down the home front?"

"Of course," I replied. "And cleaning up."

"Oh, well that's..." Brad took stock of the area around the sink, frowning. "What's all the black shit?"

"KIDS IN THE ROOM!" Spencer and April yelled.

"Ugh, sorry. Man, I gotta work on that!" Brad replied. "So what's all the black...stuff?"

"Remnants of the disaster that was Heather's hair," I replied.

"I HEARD THAT!" Heather yelled from the bathroom, and I rolled my eyes.

"Oh my gosh, she's like a younger, female version of you, you know that?" I told him, and he smirked.

"Pretty good way to be, if you ask me," he replied with a grin. "So you got it all out, huh? What about the nose ring?"

"Yeah, we convinced her to part with it. It was mostly April though, she...what did you tell her again?"

"That it was unbecoming of a young lady," April replied, flipping her blonde hair over her shoulder.

"Yeah, whatever. It looked gross, we got it out. Now she looks more like a normal teenager."

"Awesome!" Brad replied. "Now, if we can just get her to act like a normal teenager..."

"Brad! Shut it!" Heather hollered.

"Yelling's unbecoming too!" April called. "Why don't you come out here, show Brad your hair?"

It was quiet for a second, and then the bathroom door opened, Heather walking out. I thought Brad would be happy with the change, but he just frowned.

"It's not blonde...why is it not blonde?" he exclaimed, turning around to glare at me. "Carly! I wanted her to look like the old Heather!"

"Brad, chill! At least it's not that gross inky black any more! She didn't want blonde, she wanted brown! It looks pretty on her. It makes her eyes pop out, look bluer."

"You really don't like it?" Heather asked, and Brad sighed.

"I...I guess it's better than the black," he grumbled. "So...yeah, I guess I do."

"Cool, thanks," Heather replied. "So, what..."

"Heather," I interrupted. "Is that MY sweater?"

"Yeah, I borrowed it when I went upstairs to get my hair products. Looks great, doesn't it?"

"Um...yeah. Yeah, it does, but...do you think maybe you could ask first?" I replied.

"Yeah, totally," she replied, flopping down on the couch and flipping the TV on. I sighed, shaking my head.

Other than the space issue, things hadn't been that bad around here, but that was something I wasn't really prepared to deal with. I hadn't had to deal with someone borrowing my clothes in years, not since Sam...and her chest...had hit that growth spurt junior year. I wasn't sure how I felt about it.

Brad looked around, taking stock of everything going on around him, Heather watching TV, Spencer and Bryson working on their airduct sculpture, April fussing over Maggie and Leah, and then looked back over at me.

"Lot of people down here," he commented, and I nodded.

"Yeah...it's been very...active."

"Wanna go upstairs for a second? Chill out a little?"

"Sure," I replied, taking his hand and following him up the stairs to our room. He shut the door behind us, falling onto the bed.

"Ugh, peace and quiet," he said. "I mean, I don't mind all the noise, but...it's nice to just have..."

"Alone time?" I finished, laying down next to him, and he nodded.

"Come here," he said, grabbing my arm and pulling me to him. I laid my head on his chest, listening to his heartbeat.

"I still can't get over all of this," I commented softly, and Brad sighed.

"Babe, I know it's a lot to deal with, but..."

"The way you handle those kids, you're going to be a great daddy someday," I interrupted, looking up at him and giggling at the dumbfounded expression on his face.

"Whoa, I...thought you were going somewhere else with that."

"Brad, I told you, it's fine. I mean, I feel like I'm just...paying it forward, you know? After what Spencer did for me. And I turned out great!"

"Wellllll..." Brad began, and I gasped, smacking him on the chest.

"You're such a jerk!" I cried, and he laughed, pulling me back down and kissing me on the top of my head.

"I'm just kidding, babydoll!" he said, running a hand up and down my arm. "You're amazing. And I love you."

"I love you too, baby," I replied.

I really did love Brad, but I was just as surprised as he was by the way I was handling this. For some reason, it just didn't bother me, like all this was normal. Of course, I'd never really had what most people considered normal, so maybe that's why I adjusted so well.

What was catching me off-guard though, were some of the thoughts that had been popping into my head lately. Brad had really changed a lot over the last six months. We'd been through a lot, and he'd been able to handle it with stride. He still hadn't stopped going to the meetings, and he hadn't faltered. I didn't have to beg him to do stuff like take out the trash any more. He made a real effort to listen to me, to talk. He was just...perfect.

I'd wanted to hold off on the engagement because I thought I wasn't ready. Because I thought WE weren't ready, that Brad had a lot of growing up to do. And because I wasn't sure if we were compatible enough to make it in the long run. But now, I wasn't so sure. I was still a little bit hazy on what I wanted my future to be, but one thing was for sure, I definitely wanted Brad in it.

But I couldn't bring it up now! Not after we'd only recently called off the engagement, he'd think I was just being fickle! What if he thought it was a bad idea? I don't think I could handle the idea of being rejected, especially after I'd rejected the idea. Maybe I WAS being fickle after all.

As I laid there, pondering whether or not I should bring it up to Brad, I noticed he'd continued to run his hand up and down my arm, but now it was moving to other places. My hip, my waist, over my ribs. I lifted my head to look at him, and he gave me a look, his sexy look.

"Brad," I whispered as he rolled me onto my back, kissing my neck. "Not now. Everyone's downstairs, and..."

"Occupied," he finished, kissing me. "Come on, the door's locked. If we're quiet..."

"Brad," I whined as he began inching my shirt up, pulling it over my head and deftly unclasping my bra. "Brad, we can't...oh god," I moaned as I felt his mouth cover one of my breasts. "Brad..."

"You were saying?" he murmured against my skin, and I shook my head.

"I don't remember."

"Good," he replied, kissing me again.

Brad took his time with me, even though there was all kinds of craziness going on downstairs. He was sweet, loving, passionate. It felt so amazing, and we were trying to be quiet, but it wasn't happening.

"Brad," I panted as he moved in and out of me. "Oh god, this feels so good...don't stop..."

"I'm not," he replied, kissing me passionately. "I love you, Carly."

"I love you too, baby...oh my gosh, I love you so much..."

"Carly..." Brad groaned, and I felt him pick up his pace a little. "Babe...oh god...this feels amazing...shit..."

"Don't stop...don't stop..."

"I love you so much..."

"I love you too, oh god please don't stop...I want it to go on forever..."

"Me too...I want...I want you to marry me..."

As good as it felt, him saying that, it made me pause, and Brad too. He was frozen for a second, looking slightly mortified.

"Did you just..."

"Yeah...I...I think I did," he replied. "Oh god." He sat up on his knees suddenly. "Babe, I'm sorry! I know we agreed not to talk about it until you were ready, but..." I sat up too, covering my mouth with his hand, and he looked at me strangely.

"I'm ready," I replied.

"What?" he nearly shouted. "But...we...I...I wasn't planning on doing this while we were..."

"Do you think it's a bad idea?" I asked, biting my lip, and Brad shook his head.

"Of course not, but...do you?"

"No," I replied, staring at him. "I've thought about it. I love you. I don't wanna be without you. I...I wanna be your wife, Brad."

"But, the kids..."

"Will be a handful, I know, but we can handle it," I replied. "I love you, I can't live without you."

Brad just stared at me for a second, silent, and he was beginning to make me nervous, until he kissed me suddenly and without warning.

"God, Carly, I love you so much!" he whispered against my mouth, kissing me fiercely. "So much..."

"I love you!" I replied. "I so want this! I so wanna be your wife!"

"And you're gonna be," he replied. "And I'm gonna be your husband."

"I know, and it's awesome!" I put my arms around him, kissing him, and before long, we were back to where we started, or almost there...

"Wait!" Brad cried, reaching for the bedside table, and I gave him a weird look.

"Brad, I know it's not the right time for me to get pregnant, but you know I'm on birth control, so condoms aren't..."

"No!" Brad replied, giving me a look that implied I was silly. "Not that!"

"Then what..."

"This!" he replied, grabbing my hand and sliding a ring onto it. THE ring. The beautiful heart-shaped diamond that I'd taken off and given back to him, because I wasn't ready. What a fool I was.

"I figured you'd take it back eventually," I whispered, staring at it, and Brad shook his head.

"No chance. That would imply I'd given up. And I didn't. I knew you would say yes."

"Oh you did, huh?" I replied with a raise of my eyebrows. "Aren't we the cocky one?"

Brad smiled, kissing me, and I gasped as I felt him slide into me.

"You know me too well, Mrs. Harrison."

"Mrs. Harrison, huh?"

"Forever," he replied, kissing me again. "And always."

And that was just fine by me. In fact, it was perfect.

We were perfect.


	53. Chapter 53: Circles

**A/N: Nice long chapter for you guys! **

**Chapter Fifty Three**  
><strong>Circles<strong>

~*Sam*~

I could not believe, out of every person in the world...the universe even, I, Sam Benson, was sitting here KNITTING. I kinda felt like an old lady, but I had to admit, it was kind of cool! So far I'd only been able to master a baby blanket and little pair of baby socks, but Marissa had assured me that with practice I'd be able to make more detailed projects. Hats, sweaters, maybe a little bikini for when I finally got my body back...

Marissa had left after a few hours, having to go into work, leaving me alone with my knitting. It kept me occupied, along with a few new zombie films Freddie had gotten me, but I wasn't used to being alone. I hadn't been alone for more than an hour or so in quite awhile. It would definitely take some adjusting.

And I had no idea where Carly was! Freddie had said she was going to come by, but I'd seen neither hide nor hair of my best friend, and the few texts I'd fired off to her had gone unanswered. I even texted Brad, demanding to know where my best friend was, and he hadn't responded either, making me even grumpier.

At least Freddie had remembered to call me, but the entire time, he'd been bitching about work and some girl named CG who he claimed was the devil. Something about that didn't sit right with me at all. For one, Freddie wasn't very quick to judge people, and he always liked to give people a chance. After all, he gave me a chance, even when I was absolutely unbearable. It seemed strange that he'd made up his mind about this girl so quick. Whatever she did, it had to have been bad!

But then, there it was in the back of my little pregnant brain...those doubts. Freddie used to refer to me as a little blonde-headed demon...and now he was calling some other girl the devil. While I was on bed rest, getting huge, and unable to have sex. Uh, yeah, I was worried. I was probably being silly, but I couldn't help it.

I wanted to leap out of bed with joy when I heard the front door open, but of course, I couldn't do that. But my heart felt like it leapt out of my chest when I saw Freddie walk into the bedroom, giving me a smile.

"Hey baby," he said, leaning over the bed to give me a kiss, then moved down to press his lips against my stomach. "Hey my other baby."

"Hi," I said with a smile. "How was work?"

Freddie shrugged, a big grin on his face. "What can I say? I'm a freaking hero."

My eyebrows went up, looking at him curiously. "Why? What'd you do?"

"Fixed a server with nothing but a switchblade and a lighter," he replied, sitting down next to me. "They were going to fly in a specialist from San Francisco to do it, but I beat him to the punch."

"Baby!" I exclaimed, hugging him. "That's awesome. And people say you learned nothing from me. I totally taught you how to properly wield the switchblade."

"True," he replied with a laugh. "Guess I can't take all the credit. So what..." he stopped suddenly, looking at the scattered yarn that stretched across the bed, over the side tables, even over the top of the TV. "...the hell happened in here?" he finished. "It looks like a knitting machine exploded!"

I shrugged. "Your mom taught me how to knit."

"Oh?" he replied with a smirk. "Turning into an old lady?"

"Shut up!" I replied, shoving at his shoulder. "Look what I made today!" I held up the light green blanket I'd finished knitting, along with a pair of little yellow socks. "It's for the baby."

"Aw..." Freddie said, kissing me on my forehead. "Baby, it looks great. I think you've got a real talent for that."

"Maybe," I said with a shrug. "It's just something to keep me occupied."

"Better than you practicing throwing knives again...you know Brad and Carly are still bitching about the knife marks in the living room wall."

"I haven't done that in months!" I argued. "Not since you took away my throwing knives!"

Freddie rolled his eyes, laying back. "You're not a ninja, sweetheart."

"Well, maybe I should be," I grunted. I laid back too, my head resting on Freddie's chest, smiling when I felt his hand go into my hair. "I missed you today."

"I missed you too, my sweet sweet baby." He continued to tangle my hair through his fingers, and I lifted my head to look at him.

"Why do you play with my hair so much?"

Freddie shrugged. "I dunno. It's beautiful. And soft...and...you've always had all this hair, ever since I met you...one of my favorite things about you. Physically, I mean."

"And non-physically?" I asked, biting my lip. Ugh, even though I was overjoyed to see him, and he was being incredibly sweet right now, hadn't brought up the whole sex issue, I was still a little bit worried. We'd never been able to keep our hands off each other, now we were being forced to. Would things still be good without the sex?

"You're witty. And...sweet, especially when you think nobody else is watching. And you're feisty," he replied, kissing the side of my head. "I've always loved that about you."

"Gonna be awful hard for me to be feisty laid up in this bed," I grumbled, and Freddie poked me.

"Sam, you're going to have to get over it, okay? You're gonna be here for awhile, might as well get used to it."

"I know," I grumbled. "I just...there's still so much to be done, you know? The baby's room still needs to be painted, the crib has to be put together..."

"And I told you, I'm gonna get it done, alright? I'll get Brad to help me, it'll be all good."

I sighed, amusing myself with toying with the buttons on Freddie's shirt. "I just feel so useless. And I'm...bored."

"Well, at least you had Carly occupying you for a little while, right?"

I shook my head. "Wrong. I haven't seen her all day. And she hasn't answered any of my texts."

Freddie's brow furrowed, frowning. "That's odd. I expected her to be on pins and needles over this whole bed rest thing."

"I know!" I exclaimed. "Brad's not answering his texts either! It's weird, I..."

"KNOCK KNOCK!" I heard a familiar voice call, and I gave Freddie a Look.

"Speak of the devil," I grumbled, then lifted my head to yell out to Carly. "In here! Still! All day!"

I heard the front door shut, and then Carly walked in, followed by Brad.

"Hey guys!"

"Oh my god, the creature lives," I said sarcastically. "Where have you been, Shay?"

Carly shot a glance over at Brad, giving him a little smile, and he just nudged her, smirking. She beamed at him, then turned back to me and Freddie, holding her left hand out.

"Look."

"Oh my god!" I cried, sitting up and checking out the ring on her hand. "It's back on?"

"Oh, it's way on," Brad replied, giving Carly a kiss on her forehead. "Not going away this time."

"Awesome!" Freddie exclaimed. "So you manned up and had the talk."

Brad frowned suddenly, shaking his head. "Not exactly."

"So, wait...Carly?" I asked, staring at her. "Did you bring it up?"

"No," she said with a laugh.

Freddie and I shot each other looks, confused by how cryptic our best friends were being.

"So...then...how did this blessed miracle come to be?" Freddie asked, and Carly blushed.

"It just kinda...you know, got...blurted out."

"Wait, what?" I asked. "So...why are you turning all red? Something's not stirring the kool-aid here."

"Just...you know...we..."

"Oh my god!" I yelled, finally getting it. "You proposed while you guys were doing it!"

"Shut up, Sam!" Brad yelled, flushing crimson, but it was too late, I'd already started laughing hysterically, and Freddie too.

"It's not funny!" Carly cried. "Why are you laughing?"

"Because!" Freddie laughed. "You guys have been on our case for three years about being total horndogs...and look!"

"Yeah, at least when Freddie proposed I didn't have my legs over my head!" I added, making Carly turn even redder.

"Sam!"

"She didn't have her legs over her head," Brad gruffed. "We were..."

"Brad!" Carly shouted, smacking his arm. "Enough! They don't need to know that!"

"Well, definitely the most unusual proposal I've ever heard," Freddie said with a laugh. "But good deal."

Carly bit her lip, tucking a piece of hair behind her ear. "So...so you don't think that we're...rushing into things? Like before?"

I shook my head, laying back. "Nope."

"Really?" Carly asked, sounding hopeful, and I nodded.

"Really, Carls. I mean...it seems like things have changed with you guys, you know?"

Carly nodded thoughtfully, looking over at Brad. "They have."

"So...where's the kids?" Freddie asked. "You left them upstairs by themselves?"

"No way," Brad replied with a roll of his eyes. "I'm not leaving Heather in charge right now, not until I'm sure she's...better. Spencer and April are upstairs."

"Oh," I replied. "So...they've been coming over a lot."

Carly shrugged. "Yeah, I mean...Leah and Maggie like playing together, so..."

"And so do Bryson and Spencer," Brad said with a laugh.

"You know...I can't believe I never thought of that before, but...they do have a lot in common, even if they're twenty years apart," I stated, and Carly nodded.

"Yeah, it works out pretty well," she replied. She looked over at Brad, who just shrugged, and then looked back at me, sitting down on the bed. "You know, we kind of need to figure some stuff out for the show."

I groaned, throwing an arm over my face. "Oh, god. I hadn't even thought of that. I can't do the show if I'm laid up on bed rest for three months."

"God, you're right," Freddie grumbled. He sat there for a moment, silent. "So...what are we going to do? We can't put the show on hold for three months, we'll lose all our affiliates, and there goes all the income!"

"Well, maybe we can figure out...I dunno, a dual location kind of thing..." Carly suggested, and I rolled my eyes.

"It didn't work last time, Carly, and it won't work this time!"

"We won't be fighting this time, Sam!" Carly replied. "And I mean...Freddie's gotten better at fixing technical issues, you know? It could work!"

I looked over at Freddie, who shrugged. "It's worth a shot, baby."

"I mean, I guess...If you guys think it'll work..." I sighed. "But we're really going to have to get creative. And all the fans are used to me bouncing all over the place and I won't be able to do that. I'm afraid it's going to end up hurting us. The chemistry might be off."

Ugh, chemistry. I seemed to be worrying about that a lot lately. Now it wasn't only me and Freddie, but the chemistry on the show! This bed rest thing was going to be a disaster!

"Look, I think Carly's right," Freddie replied. "It's worth trying out."

"And if it doesn't work?" I asked.

"Then we'll try something else! Baby, come on!"

"Yeah, Sam, come on, we have to try something!" Carly added. "We can't let the show go down because of this."

"Sorry I'm inconveniencing all of you," I grumbled, crossing my arms over my chest. "But hey, typical Sam, right? Being an inconvenience to everyone?"

"What?" Freddie exclaimed. "Baby, no! We didn't mean it like that...but we have to think about this stuff, you know? Our asses are on the line here...our sole source of income is on the line! It's got nothing to do with you being an inconvenience, it's just...making sure the show survives."

"Maybe you should just shoot without me," I said softly. "After all, it's iCarly, not iSam."

"Yeah, but there is no iCarly without Sam!" Carly replied. "Sam, come on, it's not like you to give up! What's going on with you?"

"What's going on with me?" I snapped. "I'm completely useless, laid up in bed for three months, that's what's going on with me!"

"Alright, you need to calm your little ass down!" Freddie growled. "You're being ridiculous, Sam! You're not useless!"

"I'm not being ridiculous, and I dunno if you've noticed Freddie, but my ass isn't little anymore! I've turned into a fat worthless waste of space!"

"Whoa!" Freddie said. "Where the hell did that come from?"

Brad and Carly shot each other looks, and Carly swiftly stood up. "Um, we should...let you guys get deal with this...we'll be upstairs..."

"Yeah," Freddie gruffed. "I'm gonna deal with it." He looked over at Brad. "If I can get her to calm down, gym later?"

"Sure, dude, sounds good," Brad replied. "Carly, you can handle the kids for an hour, right?"

"Yeah, no problem," Carly responded. "We'll...see you guys later."

With that, they left, and I didn't bother to say goodbye, too worked up and lost in my own mind to really care. Freddie listened for the sound of the front door shutting, before glaring at me.

"What?" I snapped, not bothering to look him in the eyes, and he sighed.

"Turn around."

"What?" I replied. "Why?"

"Just do it," he responded softly, grabbing my shoulders and physically turning me away from him. "Why you gotta fight me on everything?"

"You just don't get it!" I shot back, and I heard Freddie snort behind me. A few seconds later, I felt his hands on my shoulders, kneading the tense, tightly wound muscles, and despite how cheesed off I was, I couldn't help but let out a little sigh.

"Baby, I get it, okay?" Freddie replied softly, continuing to rub my shoulders and moving down to my back. "I do. You're frustrated, bored, you feel like all this stuff's going on around you that you can't participate in..." He pushed my hair aside, kissing my neck. "I get it. I get you, remember?"

I just sighed, shaking my head. "This is gonna be so hard."

"I'm trying to make it easy on you. As best as I can."

"I didn't even think about the repercussions it would have on the show."

"It's not going to be forever," Freddie reminded me gently. "Just until you have the baby. Then you can go back to bouncing around and acting crazy on camera, just like before. You know you were getting to the point you were having trouble anyway, even before the bed rest."

I grumbled, unwilling to admit that he was right, but he was. Lately, just doing the show, keeping a high energy level, and standing on my feet that long was leaving me exhausted. The thing was, I hadn't told anyone that, not even Freddie, but he still knew. Like he said, he got me. That was part of the reason I loved him so much.

I was silent, and Freddie didn't push the issue, continuing to rub and massage my back, and man, it felt good. I felt his hands reach for the hem of my shirt, pulling it up, and I stopped him.

"Don't," I whispered. "I don't want either of us getting...riled up."

"It's okay, baby," he replied, kissing my neck again. "You're not going to get me riled up."

"Guess I can't anymore, huh? Because I'm getting so fat?"

"Sam!" Freddie exclaimed, sounding exhausted. "Come on, don't do that double edged sword shit with me. You know I hate that. I didn't mean that. Of course you can still get me riled up. But I'm trying to hold back. Because we can't."

I just let out an irritated noise, turning around to push Freddie onto his back, before laying down next to him, resting my head on his chest. The sound of his heartbeat always made me feel better, no matter how bad things were. And right now, I definitely felt like things were bad.

"I hate this," I whispered.

"I know you do, sweetheart," Freddie murmured, sending a soothing hand down my back. "I hate it too."

"I'm tired of being pregnant. I just want the baby now."

"Can't have that, honey. Baby's not ready."

"I know that," I replied softly. "I just...I wish it was time already. It's taking too long. I want my baby now. And I want to get back to normal. With us."

"Soon, baby," he murmured, kissing me on top of my head. "Soon."

But not nearly soon enough.

~*Brad*~

"I swear to god, Brad, if you hang up this phone, I'll..."

"Will you chill out, blondie?" I snapped as I walked through the courthouse, phone pressed against my ear. "I'm not going to hang up until after the verdict's read, but you'd better stay quiet on your end, or else!"

"I'll be quiet!" Sam replied.

"You'd better, I could get thrown out if you don't!" I responded. "Okay, I'm about to go inside, be quiet okay? Because if I get arrested for contempt of court, Carly will be mad at you, and she'll be mad at me too!"

"Yeah, and then you'll have to propose to her again while you guys are doing it!"

"Sam!" I yelled, my face reddening a little bit as a few people walked past, making a face. It was obvious they could hear Sam over the phone.

I really should be anxious or upset right now, what with my dad's hearing being minutes away, but I wasn't. I was on cloud nine. Even though I was sleep deprived, wearing a shirt that had oatmeal on it, courtesy of Leah, and in major need of coffee, I was happy as hell.

Carly was going to marry me.

Carly was going to be my wife.

It was back on, and better than ever! I was so damned happy, I'd have a smile on my face for the last two days. Even when Carly and I had gone to Freddie and Sam's apartment, and they'd mocked us mercilessly about us always being on their case about their sex life, and I'd proposed to Carly in the middle of ours. Yeah, they'd really had a great time with that one, and I suspected they'd be making fun of us over it for weeks. But they were happy for us, and damn, I was happy too!

"Are you still wearing the beanie I made you?"

"Uh, no, I took it off," I replied, referring to the brown knitted hat that Sam had made. I was a little surprised by Sam's new hobby. She didn't strike me as the type to knit, that was for sure, but she'd been on a knitting craze for the last two days, making all kinds of stuff for everyone.

"Why?" Sam whined.

"Chill out, no hats in the courtroom, you know that! And anyway, it's starting to get hot!"

"Finally," she muttered. "Of course, it's not like I can go outside and see for myself."

"Yeah, that's what you get for moving a prop box," I told her.

"BRAD!"

"Alright, I'm going in, so shush," I told her. I walked into the court room, turning the volume way down. Now everyone around me couldn't hear Sam, but Sam could still hear what was going on. I couldn't believe I'd actually agreed to this, but Sam had begged and begged, so I guess I could throw her a bone, give her something to do.

I looked around, frowning when I realized I didn't see my mother anywhere. Well, this was odd. I'd expected to see her here, but I guess, in a way, I wasn't all that surprised. She'd been extremely flaky ever since the day I'd taken the kids, even before that, and she'd made no effort to see them or talk to them. Heather had even tried calling her a few times, and she hadn't answered. Honestly, the whole thing left me furious, but I was a little bit more hurt than anything. I'd expected to have to fight my mom over those kids, and she'd given them up without any struggle at all. It made me wonder, did she even want them? Did she even want me? The woman was only sixteen years old when she'd had me, and I was beginning to wonder whether or not she'd regretted the whole thing.

It took awhile for everyone to trickle into the courtroom, and I was surprised that Sam had stayed on the line as long as she had...but then again, I wasn't surprised. The girl was absolutely dying of boredom, and even though she'd given up on attending the trial since she had to take the stand, she had still wanted to be there for the verdict. The bed rest, however, had thrown a wrench in the gears. I was just glad I was able to come up with a way to include her a little bit, but that girl better not get me in trouble.

I could tell my dad was surprised to see me there, like he'd expected me to give up on him the way he'd given up on me. I was plenty pissed with him, still, about the damage that had been done to me, Bryson, and my sisters, but he was still my dad, and this was a big deal, something that would ultimately affect how the rest of his life, and everyone else's in the family, would play out.

Still, he didn't speak to me. Technically, he wasn't allowed, but still, a smile or a nod or some sort of acknowledgment would have been nice. But of course, we were talking about Richard Harrison, my father, King of the Hard Asses. Wasn't going to happen any time soon. And yeah, I was here for him, but I was here for me too. If I skipped out on this thing, I knew I would regret it.

I was actually nervous during the whole lead up to the verdict reading. Even though I had it on pretty good authority my dad would get off. Why wouldn't he? He was a cop, he had a flawless, although fabricated witness statement, and he'd had one of the best liars in history, Sam Benson, take the stand on his behalf. He was destined to make it out!

But as good as the defense was, the other side was good too. Even with all the steps the cops and everyone else had taken, there were still a few holes that had been laid bare to the jury. Like the fact that my dad didn't have any injuries the night of the shooting, even though Griffin had supposedly attacked him. The CSI had paid a lot of attention to something called arterial spray, which I didn't know what that was, but Sam did, and she wondered whether or not that would end up doing him in. As Sam had put it, any moron with half a brain could tell Griffin didn't attack my dad based on where the blood was in the apartment, the way it covered the walls. She'd said they could pair that with examining Griffin's gunshot wound and tell exactly how far away my dad had been when he'd pulled the trigger. Science was an incredible thing, but in this case, it was an incredible thing that could put my dad away for life.

My pulse began to quicken and my heart began to pound when the judge turned to the jury.

"And has the jury reached a verdict?"

"We have, your honor," an older man wearing glasses and a really tacky bow-tie stated, speaking on behalf of the rest of the jury. "The jury finds Richard Michael Harrison guilty of second degree murder."

My eyes widened, and I let out a loud gasp of surprise. WHAT?

"WHAT?" I heard Sam yell over the phone.

Click. Girl was going to get me busted, and holy shit! I was freaking out! How could this have happened? All the steps that had been taken to sweep this under the rug, and it had all been for nothing!

"Bailiff, take him away. The courts will reconvene tomorrow at 9 AM for sentencing."

It was a total madhouse in here. You had people on Griffin's side, his family and his friends, cheering, satisfied that justice had been served. You had the cops, my dad's work buddies, all protesting loudly. There was me, sitting there totally shocked.

And then there was my dad, sitting in the defendant's chair in his wrinkled gray suit, looking down at the table, shaking his head in disbelief. He didn't even bother to lift his head as the bailiff approached him, just held his arms out, the handcuffs closing over his wrists with a clicking sound. He didn't protest, he didn't cry, didn't yell, just stood up, all dignified like. And as angry as I was with him, that was impressive. He didn't hold any shame or regret for what he had done. In his mind, he had done the right thing. Unfortunately, my dad's mind was pretty screwed up.

I stood up, pushing my way through the crowd that had began to file out the doors, going like a salmon trying to swim upstream.

"Wait!" I yelled. "Dad!"

My dad turned around at the sound of me yelling his name, and I leapt over the little wall that separated me from him. "Wait, please," I begged the bailiff. "I'm his son."

The bailiff gave me a firm look, before sighing and loosening his grasp on my dad, who simply stared at me.

"Dad..." I said, running a hand through my hair. "I'm sorry."

My dad shook his head. "I'm not. I was...I was trying to protect you and Heather."

I nodded, looking at the ground. "I know."

"You'll take care of the kids?" he asked. "I won't be able to put up much of a fight in jail...and even if I wasn't going..." he trailed off, shrugging. "Maybe they're better where they're at."

"But...what about mom?" I asked, giving him a strange look. "She'll fight me, right?"

My dad shook his head. "I...I don't think so, Bradley. Your mother, she..." He shook his head again. "She wanted certain things for her life, but then some things happened..."

"I happened," I said, filling in the blanks for him, and he nodded.

"I don't regret it," he replied. "I wish...I wish I had handled things differently with you. And the rest of the kids too, but...there had to be some discipline. Children need boundaries and rules. If I didn't come down on you kids, well..." he trailed off, shaking his head. "I tried to keep the family together, because...well...don't worry about it. But...it was a mistake. Your mother, she..." he stopped again. "Don't worry about it. Just take care of the kids, okay?"

"You know I will," I responded quietly, and he nodded.

"I know. You're a good kid. You're a good son."

At that statement, my eyes widened, looking at him in shock. "Do you really mean that?"

"Of course. I just wish things had been better for you. I've made a lot of mistakes. Too late to fix them."

"Maybe," I said with a shrug. "Maybe not."

"Time to go," the bailiff said, tugging on my dad's arms, and he nodded.

"Bye, Bradley."

"I'll come to the sentencing tomorrow," I told him. "Promise."

He didn't respond, just gave me a sad smile as the bailiff dragged him away. I sat down on one of the benches, completely baffled by what had just happened, not only the verdict, but by what my dad had said to me. That he was proud of me? I was a good son? What on earth was going on? And everything about mom? He was being so cryptic, it was so confusing...and yet, I had a pretty good idea of what he was getting at. And I didn't know if I could handle it.

I stood up suddenly, walking out of the courtroom and pulling my phone out of my pocket. I rolled my eyes when I took stock of the text messages.

Sam: Dude! How can you just hang up on me?

Sam: Call me back right now!

Sam: OMG dude I'm dying right now!

Letting out an exasperated grunt, I ignored all of Sam's messages, instead going through my call list and then hitting send. The phone rang a few times, and then that sweet, familiar, gentle voice I loved answered.

"Hey, baby," Carly said. "How'd it go?"

I was quiet for a moment, not sure what to say.

"Brad?" Carly asked. "Is everything okay?"

"Uh...no. Not really," I replied. "Did Spencer come by this morning?"

"Uh, yeah...why?" Carly asked. "And did you find out the verdict?"

"Is he still there?"

"Yeah, he's still here," Carly replied. "Brad, what's wrong? You sound out of it...are you okay?"

"Not really," I replied.

"What happened?" Carly asked softly.

"Can you meet me at the lake?" I asked. "Please? I...I need you, but...Leah and Bryson and Heather, they don't need to see me like this, or hear what I'm going to say..."

"Yeah, I can meet you at the lake," she replied. "But...you're not going to..."

"I'm not going to drink, babe," I responded. "I don't even want to any more."

"Well that's good," Carly said. "Okay, I'm leaving right now. I'll see you in about twenty minutes."

"Sounds good, babydoll. Love you."

"I love you too," she replied. "See you soon."

Twenty five minutes later, I was sitting on the bank of the lake, watching the waves lap against the shore, being driven by the unusually windy day. I stared across the rippling surface of the water, occasionally throwing a stone and letting it skip across the lake, when I felt a hand on my shoulder.

"Hey," Carly said, sitting down next to me. I turned to look at her, and she kissed me. "Are you okay?"

"No, I..." I trailed off, taking stock of how she looked at that moment, hair in a messy bun, wearing one of my t-shirt and a pair of cropped pink sweatpants. And not a scrap of makeup on her! Well this was unusual! "You look...different."

"I do?" Carly asked calmly. "How?"

"Like...you didn't...you're not all...gussied up like you normally are."

"No," she replied. "Didn't really seem important. I mean, your siblings don't care if I'm all glammed out."

"Neither do I," I responded, pushing back a stray piece of hair that had blown into her face. "I kinda like it."

"No makeup? You like that?"

"Well, yeah," I responded. "It's...the real you. And I love the real you."

"I love the real you too," she replied with a smile. "So? What happened?"

I sighed, looking back at the water. "Guilty."

Carly was dead silent, and I looked over at her to find her jaw hanging open, staring at me in shock.

"Wow," she said quietly. "I...I thought you said it was foolproof...with everything the cops did."

I shrugged. "I guess nothing's foolproof."

Carly pulled her knees to her chest, resting her chin on them, staring out at the water. "All that stuff they put Freddie and Sam through, it was all for nothing. The fight you guys got in, it was all for nothing."

"They shouldn't have done what they did," I replied. "It...it was wrong. My dad thought he was doing what was right, but...he was wrong."

Carly nodded thoughtfully, looking over at me. "Something else is going on, isn't it?" she asked, and when I nodded, she reached over, taking her hand in mine. "Tell me."

"I just...I feel like I don't even know my parents. After the verdict was read, I rushed over to my dad. He told me to take care of the kids. He told me I was a good son. And he told me my mom wasn't going to fight me over the kids. And just...the way he talked about things...it was almost like a facade had been lifted. Like he's been playing this hard-ass role my entire life, but it's not really him. I don't know him, Carly. And I don't know my mom."

Carly sat there for a second, and I could tell the wheels in her head were turning, but I didn't know why. She finally looked back over at me, smiling a little bit. "You got anything to do today?"

"No, why?"

"Roadtrip? Put the kids in the back of the car and book it."

"And where are we going to go, Carly?"

"Somewhere you can get some answers."

"What?" I asked, confused. "Answers? Carly, what are you getting at?"

"You don't remember much about your childhood, except that you got left with your grandparents for a long period of time. And...you feel like you don't even know your parents, well...if anyone can give you the answers you're looking for, it's your grandparents."

I stared at her, dumbfounded. "You wanna go to Tacoma?"

"Yeah, why not? Just for a few days. We'll be back in time to shoot on Friday night. What do you think?"

"Well, I guess it's time they meet my fiance," I replied with a smile, and Carly shook her head.

"They've already met me. Remember? The disaster that was almost the Seddie divorce?"

"Yeah, but...you were just my girlfriend then. Now you're more. Now you're going to be my wife," I said, and Carly gave me a sweet smile.

"It's so strange, hearing you say that," she admitted, biting her lip. "But I like it." She leaned toward me, and I leaned in too, kissing her softly. "So, Tacoma?"

"Tacoma," I replied. "Let's head back and get packed."

"Whooo!" Carly yelled, rising to her feet. "Road trip!"

"Wanna race there?" I asked as we walked to our cars, and she laughed.

"You'd eat my dust."

"Excuse me?" I laughed. "A Honda versus a Mustang? You've gotta be kidding me, babe."

Carly just shrugged, looking at me for a long moment. "Let's find out," she said suddenly, before turning and running to her car.

"CARLY!" I yelled, running after her. "You're totally cheating!"

~*Freddie*~

"Feel like one of the team now?" Dongle asked me as I spun around lazily the desk chair of my cubicle. I nodded, spinning around again.

"I like this chair, you know that?" I asked. "This is a good chair. And I think this is a good cubicle too."

"I dunno man, if I had just saved the company fifty grand I would have demanded a lot more than a damn cubicle," Mud commented, and I shrugged.

"I didn't demand a cubicle, but I sure got one now!" I replied with a grin, and Dongle and Mud rolled their eyes.

"Man, you're way too excited about a little box," Dongle replied. "So...where'd you learn how to do that?"

"Do what?"

"Fix the server like you did! They don't teach you how to cut and strip wires with switchblades in college!"

"Learned it from my wife," I said with a shrug.

"Oh, is she into computers too?" Spock spoke up. "She doesn't seem like it on the show."

I laughed, shaking my head. "That's because she's not."

"Then how'd you learn how to fix the server from her?"

"I didn't say she taught me how to fix a server," I replied. "But I learned a lot about wires and stuff from her. Seen her get into circuit breaker boxes, hotwire a car, all kinds of stuff."

"That's kinda hot," Dongle commented, and I nodded.

"Yeah, it's pretty hot."

"Does she have a sister?" he asked, and I laughed aloud.

"Yeah, she does. A twin sister, actually."

"Get the fuck out!" Mud exclaimed, throwing a balled up piece of paper at me. "Seriously? That's the kind of stuff dreams are made of! Hook a dude up!"

"Uh, no offense, but you're not really Melanie's type, Mud," I replied, and Mud made a face.

"And why is that, exactly?"

"Because you're not a girl. Mel's a lesbian, and a pretty unbalanced one at that. Besides, she lives in North Carolina, probably won't be coming back this way any time soon."

"Oh," Mud said, sounding disappointed. "Well, whatever. So twins, huh? You never..."

"I know what you're getting at, and no. That's too weird, even for me. Although..." I trailed off, laughing a little, and Mud, Spock, and Dongle looked at me curiously.

"Although?"

"Although I have kissed both of them, at different points."

"Dude!" Dongle exclaimed. "You ARE Wonder Boy!"

I laughed, shaking my head. "Hey, what can I say?"

Click clack, click clack, click clack. There was that sound, the very distinct sound of bitchy CG strutting through the office. The noise was getting closer, and the guys stopped what they were doing, peering around the edges of their cubicles. I just continued to sit there, flipping casually through a server manual.

"Dongle," CG chirped. "I need you to go through these encryption keys and try to figure out a more effective algorithm. If you can," she stated.

Dongle scowled at her, snatching the folder out of her hands. "Yeah, got it CG, thanks. That's what they pay me to do."

"Just saying, if you're not up to the task..."

"You know what? Just because you switched from intern to salaried two whole months before I did doesn't mean you can keep lording this shit over my head, CG!" Dongle exclaimed. "It's getting really old."

"Then quit," CG sneered, before looking over at me, her expression changing from superior to slightly pissed. "What...you got a cubicle?"

"Yep," I replied.

"But you've only been here three days!" she exclaimed, and I shrugged.

"Wonder Boy strikes again."

"Didn't you hear, CG? He fixed the server yesterday. The nerds have been singing his praises all day in these hallowed halls," Mud stated.

"Yeah, dude...he's like Beowulf or something!"

"Spock," Dongle began, placing a hand on his shoulder. "You've GOT to get out more, man. Beowulf? Seriously? A simple sports reference would have sufficed!"

"Sorry," Spock replied sheepishly, before looking back up at CG. "Didn't it take you like two months to get a cubicle?"

CG opened her mouth to fire off at Spock, but before she could, Dongle let out a hiss of alarm.

"Oh shit!" he said in a hushed voice, pointing. "Look!"

"Oh god," Mud groaned. "Everyone look busy!"

"What?" I asked. "What's going on?"

"It's the VP!" Spock hissed.

I looked over the edge of my cubicle, and sure enough, there was the Vice President of Cisco itself, strolling casually through the maze of cubicles, flanked by two assistants and one of our higher-ups. The VP usually stayed in San Francisco, but he was in and out of Seattle. Of course, I recognized him from the Christmas party when Spencer and April's father had introduced me. I wondered whether or not he would remember me.

He was making a beeline right for the little area the four of us had our cubicles set up, and we all tried to look busy, staring at our computer screens and typing pure nonsense, while CG just stood there, leaning against the wall of Mud's cubicle, tall and confident, as the VP came closer.

"Hi, Mr. Callahan!" she exclaimed. "What brings you to Seattle?"

"Ah, Callie, nice to see you again," he replied, and CG frowned.

"It's Cassie, actually..."

"Of course. Came up to check out the server, meet the guy who fixed it."

The higher up who'd been tailing him, one of our operation managers, gave me a nod.

"This is him," Mr. Montez stated to Mr. Callahan, pointing at me. "His name's..."

"Freddie!" Mr. Callahan replied, extending his hand, to which I stood up and gladly shook. "Good to see you again! How's your wife?"

"Uh, not so great, honestly," I replied, making a face. "Six months pregnant, bed rest, absolutely miserable."

"Poor thing," Mr. Callahan replied with a shake of his head. "So it was you who fixed the server! And you used...a knife?"

"A switchblade...and a lighter. It was just some faulty wiring that needed to be stripped and finagled," I replied with a shrug. "Not a big deal."

"Not a big deal?" Mr. Callahan repeated. "You're too modest! That server would have cost seventy thousand to replace! You know, Henry was right about you," he said, referring to April's dad. "I'm going to keep my eye on you, Freddie."

"Uh, wow...thanks?" I replied, still a little taken aback, and Mr. Callahan just gave me a smile.

"Next time I'm in Seattle, maybe we'll do lunch. Gotta get back, lots to do, just wanted to say good job!" One more smile, and he turned on his heel, walking right past CG without so much as a word, which of course, left her fuming.

Meanwhile, Dongle, Mud, and Spock were staring at me in shock.

"Dude!" Dongle yelled. "How do you know him?"

"Well, you know Carly?"

"iCarly Carly?"

"No, some other chick named Carly," I replied sarcastically. "Yes, that Carly! Well, her brother's married to the daughter of Mr. Callahan's best friend. I met him at their last Christmas party, got on his good side."

"I'll say," Mud commented, before looking over at CG. "He didn't even remember your name!"

"Shut up, Mud!" CG shot back, glaring at him. "Go make some copies."

"Copies?" he asked. "But..."

"I'm serious," CG replied, slamming a file down on his desk. "Make me twenty copies of this whole file. Now."

Mud stood up, grabbing the file and heading off, grumbling to himself the entire time, and CG shot a look over at Spock.

"And you...I want those servers tested."

"But CG, I just tested them this morning."

"Do it again!" she replied sharply. Spock glared at her, before standing up and walking towards the servers. Dongle just tried to keep himself occupied with the encryption keys so CG wouldn't mess with him, leaving her glaring at me.

However, I wasn't biting, just crossed my arms over my chest and stared at her. She gave me an amused look, shaking her head.

"Still basking in the glory of your lucky shot?" she asked, and I shrugged.

"Guess I'm not the only one. Callahan thought it was pretty cool," I replied.

"I see that," she replied. "Well, obviously one of us has underestimated the other."

"Obviously," I shot back. She said nothing else, just gave me a smile and walked away, the click-clacking of her heels ringing out through the room.

Dongle leaned back in his chair toward me. "Dude, I would not go head to head with her."

I shrugged, tapping a pen on my desk. "I'm not worried."

"I'm serious. You piss that chick off, bad things happen. She plays dirty."

"Dude, I have gone head to head with some of the dirtiest players in history. In fact, I married and reformed the fiercest woman on the planet. After dealing with Sam for eight years, this chick is nothing."

Dongle shook his head, looking back over his files. "If you say so, man. But...I wouldn't push it."

I just laughed. I truly wasn't worried about that chick. It was pretty obvious that for some reason she felt threatened by me, possibly because if I pushed myself hard enough I could get her job, but I really wasn't in the mood to play games. If she tried, I'd just end up stomping her anyway.

"Hey, Freddie?" one of the other interns, a guy named Josh, stuck his head over the edge of my cubicle wall.

"Yeah?"

"Uh...you know the sockets? On the analyst computers?"

"Uh-huh..." I replied. "What's wrong with them?"

"They all need to be replaced."

"Dude!" I responded, exasperated. "It's four o'clock! We can't replace all the sockets on every analyst computer in one hour!"

"I know!" Josh replied. "We gotta stay late!"

"Late?" I replied. "Oh no, Sam will kill me!"

"Hey, it's your internship," Josh said with a shrug. "Do it, get salaried, don't do it...you know the alternative."

"Yeah, but..." I started, then stopped, shaking my head. "Alright, fine. My wife's gonna bitch me out over this, but...it has to be done, right?"

"If you want to have a shot at working here for real, then yeah," Josh replied. "Call your wifey, then meet me in the analyst room!"

"Got it," I called, pulling my phone out of my pocket. Oh god, I was very, very afraid to do this. There was a good chance she'd get so angry she'd somehow figure out how to strangle me through the phone! My poor baby, she got stuck in bed all day, by herself, while I was here, and now I had to work late. I felt bad already. Of course, I'd make it up to her, but I really hoped she understood, I was busting my ass on this job so I'd have a shot at a real job here. For her. For the baby.

"Hello?"

"Hey, baby," I sighed.

"Hi," she said. "Hurry home, I miss you."

I groaned, leaning back in my chair. "Here's the thing. I have to work late. We gotta replace the sockets on about a hundred computers."

"What?" Sam cried. "How long will that take?"

"A few hours, maybe," I replied. "I'm sorry, sweetheart."

"But..." she started, her voice coming out in a whine, then stopped, sighing sadly. "Okay. This sucks."

"I know, baby. I'll get home as quick as I can."

"You better," she replied. "Well, I guess I'll let you get back to work. I love you."

"I love you too, my sweet sweet baby. I'll call you when I'm leaving."

"Okay. Kick ass."

"I already am," I replied, and I heard her laugh.

"Bye, baby."

"Bye, sweetheart," I replied. I hung up, looking over at Dongle, who was just watching me, his eyebrows raised.

"She didn't seem that angry."

"No," I sighed. "She seemed sad. And that's worse."

Dongle shrugged. "Gotta be tough stuck in bed all day with your other half working late."

"I know," I replied. "I just hope she understands it's all for her and the baby."

"I'm sure she does, man," Dongle replied. "You'd better haul ass to the analyst room, Josh can get a little high-strung."

"Doesn't everyone around here?" I quipped, standing up. Without waiting for a response, I took off down the hallway, my mind on Sam the entire time. I felt so incredibly bad for having to work late, but there was a good chance we'd both have to get used to it. I just hoped she'd be able to handle it, and that it wouldn't drive her TOO crazy. Besides, this was all for her.

As long as I kept telling myself that, it'd be all good. I went to school for that girl. I worked for that girl. I lived for that girl.

And I'd never stop.


	54. Chapter 54: Making Themselves Heard

**Chapter Fifty Four  
><strong>**Making Themselves Heard**

~*Carly*~

"Do you think it's a good idea leaving creepy Carlton alone with the whole place for the next two days?" Brad asked me as we shuffled around the bedroom, trying to pack for two days in Tacoma.

I shrugged, trying to stuff as many things into my smallest duffel bag as possible. "I'm not sure, but I'm not really worried about Carlton. He mostly stays in his room anyway..."

"That's because he's afraid of children...or has an intense dislike for them," Brad replied.

"Yeah, he was really not happy when Leah was chewing on one of his dungeons and dragons toys."

Brad frowned, sitting on the bed. "She's getting way too old to keep chewing on stuff."

"Well, maybe she's stressed out, ever think about that?"

"We're all stressed out, Carly," Brad said with a sigh.

"Which is why we're getting out of here for two days. I mean, at least the kids can have their own rooms there, you know? We won't be running into each other," I replied.

"True. But when we get back, I gotta finish that stupid wall."

"I don't know why Spencer never thought of it before," I commented. "But splitting that big room off into two smaller rooms, it's not a bad idea."

"Yeah, but we're still low on space around here," Brad replied. "Carly...we can't have Carlton here, we've got too much on our plates, and we can't afford the sacrifice the space."

"Yeah, but I just feel kinda bad, you know? And anyway, he signed a lease, our hands are tied."

"He signed a lease with US, not the apartment complex!" Brad replied. "And I mean...the guy's weird. He just stares at you and glares at me."

"Maybe he's jealous of you," I suggested, and Brad nodded.

"Obviously. But...he creeps Heather out too."

"Well...Heather's on edge these days, you know? After what happened to her..."

Brad sighed, shaking his head. "You know, I'm convinced you don't have a mean bone in your body, Carly."

I frowned. "Is that a problem?" I asked, and Brad shook his head again.

"Well...no. It's not. But...I don't know. You're a little too accepting of people, it's hard for you to see the bad in anyone."

"So you think Carlton's bad?" I asked, and Brad shrugged.

"Maybe, maybe not. But my point is, we need the space."

"Well, there's nothing we can do right now, until he actually does something that warrants kicking him out, I'm not going to do it."

"Fine," Brad replied with a shrug. "I'm not going to get into an argument with you over it. Not worth it."

"Thank you," I replied.

Brad opened his mouth to say something else, but a knock came at the bedroom door.

"It's open!" Brad called, and the door creaked open, Bryson sticking his head in.

"Hey."

"Hey Bry," Brad replied. "What's up? You finished packing?"

Bryson pushed the door all the way open, walking inside. I glanced over at him, noticing the way he stared at the ground, toying with the sleeves of his hoodie.

"No," he responded, and Brad frowned.

"Why not? We're leaving in an hour!"

"I don't want to go."

"Why not?" Brad demanded. "Come on, dude, it'll be fun. School's out, there's bound to be a cousin...or five...hanging around."

Bryson shrugged. "Just don't want to."

Brad sighed, flopping down on the futon. "C'mere. Sit down."

Bryson obeyed, sitting down and staring at the ground, and Brad nudged him a little. "What's up with you? You always liked going before..."

"I just don't wanna go, that's all," Bryson replied.

"It'll be fun," Brad said again. "There'll be a little more space there, grandma and grandpa...lots of space to run around...you can work on drawing some landscapes..."

"I said I don't want to go, okay?" Bryson snapped, and Brad leaned away from him, slightly taken aback. He looked over his shoulder at me, and I just shrugged, a little confused. What ten year old kid didn't want to go to a big house, hang out with his cousins, and run around having fun? Something was amiss.

"You need to talk to me, little dude," Brad pressed him. "I can't fix a problem if I don't know what it is."

"Are you taking us to Tacoma to get rid of us?" Bryson asked suddenly, and Brad stared at him, shocked.

"Why would you think that?" he asked quietly.

Bryson shrugged. "I dunno," he said. "There's not enough space here, you and Heather have been arguing...Leah's weird sleeping patterns. I know it's a pain."

Brad shook his head, placing a hand on Bryson's shoulder. "Bry, it doesn't matter, okay? I told you, we're going to work this out. I'm not going to give up on you guys..."

"But you gave up before!" Bryson interrupted. "You told us you were going to New York, and then you ended up moving in here! You abandoned us before, Brad!"

"I didn't have a choice back then," Brad replied, shaking his head fervently. "Look, I just...I need to talk to our grandparents about some stuff. Get some answers."

"About what?" Bryson asked, and Brad let out a deep breath, running a hand through his hair.

"Nothing you need to worry about. Stuff that happened before you were born."

"Stuff about mom and dad?" Bryson replied, and Brad bit his lip, staring at the floor.

"Yeah," he finally said. "Stuff about them."

Bryson was quiet for a moment, staring at the floor like Brad was. It was incredible how much those two looked alike, like Bryson was just a miniature version of Brad.

"They don't want us either, do they?" Bryson asked. "They haven't come after us. Mom won't answer the phone."

"Look, Bry, it's...complicated, okay? Nothing you need to worry about now."

"Why can't you just tell me what happened?" Bryson demanded, standing up.

"Because you're..."

"I'm not too damn young!"

Brad stood up then too, looking angry. "Bryson! Watch your mouth!"

"Why?" he yelled back. "You do it!"

"I'm twenty!" Brad roared. "You're ten!"

"I'm not going to be ten forever!" Bryson yelled, his arms going up in frustration. "Tell me what happened! Tell me why dad had to stay in the apartment for such a long time, and why mom won't answer the phone, and why nobody's come for us! Just tell me why, Brad!"

Brad looked over at me, obviously trying to figure out what to do, and I just nodded. There wasn't any point in trying to cover things up, it was only frustrating Bryson, and making it harder for him. Brad continued to stare at me for a second, before looking back over at Bryson.

"The night you guys came to visit me in the hospital," Brad said. "Do you remember that?"

"Yeah, I do," Bryson replied. "That was before everything...got bad."

"No kidding," Brad grumbled. "Look...something happened to Heather. Something bad. That's why she is the way she is now. And...I tried to take matters into my own hands, get revenge. But...it didn't work out that way. Sam got Dad, and Dad ended up hurting the guy that hurt Heather."

Bryson was silent, trying to process what Brad had just said. "How bad?"

"He...he shot him, Bry. He killed him," Brad replied. "That's why dad got put on house arrest, and why he's...in jail now."

"Is he going to be in jail for a long time?" Bryson asked, and Brad nodded.

"Yeah."

"So...why did mom let you take us, without trying to stop you?"

"I dunno, Bry. I'm still trying to figure that part out."

Bryson sat back down on the futon, arms crossed over his chest. "We're not normal, are we? Our family, it's...not normal."

"No," Brad agreed, sitting down next to him. "It's not. But...I'm trying to make it as normal as I can. I'm going to take care of you guys."

Bryson nodded a little, staring off into space, and Brad put a hand on his knee.

"I'm not gonna leave you guys, okay? We're not going to Tacoma so I can drop you off."

"Then why are we going?" Bryson asked, and Brad let out an irritated grunt.

"Look, when I was little, stuff happened. And I don't remember most of it. Just bits and pieces. But grandma and grandpa do. So I want to talk to them. Find out how things really were."

"Why?"

"I dunno man, I just...I think it'll help me understand why things are the way they are now, a little bit better. That okay with you?"

"I...I guess," Bryson replied. "If that's why we're going."

"It's only for two days, dude. We have to shoot on Friday, you know that."

"Can...can I watch?" Bryson asked, and Brad smiled, nodding.

"Of course," he responded. "Whatever you want."

"I want things to be normal," Bryson sighed, looking a little lost, and Brad nodded.

"I can't help you with that, Bryson. I'm sorry. All I can do is try to make things better."

"Heather's not better," Bryson replied. "Heather's the same. You changed her hair, you took out her nosering, but it didn't change anything. It's like...she's...broken."

"I know, Bry. I don't know what to do for her any more," Brad replied.

"She...she does stuff. When you guys aren't looking," Bryson said softly, and Brad's eyebrows went up.

"Stuff?" he asked. "What kind of stuff?"

"Her arms," Bryson replied. "They..."

Bryson didn't even get to finish his sentence before Brad leapt to his feet, making a beeline for the door. I dropped the clothes I was holding onto the bed, following Brad out of the room.

"Brad," I called, following him down the hallway and toward the stairs. "Brad!"

"Not right now, Carly," he gruffed, heading down the staircase.

"But...Brad, come on, not right now! You guys are just going to fight again!"

"It's worth the fight this time!" he called over his shoulder, reaching the bottom of the stairs way before I did. Heather was sitting on the couch, idly watching TV, while Leah sat on the floor, playing with blocks.

"Bwad play?" she asked hopefully, and Brad shook his head.

"Not right now, Lee-lee," he muttered, heading for the couch. Heather saw him coming, eyeing him suspiciously.

"Brad, what...hey!" she yelled as Brad grabbed her wrist. "Brad! What the hell? Let go of me!"

"First of all, don't swear in front of Leah!" Brad yelled. "Secondly, you wanna tell me why you're wearing a sweater when it's almost JUNE?"

"I'm cold-natured!" she exclaimed as Brad pulled her to her feet. "Stop it!"

"No you're not! None of us are!" Brad replied. Heather tried pulling away from him, shoving at his chest, but she couldn't move him, he still had a tight hold on her wrist. Using his other hand, he pushed her sleeve up, ignoring her frantic cries.

"Brad, stop it! Stop!" she yelled, but it was too late. I watched Brad's eyes widen suddenly, and I walked around the couch to take a closer look, letting out a gasp and covering my mouth in shock.

Brad stared at her arm for a long moment, before letting go and finally looking at her.

"Heather," he said quietly. "You need help."

"I don't need help, I need to be left alone," she snapped, and Brad shook his head.

"I'm sorry, but I'm not going to do that."

"Go away, Brad," Heather hissed. "Leave, like you did before."

Brad crossed his arms over his chest, shaking his head. "No. I'm not going anywhere."

"Then I'll leave," Heather replied, shoving past him and heading for the door. She didn't get very far though, Brad quickly grabbed her around the waist, yanking her back and depositing her on the couch.

"Sit down!" he roared. Then, suddenly, as if he finally remembered there were other people in the room, he turned and looked at me. "Babe, take Leah and Bryson upstairs."

"Brad," I began, but he just held a hand up, silencing me.

"Babe, please," he said softly. "Just do it, okay?"

"Alright," I said with a sigh, bending down to pick up Leah and balancing her on my hip. "Come on, Lee-lee. Let's go watch TV."

"DORA!" she yelled, and I nodded.

"Yep, Dora. Come on." I carried Leah up the stairs, with Bryson not far behind me, back up to the bedroom, sitting Leah down in one of the chairs and flipping on the TV. Bryson sat back down on the futon, looking worried.

"Heather's going to be mad at me," he commented, and I shook my head.

"She'll get over it."

"Maybe I should've kept my mouth shut."

"No, Bryson," I replied. "You did the right thing. Your sister needs help, and Brad will get her help."

"What happened to her?"

I shook my head, glancing over at Leah. "It's not my place to tell you that. And I know you hate hearing it, but you're still too young to know. Just...she's hurting, okay?"

"I know," Bryson said softly. "You think Brad's gonna fix it?"

"He's going to try his best," I responded.

"And what if he can't?"

I flopped down next to Bryson, laying my head back. "He won't stop trying until he does."

"I know," Bryson said with a nod. "So..."

"So?"

"So...you're going to be like...my...sister?"

"Sister-in-law," I replied. "That okay?"

"I guess so," Bryson replied with a shrug. "You love my brother?"

"Very much," I replied. "And I have for a long time."

Bryson was silent for a moment, thinking things over. "Okay," he finally said. "And...you're going to help take care of us?"

"Of course," I replied.

Bryson was quiet again, before looking over at me. His expression had changed a little bit. It was slightly defiant, almost...confrontational.

"You better not hurt him," he said. "Cuz if you do..."

"Bryson!" I laughed. "Relax! I'm not going to hurt your brother! I love Brad! I told you that!"

"Just making sure we're clear," he grumbled. "What do you think he's going to do about Heather?"

"The same thing he always does," I replied. "He'll yell, and then he'll find a way to fix it."

"Well, he's just as good as Dad at the yelling part, but I hope he's better at fixing stuff."

"Yeah, me too," I said quietly.

~*Brad*~

As soon as I heard the door shut upstairs, I turned back to Heather, glaring at her.

"Sit down."

Heather shook her head, turning to walk towards the door. "I'm leaving."

"Like hell you are," I hissed, grabbing her arm and yanking her back. "Now sit down!"

She stared at me for a moment, totally silent, before flopping down on the couch. "Trying to act like Dad now? Being the disciplinarian?"

I shook my head slowly, continuing to stare her down. "Don't mock me, Heather. This is serious."

"So what are you going to do? How are you going to punish me, dear brother?"

"I'm not going to punish you," I replied quietly. "That's not what you need."

"How would you know what I need?" she shot back.

I sighed, sitting down next to her, trying to figure out whether or not this was a good idea. It probably wasn't but, what choice did I have?

"Let me see it," I said, grabbing her arm and pushing her sleeve back up. She didn't fight me this time, just stared off into space as I examined her limb. It was so thin, wiry, fair. Like mine. I couldn't help but run a fingertip over one of the scabbed up cuts, a thin line cut across that looked like it had been made by something sharp. It didn't look like a knife had caused it, maybe a paperclip, or a letter opener, or something like that. And there were a lot of them. How could I have missed this? How could my parents have missed this?

"What'd you use?" I grunted, and she shrugged.

"Stuff."

"Why?"

She shrugged again. "You wouldn't get it."

"Oh?" I asked, before pushing up my own sleeve and holding out my arm, palm side up. "Try me."

Heather bent down to get a closer look, and her eyes widened, looking back up at me. "You mean..."

"Guess it's a family trait," I muttered.

Well, this was something I definitely hadn't planned on sharing. My scars were very, very faint, and unless you knew what you were looking for, you wouldn't see them. They were from years ago, when my life was much different.

Heather was silent, not sure what to say, so I started talking, something to cut the heavy tension that hung in the air.

"Before we moved here, I went out of my way to be everything to everyone. Perfect son, perfect student, perfect boyfriend. Mr. Perfect, always trying to please everyone. You know how that turned out."

"You couldn't do it," Heather said softly.

"No, I couldn't," I replied. "It was an act, and a hard one to keep going at that. You remember Nicole. How much she cared about what everyone thought."

Heather nodded carefully. "I kinda thought she was a bitch."

"Oh, she was," I said with a nod, before glaring at her. "And DON'T SWEAR. But yeah, Nicole wasn't a very nice person...she was kind of the Queen Bee of our school, you know? But I loved her anyway. We both played that role of the power couple, but all that...fakeness? It bothered me, a lot. I felt like everything about me was just...wrong. It wasn't me. Not a single person on earth knew the real me. I was afraid to be real, because if anyone found out I wasn't perfect, everything would fall apart."

"Everything did fall apart," Heather reminded me, and I nodded.

"Eventually everything does. Nobody can keep up an act forever. Not me, not you, not mom and dad. And yeah, I was absolutely mortified when all that stuff came out about them. But before that, I felt...trapped. Frustrated. Without an outlet. So...I cut."

"Why'd you stop?" Heather asked, and I shrugged.

"Things changed. I...I met people I didn't have to be fake around. I didn't have to keep this superior air anymore. I got to let out the real me, and it helped, a lot."

"You mean Carly," Heather filled in, and I nodded.

"And Sam and Freddie," I replied. I laughed, shaking my head. "I remember the day I met them, thinking, man these people are weirder than they seem on the show. But...they were real about it, you know? Nothing about any of them was a put-on, or a fake. And just...some bad stuff happened, but nobody walked away with it. When I was going through bad stuff in Tacoma, everyone walked away. Nobody wanted to be associated with the weird kid with the weird parents. But here? Man, everybody went through so much, but nobody backed off. Nobody got thrown under the bus. It was different...it was amazing."

"So you stopped cutting because of Carly and Freddie and Sam?" Heather asked, a little perplexed, and I shook my head.

"No, Heather. It was more than that. I stopped because I didn't have to be that guy any more, Mr. Perfect. I could be me. I didn't have to take on that fake role any more. It was like...a weight got lifted. Come on, you know it's like...an outlet, for mental...emotional pain. But...once you stop feeling like that, you don't need the outlet any more. I stopped because I wasn't hurting any more. I stopped because I was happy."

Heather nodded, continuing to look at my arm. "You can barely see them," she commented softly, and I nodded.

"Yeah, I'm lucky, I don't scar easily, and when I do, they're really faint. I also haven't done it in three and a half years. You stop now, and in three years no one will be able to tell with you either."

"Does Carly know?" Heather asked, looking at me, and I shook my head fervently.

"No. And I don't want her to. She'll freak out and go into fix it mode."

"But what about being real?" she asked, and I shook my head.

"It's not about being real, Heather. I don't want to live in the past any more. No use bringing up an issue that's dead and buried."

We were silent for a minute, not sure what to say, and I looked over at her hesitantly. "So why do you do it?"

"I don't know," she said softly. "I feel like...like there's something in me that I have to get out. Something bad. There's something wrong with me."

"There's nothing wrong with you, Heather," I replied. "You're just...hurt."

"I feel so dirty," she whispered.

"Heather," I said firmly, grabbing her hand. "Look at me."

She lifted her head slowly to look at me, and I grabbed her chin, holding it firmly.

"You are NOT dirty, do you hear me? You got taken advantage of by some asshole. That does NOT make you a bad person. It makes you young and inexperienced, which you are."

"Griffin died because of me."

"No, Heather. Griffin died because our FATHER went to his apartment and SHOT HIM. You had nothing to do with that. Dad made his own choice."

"But it's my fault!"

"No, Heather! It's not! And you can't change what happened, and you cannot blame yourself! I'm not going to let you." I sat back for a moment, thinking carefully. "When we get back from Tacoma, you're going back into therapy. Full time."

"But, Brad..."

"No buts, Heather! We gotta fix you! I don't want you going through life feeling the way you do now! You're my sister, it's my job to protect you and make sure you turn out okay."

"It'll be expensive," she reminded me, and I shrugged.

"I think I can afford it. We do pretty well with iCarly."

"You live in a place like this, you have top of the line everything...Carly's walking around with a HUGE diamond on her left hand...and now you're taking care of us. How well do you do?" Heather asked.

I sighed, before leaning over to her and whispering a number in her ear, pulling away to watch her eyes widen.

"Holy monkey!" she cried. "That's a lot of money!"

I shot her an amused look, shaking my head. "Holy...monkey?" I asked, and she just shrugged sheepishly.

"It was the first thing that came to me," she responded. "Man, I just...I can't believe it...you and I, we both..."

"I told you, we're a lot more alike than you think," I said softly, pulling my sleeve back down. "But I don't want you bringing this up to Carly, got it?"

"Why would I tell Carly? She doesn't like me."

"Carly likes you just fine, Heather."

"She got mad when I borrowed her sweater."

I gave Heather a Look. "Don't you get upset when Leah messes with your stuff?"

"Well, yeah, but...she's my little sister."

"And you're kind of like Carly's little sister now," I pointed out, and Heather scowled.

"No, I'm not."

"Heather! Carly's my fiance, she's going to be my wife, which makes her your sister-in-law! And we're all going to be living under the same roof, so yeah! She's kind of like your sister now. And you guys are going to get on each other's nerves, maybe argue some, but that's okay. It happens. I know the whole space issue sucks right now, but we'll get through it. I promise you, Heather, I'm going to make this work, I'm going to take care of you guys."

"Why do you care so much?" she asked, and I shrugged.

"You're family. It's my job to take care of you, protect you, especially since our parents haven't done such a great job of it. But I'm not going to give up, and I'm not going to fail."

Heather nodded, biting her nails, before looking back over at me.

"You know, if you got that Carlton guy to move out, there'd be more space."

"I know," I sighed. "I'm working on it. But Carly doesn't want to just kick him out for no reason, and she thinks we need the money coming in."

"Carly's too nice," Heather pointed out, and I nodded. "But he's creepy."

As if on cue, the door to Carlton's room opened, and he walked out, heading for the kitchen, frowning at me as he did.

"Lots of noise today," he stated, and I nodded.

"Yep. Happens with kids."

"I was not prepared to deal with children when I signed the lease," he snipped, and I shrugged.

"So move out."

Carlton opened his mouth to say something, before glancing up towards the stairs. "I will not be moving out."

"Whatever, then you get to keep dealing with the noise."

"It's worth it," he replied cryptically, and I just rolled my eyes.

"Well, you'll get a break from the noise, because we're all going to Tacoma for two days."

"So it'll just be me and Carly?" he asked hopefully, and I shook my head.

"No," I replied flatly. "My FIANCE will not be staying behind, she's coming too."

"Oh," he replied, sounding a little crestfallen. "Well, I will enjoy the alone time." With that, he grabbed a Fat Cake off the counter and then scooted back into his room, the door shutting behind him.

"I think he likes Carly," Heather pointed out.

"Thanks, Captain Obvious," I said with a roll of my eyes.

"No problem, Sergeant Sarcasm," Heather quipped, and I gave her an amused look.

"Ah, there's my sister," I said, shoving her shoulder slightly. "I missed you, kid."

"I miss myself," she replied softly, leaning against me, and I nodded, my arm going around her.

"We'll get you back, I promise."

"You're not going to give up?" Heather murmured against my shoulder, and I shook my head.

"Wouldn't dream of it."

~*Sam*~

I leaned back against my pile of pillows, idly flipping channels. I was bored out of my mind. I'd knitted my ass off, to the point I'd run out of yarn, and wouldn't be able to knit anything else unless somebody bought me more. On the plus side, baby Benson had enough hats, booties, and blankets to last him or her until their first birthday.

I couldn't help it, I was in a bad mood. Freddie was working late. I was so annoyed by the fact that I was stuck here, and he was out and about, doing things without me. I knew why I was stuck in this bed, and I knew why Freddie was stuck at work, but it didn't change anything. I still missed him, and I still felt useless.

I looked over as my phone rang, snatching it up and smiling when I read Carly's name on the caller ID.

"What up, Shay?"

"Hey...how's it going?" she asked, and I groaned.

"Horrible. Freddie's working late."

"Ugh, that sucks."

"Come over and keep me company?" I asked hopefully, and I heard Carly sigh on the other end of the line.

"I can't...um, we're going to Tacoma for two days."

"What?" I cried. "Why?"

"Just...stuff...Brad needs to...figure some things out. Talk to his grandparents."

"Oh," I said flatly. "Is this about the trial?"

"Yeah, kind of," Carly responded. "I can't believe his dad got found guilty. Can you?"

"Honestly, I'm not surprised," I responded. "I mean, cover ups don't work a hundred percent of the time, and the CSI was really thorough."

I heard Carly groan. "God, you would give your right arm to get ahold of that case file, wouldn't you?"

"Probably," I admitted. "I do love a good case file. I'm curious about his sentence though...whether it'll be super severe, or if they'll go easy on him for being a cop."

"Well, what's the norm?" Carly asked.

"Twenty five to life," I responded.

"Ouch," Carly replied, and I shrugged, even though she couldn't see me.

"I'd put money on ten to fifteen years myself," I said. "They'll probably take certain factors into account, like why he did it, who he is...that sort of thing."

"Well, let's hope so," Carly replied, and my eyebrows went up.

"I thought you didn't like Brad's father."

"I...I don't, but...Brad seems to be under the impression that his hard ass thing is just an act."

"Why would he think that?"

"I dunno, just something he said. That's why we're going to Tacoma. So he can talk to his grandparents."

"Don't let him shoot off a potato gun without me," I warned, and Carly laughed.

"You guys are banned from the potato gun for life."

"Ugh, fine," I grumbled. "I can't believe you're leaving me alone for two days, Shay!"

"Sam, you'll be fine! You have Freddie, remember? Your husband?"

"Yeah, but now I'm competing with his other love," I grumbled.

"What? What does that mean?" Carly questioned.

"His work."

"Oh, come on, Sam! You know he only does this for you!"

"Yeah, but...I dunno. I...it bothers me."

"You sound a little jealous," Carly observed, making me roll my eyes.

"Maybe I am," I replied. "I wanna be out and doing stuff. I was supposed to do my internship this summer too, until I got pregnant. I mean, it would have been workable, if we were both doing it, but now...I'm just so frustrated."

"I know, Sam," Carly said sympathetically. "But it's just for the summer! I mean, come on, it's almost June already!"

"Yeah, just three more months of this," I mumbled. "I am so freaking miserable right now."

"I know. I'm sorry."

"It's not your fault," I sighed. "It's mine."

"Sam, it's nobody's fault. You pushed yourself too hard, yeah, but it's not like any of us knew it would lead to this."

"Yeah, no kidding," I grumbled. "I definitely didn't know it would lead up to this..."

"Well, just take it easy, okay? Try not to spend the entire time in a bad mood."

"I'll do my best," I responded. "Have fun in Tacoma."

"I'll try," Carly replied. "I'll see you on Friday, okay? Promise."

"Alright," I said. "Talk to you later."

"Bye," Carly said, and with that, she hung up.

I flung my phone down on the bed, leaning back and sighing. Well this sucked. It seemed like everybody had something going on except me, and it was extremely disheartening.

At that moment, I felt the baby kick, and my hand instinctively went to my stomach, a smile crossing my face.

"Sorry," I said. "I guess we've got our own little thing going on, don't we?"

Another kick. It was almost like this kid could understand what I was saying.

"Yeah, it's gonna be just you and me for awhile. But that's okay, I guess. Just...don't take too long, okay? If you wanna come out a little bit early, that's fine by me. Just not too early."

~*Freddie*~

"Sam?" I called as I walked into the apartment, shutting the door behind me. "Baby, I'm home!"

I frowned as all I heard back was silence.

"Sam?" I called out again. Oh man, she better be here. I made a beeline for the bedroom, flinging the door open.

"Sam! Are you..." I trailed off. "Asleep," I finished, leaning against the doorframe. There she was, safe and sound, right where I'd left her, curled up into a little ball. She looked absolutely adorable, her hair splayed around and cuddling my pillow, one leg out from the sheets. I loosened my tie, pulling it off and unbuttoning my shirt, before crawling on the bed next to her. I gently untangled her arms from around the pillow and pulled it aside, sliding into place where it had been. She stirred a little, nuzzling against me, sighing in her sleep, and her head automatically found its place on my chest. I laid there quietly for a moment, just staring at her, and one hand went to her back, rubbing up and down softly.

She squirmed in her sleep, and I heard her draw in a deep breath, her eyelids fluttering.

"Wake up, baby," I whispered. "I'm home."

"Freddie..." she sighed, still asleep. I felt one of her arms snake around my body, pulling me closer.

"Come on, sweetheart, wake up."

Her eyelids slowly opened, and a lazy smile crossed her face, before looking up at me.

"Hi," she said softly, lifting her head to look at me. She rested her chin on my chest, blinking a few times.

"Hi yourself," I replied, my hand going under her chin and lifting it, brushing my lips across hers.

"I missed you," Sam said. "What time is it?"

"It's a little after eight," I responded. "And I missed you too."

"Oh, man..." she groaned. "I've been asleep for like three hours."

"That's okay," I replied, still rubbing her back. "How was your day?"

"Boring," she responded. "How was yours?"

"Busy."

"Lucky."

"If you say so," I said with a laugh, and she scowled.

"I'd give anything to have a busy day."

"Well, you'll have plenty of them very soon," I reminded her. "Eighteen years worth of busy days."

"And then some, if we have any more kids."

"Yep," I replied with a smile. I kissed her again, tangling one hand through her hair. "I love you so much, Sam."

"I love you too," she replied, staring at me, our faces inches away from each other. I closed the distance between us, kissing her again, and she sighed happily against my mouth, one hand going to the back of my neck. We continued kissing, each one becoming deeper and more passionate, and I began to forget about the no sex thing, one hand grabbing her leg and pulling it against me, eliciting a gasp from Sam as I ground my hips into her.

"Baby," she groaned. "We..."

"Can still make out," I reminded her, kissing her again, and she let out a frustrated moan.

"I don't want you to feel..."

"Don't worry about it," I responded, kissing her again. "I need this. I need something. And so do you."

She nodded, pulling away from my mouth to drag her lips over my jaw, down my neck. "You're right. I do."

"Then let me give it to you," I said, one hand drifting to her butt and pulling her tighter against me, and I felt her grip my biceps firmly.

"Take your shirt off," she whispered. "Now."

"Yes ma'am," I quipped, pulling away to rip my shirt off over my head, before I did the same thing to hers. She wasn't wearing a bra, and we both moaned at the feel of our bare skin pressed against each other. Oh god, I loved the way she felt, so smooth and soft and warm. I kissed her neck, going lower, dragging my tongue over her collarbone, and she whimpered a little, dragging her nails lightly down my back.

"Freddie..." she moaned. "Oh god..."

"You know, I did talk to the doctor," I reminded her, kissing down lower, over the swell of her breasts, smirking as she let out a gasp.

"And?" she breathed, and I lifted my head to look at her, running my hands over her sides as I did that, until I reached the waistband of the shorts she was wearing and pulling them off her.

"I can still take care of you," I whispered, before giving her a mischievous grin and moving down her body.

"Oh, god..." she groaned as she felt me pull her legs over my shoulders.

I tried to take my time with her, going slowly over all the spots that drove her crazy, running my hands over her body, licking at her in a slow, constant rhythm, but it didn't take very long. In only a matter of minutes, I could feel her hands gripping my shoulders, back arching.

"God, Freddie!" she cried. "Oh, please don't stop... please... please... oh god... ohhh... FREDDIE!" Her head went back, legs shaking, as she shook uncontrollably. The first explosion of pleasure she'd felt in days, and I was happy to give it to her, loving the way her hips rocked against her will, the way her body contorted, the noises she made. It drove me crazy, and god, I wanted so much more, but I couldn't have it. Not yet.

I moved back up her body, kissing here and there, until I reached her mouth, kissing her passionately, an unintentional growl coming from my throat.

"Feel better?" I murmured against her lips, and she nodded, a little out of breath. I waited for her to come back down to earth, observing her carefully. "You feel alright?" I asked. "The baby?"

"Baby's fine," she replied breathlessly, before sitting up, her hands going for my belt. "Your turn," she said, shoving me onto my back and giving me a grin.

Man, what I really wanted was to just lay her back and make love to her for the rest of the night, be inside her, over and over, but I'd have to make due with just this. But as she got my pants off, taking me into her mouth and making me groan with pure pleasure, I forgot about that. All I could focus on was how good she was making me feel right then.

Just as it didn't take her very long to go off, it didn't take me very long either, possibly getting there quicker than she did. It had only been days since we'd made love, and already I was so stirred up, it was driving me crazy. How did people live without this?

Afterwards, we laid in silence for awhile, staring at the TV but not really watching it, my hand idly running up and down her bare back.

"Is that going to be enough for you?" she asked suddenly, looking up at me, and I nodded.

"Baby, it's enough. Quit worrying."

She nodded, biting her lip, looking like she still had things on her mind, which bothered me. I kissed her, trying to take her mind off things.

"You know, next month it'll be three years."

"I know," she said softly. "Can you believe that? It feels like we just got together, and at the same time, it feels like we've been together forever."

"You're right, it does," I replied.

"I just...I worry."

"Baby, please stop," I told her. "This, what we have right now, it's perfect. Maybe..."

"It's not perfect," she interrupted me. "I'm stuck in bed, and we can't make love."

"It's only temporary, remember?"

"Yeah, but...you're not going to be satisfied with just blow-jobs."

"Sam!" I exclaimed, sitting up. "Come on! This is starting to get a little insulting! What are you worried about?"

"That you're going to get bored!" she cried. "I'm huge! And we can't have sex! And..."

"And what?" I snapped. "You think I'm gonna leave you? Or cheat on you?"

She didn't respond, and that made me even madder.

"If you honestly think I would do that, then you don't know me at all. I LOVE YOU, Sam! Nothing and no one could ever change that, and I'd never hurt you like that! You have to trust me, baby!"

"I do!" she responded. "I just...I don't trust everyone else out there, you know? There's gotta be some girls you work with..."

"Yeah, a married woman and a total bitch. Not my style," I told her. "The only woman I have eyes for is you. The only woman I want to be with is you. I love you, you silly girl. Quit worrying!"

"Okay," she replied finally, after a long moment of silence. "I...I'll try."

She laid her head back down on my chest, signaling she was done talking, but I knew the issue wasn't done and over with. I was going to have to figure out something to quell her fears, but I didn't even have a clue where to start.

I just hoped the next three months would pass by quickly, without any major issues. Three months needed to hurry up, and soon!


	55. Chapter 55: Love Hurts

**Chapter Fifty Five  
>Love Hurts<strong>

~*Brad*~

"I'm a little nervous," Carly admitted to me as I drove down the interstate.

"Why are you nervous?"

"Oh gosh, I dunno, maybe because we're telling your grandparents we're engaged?" Carly replied, poking me and causing me to yelp, jumping in my seat a little. I looked over at her, annoyed.

"How many times have I told you to quit poking me?"

"You're too sensitive."

"Carly!" I exclaimed. "I'm driving! And I don't like being poked!" I gave her one last threatening glare before taking her hand in mine. "And don't worry, babe. My grandparents loved you when they met you."

"Yeah, you're a lot better than his last girlfriend," Heather spoke up from the backseat. "She was a total bitch."

"HEATHER!" Carly and I both barked, and I looked at her via the rearview mirror.

"You have GOT to stop swearing, especially around Bryson and Leah," I warned her, and she shrugged. "Heather, I mean it!"

"Heather, I mean it!" she mimicked, and I let out an irritated growl.

"I'm serious! If you don't knock it off, I'll turn this car around right now and..." I trailed off when I realized Bryson, Heather, and Carly were all laughing at me. "What is so funny?"

"Because you sound like an old man, baby," Carly giggled. I didn't respond, just grumbled to myself, and I heard the click of Carly's seatbelt unbuckling. "Aw, baby..." she said, scooting over and kissing me on the cheek. "Don't be mad. It's cute."

"This is getting nauseating," Bryson grumbled as Carly slid back into her seat and rebuckled, and she turned to look at him.

"What's getting nauseating?" she asked, and Bryson shrugged.

"You two...you're always hugging and kissing...it's gross."

"Ah, Bry, you'll get it one day, and pretty soon," I replied. "It's not gross. It's fun."

"Lots of fun," Carly said in a voice low enough the kids couldn't hear, and I caught her eye, winking at her.

Okay, so we were really stressed out because a lot was going on right now. I was all in a tizzy about my dad's conviction, and finding out the truth about my parents, and Carly and I were both anxious about the stalker trial next week, not to mention the utter time-suck that was taking care of my siblings, but it didn't matter. The two of us were ridiculously happy right now. I loved that girl to death. I'd always loved her, since we got together, but somehow, over the last few months, I'd fallen in love with her even more. The way she'd stood by me through everything, how could I not fall even more in love with her? And it was more than just the support she'd given me, everything had seemed to change. We talked a lot more and argued less, but we didn't act like our problems didn't exist, something we'd been bad about doing since the very beginning. Another thing that had changed was Carly seemed to care a lot less about what people thought of her. I didn't have to wait an hour for her to get dressed so we could go to the grocery store any more. And then there was the sex...oh my god, the sex. Carly had always been a little bit conservative in bed, but lately she was becoming a lot more open to experimentation, less shy about her body...it was good. Beyond good, it was amazing.

Yep, I didn't have a single doubt in my mind this time...I was crazy in love with Carly, and I wanted to spend the rest of my life with her. I still didn't know how I'd gotten so lucky...falling in love with such an amazing girl and having her love me back.

I was a little curious myself to see how my grandparents would take the news, but I wasn't worried. We'd been together a long time, and everyone in my family had gotten married really young. In retrospect, that was probably a bad idea for some, especially my parents, but I was confident it wouldn't be like that for me and Carly. It was easy for anybody to see how happy she made me. Carly kept me together, and my grandparents would see that too.

The ride from Seattle to Tacoma wasn't that long, only about half an hour, but I was still a little nervous. Not about breaking the news of the engagement, but because I hadn't seen my grandparents in two years, and because of the conversations that were sure to follow. As I sat there and thought about it, I gripped the steering wheel tightly, my knuckles turning white. Carly seemed to sense my apprehension and rested a hand on my thigh, giving me a sweet smile when I looked over at her.

"It'll be fine," she said. "They'll be happy to see you."

It was like she could read my mind! This is exactly why I felt like I was falling for her more and more every day...it was like the connection that we shared had only begun to get more intense.

I began to get excited at the familiar trees that lined the path of my grandparents street, and then the left turn I took, where the pavement ended and the gravel road of my grandparents' long driveway began. And then, I saw it, the huge house that had been the cornerstone of my childhood.

From the backseat, Leah saw it too, and she began to get excited, bouncing in her booster seat, legs kicking the back of my seat excitedly.

"Gamma gamma gamma!" she cried, and I couldn't help but grin.

"Yeah, Lee-lee...Grandma...Grandpa too. Are you happy?"

"I'm happy!"

"Aw..." Carly said softly, leaning back against her seat, both shoulders going upwards the way she did when she found something absolutely adorable. It wasn't surprising, Leah had this tendency of melting hearts everywhere she went. Carly hadn't stood a chance against that little girl.

"You know, her hair looks really good like that," Heather commented, reaching out a hand to smooth over Leah's french braid.

Carly shrugged. "Yeah...I was a little worried her hair wasn't long enough to french braid, but it turned out really nice."

"But where'd that dress come from?" Heather asked, and Carly shrugged.

"I...bought it. The other day."

I just looked over at her, giving her a smile. My sisters and brother were beginning to grow on Carly, and I didn't even think she was aware of it yet, but it was there. And I couldn't be happier about that.

I finally got down to the bottom of the driveway, parking the car.

"Annnnd we're here," I said, turning off the engine. "Everybody out."

Carly quickly got out and walked around the car, opening Leah's door and unbuckling her seatbelt before pulling her out of the car, and Heather got out of her side, but Bryson just sat in the middle, unmoving. I sighed, turning around to look at him.

"Bry, get out of the car."

"You first," he said suspiciously, and I rolled my eyes, before flinging the door open and climbing out. I stuck my head in the car via Leah's door, giving Bryson a Look.

"Alright, I'm out. Now come on."

But he still looked dubious. I sighed, beginning to get frustrated. He still wasn't one hundred percent trusting that I wasn't going to leave. With a frustrated grunt, I tossed the keys in his direction, and he looked up at me in surprise.

"There. You can hold onto the keys until we leave. That way I can't leave without you."

"Really?" he asked in disbelief, and I nodded.

"But I swear to god, Bry, you lose those keys..."

"I won't lose them," he replied, climbing out of the car. "Let's go..."

"Ah! Not so fast!" I hollered, snatching him by the collar when he tried to run past me. "Guys carry the bags. Rule."

"What?" he cried. "That's a stupid rule! Make Heather get them!"

"Oh, suck it, Bryson!"

"HEATHER MARIE!"

"Sorry," she called sheepishly, not sounding sorry at all, and I rolled my eyes. These kids were trying to kill me, I was sure of it.

Bryson and I got the bags, though he was bitching about it the entire time, heading for the front porch, with Carly and the girls not too far behind. Before we even got there, the front door flung open, and out came my grandmother as fast as she could.

"Bradley!" she exclaimed, hurrying down the stairs and hugging me tightly. "Oh honey, how I've missed you!"

I smiled, dropping the bags and hugging her tightly. "Hey, grandma. I missed you too."

"I'm so sorry we couldn't be there for the trial, your grandfather had a doctor's appointment he couldn't miss."

"Oh?" I asked, my eyebrows going up. "Everything alright?"

"Shut your mouth, boy!" I heard a familiar voice call, and I looked up to find Grandpa standing on the porch, an amused expression on his face. "I'm healthy as an Ox!"

I just grinned, shaking my head. "As always."

"How you been, boy?" he asked as he came down the stairs, hugging me tightly. "Still need to cut that hair."

"I did cut it," I replied. "It was pretty long."

"Boy your age needs a good buzz cut."

I shook my hair back in an exaggerated manner, giving him a silly look. "Nah, this is my thing. The ladies love it."

"Ahem," Carly said, setting Leah down to run to my grandmother, her hands on her hips. She gave me an annoyed look, but I could tell it was a fake one, and I just winked at her.

"This one loves it," I said, reaching out to take Carly's hand and pull her to me. "You remember Carly."

"Of course," Grandpa said. "Good to see you again Carly...oh. What's this?" He studied Carly's left hand carefully, and she shot a worried look at me.

"Grandpa, Grandma, Carly and I, we're..."

"You're getting married?" Grandma cried, clasping her hands together. "Oh my goodness!"

"Yep," I said with a proud smile.

"You mean you convinced this girl to stay with your ugly mug?" Grandpa teased, and I gave him a Look.

"She's quite fond of my mug, thanks Gramps."

"Oh my word!" Grandma cried. "A wedding! My oldest grandson is getting married! How wonderful!"

I just smiled, nudging Carly. "See? Told you they'd be happy."

"Well, come on in!" Grandma cried, linking arms with Carly. "We have so much to talk about! Have you set a date yet?"

"Um, no, we..."

"Well that's okay! Come on in, honey, I'll make you a cup of tea! Heather, you too!"

Heather wrinkled her nose, shaking her head. "Grandma, I don't drink tea. I drink coffee."

"Coffee?" Grandma exclaimed, wrinkling her nose in the same manner that Heather did. "Not for someone your age, it'll stunt your growth!"

I had to laugh at that. "She's already 5'7, maybe a little stunting might do her some good."

"Brad!" Carly exclaimed, smacking my arm. "Don't say that!"

"What? It's true...she's tall. Tall and skinny. Harrison thing."

"Still! You know how much I hated that when I was younger..."

"Yeah, but you've...filled out," I replied, unable to keep myself from staring at Carly's decidedly more feminine frame. She was unable to stop herself from blushing, smiling, but smacked my arm again.

"Not in front of everyone."

"You're right. Later."

"Brad!" Somehow Carly got even redder, and I was enjoying being able to make her do so. My grandmother just brushed me off, grabbing Carly's arm again.

"Don't mind him, sweetheart. All the Harrison men are just perverts," she stated, shooting a Look over at my grandfather, who just grinned at her. "Come on now, let's have some tea." She bent down to scoop up Leah, carrying her up the stairs with Leah close behind, and Carly turned to look at me.

"I can feel your eyes on me, still," she chided. "Don't look at me like that when your family's around, they can totally tell what you're thinking."

"Then stop wearing those jeans, or I can't help what I'm thinking."

She shook her head, giving me a smile, before sashaying up the stairs, shaking her butt a little too much, and I couldn't help but stare.

"And stop walking like that! It's distracting!"

She looked over her shoulder at me, grinning. "What? I'm not doing anything," she replied innocently, before walking inside, the screen door shutting behind her. Still shaking my head, I turned my attention back to Grandpa and Bryson, who were now engaged in what looked like a pretty intense conversation.

"Everything all right?" I asked. They stopped talking and looked at me.

"You're gonna have a lot on your plate," Grandpa said. "Getting married, work, school, and now three kids to take care of."

I just shrugged, like it was no big deal. "Four kids, if I have my way," I stated, and Grandpa's eyes went up.

"You're going after the baby," he said, and I nodded. "Does Carly know?"

"We've talked about it," I replied. "Not in depth, but we've talked."

"Big responsibility, Bradley."

"Look, grandpa, I've always been the one in charge with them, you know that. The only thing that's going to change is it's full-time now, and I'll be financially responsible."

Grandpa looked over at Bryson, chewing on his lip.

"Bryson," he said. "Austin's upstairs, why don't you go see what he's up to?"

"Austin's here?" he asked, immediately forgetting he wanted to be part of the conversation. "Alright!" With that, he ran inside, leaving me standing in the driveway with Grandpa, who had begun packing his pipe with fresh tobacco. He lit a match, lifting the pipe to his mouth and puffing a few times, before looking at me.

"Bradley," he said. "Let's take a walk."

"Alright," I said with a nod, following him into the backyard and down one of the many paths that went sprawling into the woods. Ugh, the last time I went down this path I had to track down an unconscious Freddie. That was NOT a good Thanksgiving.

Grandpa was silent, content to puff on his pipe, and I reached for something to fill the awkwardness that hung in the air.

"You know I can take care of them," I said quietly. "I've been doing it all my life."

"I know," he replied stoically. "You were too young. Richard and Janet put so much damn responsibility on you...way too early."

"I know," I said with a bitter laugh. "You know...mom's not answering my calls. She's not fighting for the kids. Not even Leah."

"That...doesn't surprise me," he said quietly, and I looked at him, a little shocked.

"It doesn't?"

"No," he responded. "Your mother played a good game, son, but she couldn't keep it up forever."

I thought about what he said, biting my lip. "Tell me about her. When they first got together, I mean."

"We were convinced Janet was going to ruin your father. He had everything in the world going for him. She was...she had a reputation around town, for lack of a better word. They broke up a few times because she'd gotten caught with another boy. But then they got back together, and she got pregnant with you."

I stared at my grandfather, no longer walking, just frozen in place. This was something I'd never heard before, and my eyes silently begged him to continue.

"Janet's parents weren't having it. They threw her out, so we took her in. If it hadn't been for the fact that she was pregnant, we wouldn't have done it."

"Did you ever worry that I wasn't...Dad's?" I asked, and Grandpa nodded.

"Until you came out. You had that wiry build, the Harrison eyes, the Harrison nose. Not a doubt in my mind after that," he replied, and I nodded. He sighed, continuing. "They married, you were born. Richard went into the Marines, as was planned, and you and Janet stayed here with us. It was a little rough at times. Sometimes she would disappear for a few days at a time."

What? She would just run off and leave me, her infant son, behind? This was becoming really hard to process.

"Well, Richard came back, became a police officer, Heather was born. Your dad tried to be there when he could, but he worked a lot. So we kept an eye on you as best as we could."

"How come I don't remember any of this?" I asked, and he shrugged.

"Who knows? I'm not a psychologist, Bradley. I'm just telling you the facts," Grandpa replied. "Richard finally got enough money saved up to buy that house."

"I remember that," I said softly. "When I was seven."

"After that, they kind of...broke off from us. Did their own thing. I can't tell you much beyond that."

I stared off into space, eyes narrowing, trying to recollect on past events.

"I...I think he used to be happy," I said softly. "I remember...he taught me baseball. But then he just started getting angry, yelling at me, telling me to shape up...and then they started going out. Or...or maybe they started going out, and then he started getting angry..."

"Janet has a way of making your father angry," Grandpa commented softly. "She's a hard woman to control. Always has been."

I nodded, continuing to think things over. "Do you think that's why he came down so hard on us? He was afraid we'd turn out like her?"

"It's a distinct possibility, Bradley."

"She's not coming back for the kids, is she?" I asked.

"I can't answer that, Bradley. I can't see the future."

"Well, do you think she's coming back for them?"

"No. I don't."

I sighed, staring off into the woods and crossing my arms over my chest.

"I don't think so either."

~*Freddie*~

"WHAT DO YOU MEAN YOU'RE WORKING LATE AGAIN?"

"Sam," I said into the phone in a soft voice as I walked circles around the fountain at work. "I'm sorry. They want me here! I can't help it if the boss likes me, it just means I'm good at my job!"

"Well, you're starting to suck at your job here, at home!" Sam huffed, and I rolled my eyes.

"You're being dramatic, baby."

"I'm not being dramatic! The crib's still not put together!"

"Baby! Come on! Brad's in Tacoma! When he gets back, we'll put it together, paint, the whole nine yards. It's not like the baby's coming tomorrow!"

"That's not the point!" she cried. "You said you would do it, and you haven't done it! You said you wouldn't be late again, and this is the third day this week you've worked late!"

"Look, I told you Sam, I can't help it!" I shot back. "My work..."

"Are you really staying late for work?" she interrupted. "Or are you staying late to spend time with some bitch?"

"Whoa, whoa, whoa!" I yelled. "Sam, you need to calm down, okay? This isn't like you to be so insecure. You know I love you and only you. If you want me to have my supervisor call you and tell you I'm working late, then I will."

"Don't worry about it," she growled. "Enjoy your work." She said the word 'work' with a mocking undertone that just made me angrier, but I couldn't respond, because she hung up, leaving me frustrated and pissed off. I wanted to hit something really badly that moment, but I couldn't. I immediately set my phone down on the wall of the fountain, half-afraid I would lose it completely and chuck it into the distance.

"Dammit!" I roared, kicking the bricks of the fountain and then immediately regretting my decision as a sharp pain went through my foot. "Ow! Son of a bitch..."

"Well that went well," I heard a voice say, and I turned around to glower at CG.

"Eavesdropping?" I shot back, still glaring at her, and she shrugged.

"Mr. Montez wants you back inside. Meeting, remember? He sent me to find you."

"How convenient," I grumbled, brushing past her.

"So she sounds fun," CG commented, and I turned to shoot her a look of warning.

"She is," I responded. "She's great. Just going through a difficult time right now."

"Oh?" CG replied. "Why's that?"

"She doesn't like me working late, and she's starting to get a little insecure, and..." I trailed off, shaking my head and letting out a bitter laugh. "I can't believe I'm talking about this with YOU. Just forget it."

"Hey, Wonder Boy," CG called, and I rolled my eyes, turning around to look at her.

"What?" I growled. "I'm really not in the mood right now, CG."

"Almost forgot your phone," she replied, tossing it to me. I caught it, shaking my head and letting out a sigh.

"Thanks."

"No problem," she replied. "You know, eventually we're going to have to get along. Montez isn't going to put up with his two brightest young minds at each other's throats."

At that statement, my eyebrows went up, and I looked at her strangely. "What happened to wondering why I'm here?"

"Well, I guess you're not so bad," she replied coolly. "I mean, you're no me, that's for sure..." I rolled my eyes at that statement, and she continued. "But I guess you're sort of smart."

"Gee, thanks," I replied with a roll of my eyes.

"What, you don't want to play nice with me?" she asked, and I shook my head.

"I don't want to play with you, period, CG. I don't trust you."

"Why not?" she asked, acting like she didn't care one way or another, and I shrugged.

"Because I'm a threat to you."

She laughed, shaking her head. "I'm not threatened by you, Freddie. I know exactly how to deal with you."

Okay, I did not like the way THAT sounded. Incredibly ominous, like that girl had something up her sleeve. I eyed her carefully, backing toward the door.

"I'm going...back inside," I said, and she nodded.

"Yeah, we really need to get to that meeting."

I walked down the hall towards the conference room, with CG close behind, but my mind wasn't focused on CG. Right now, like always, it was focused on Sam. I was pretty pissed at her right now. I got that she was upset I was working late, and that I could deal with, understand even, but she was acting like she didn't trust me. We'd never had to deal with this before, but then again, I'd never been away from her for more than a few hours before. Of course she could trust me when I was in her presence.

I frowned as another thought popped into my head. Not trusting me when I wasn't with her was the same as not trusting me at all, and that just made me angry. How much had I been through to prove to Sam I loved her? How much had I dealt with to show her I wasn't going anywhere? I'd put years of work into that girl and our relationship, and now it all seemed like it was for nothing!

I tried to put it out of my mind as I walked into the conference room, plopping down onto a chair and rolling my eyes as CG sat down next to me. Okay, what the hell was up with this girl? She'd gone from mocking me to trying to discredit me in the face of the higher-ups to being...NICE to me? Something was up.

Across the table, Dongle's eyes darted back and forth between me and CG and I just gave him an agitated look, surprised when he shook his head and looked away. What the hell was that about? What was everyone's problem today? Was something in the water?

"Okay," Mr. Montez said, snapping me out of my thoughts. "You guys know, we're having some problems with the systems analysis lately. It's not hardware this time, it's software."

I wanted to ask why I had to stay late if I was hardware and it was a software problem, but as it were it was probably a good sign they wanted me working on this.

"Dongle, Jake, you two are going to go through the ABISTs by hand, manually start them," he said, and Dongle and Jake nodded. Mr. Montez turned his attention to me, also looking at CG, and I began to get a funny feeling.

"You two," Montez stated. "My top two young brains. The ABIs. I want them redone. Tonight."

"The ABIs?" I exclaimed. "But that could take hours!"

Oh god, no. ABI stood for Application Binary Interface, and anything dealing with binary was usually a pain to deal with. An endless myriad of 0's and 1's, it was the root language of all computers, and the code could literally be stretched out for miles. This was going to be a nightmare, and I'd have to deal with CG in the process.

CG just nodded, a happy smile on her face.

"We'll get it done, won't we, Wonder Boy?" she asked, and I just nodded, taking a deep breath, half afraid I was going to have an anxiety attack. Sam was going to kill me.

"Yeah," I finally said. "We'll get it done."

Three hours later, everyone else had long gone home, but there I was, sitting at my cubicle and bent over my computer, pounding out what seemed to be endless lines of binary code, when I heard the familiar click-clack of heels coming toward me.

"How's it going?" CG cooed, perching on my desk, a cup of coffee in her hand.

"Could you not sit on that?" I snapped, not bothering to look up.

"What's wrong with you?"

"I want to get home to my wife," I grunted.

"Wow, you really seem to love her," she stated. I stopped typing and looked up, staring CG down.

"I do," I responded. "She's my wife, my best friend, my everything. I love her more than anything."

"Even your job?" CG fired back. "Your dream internship?"

I rolled my eyes, shaking my head. "You don't get it. I do this FOR Sam. For our future. I want a good job, and an internship with Cisco will get me a good job. Her and the baby will be well taken care of."

"So...if you didn't have her, you wouldn't be taking the internship."

"Not exactly, but...I wouldn't have taken it so early, and I probably wouldn't push myself so hard at it. Just...have to impress people. You know how it is."

CG nodded. "I do. It just gets difficult to keep impressing people when someone sneaks up and steals your game."

I shook my head, leaning back in my chair. "I'm not trying to make you look bad. I'm trying to make myself look good."

"I understand that," CG replied. "Because you want to take care of your wife. It's kind of...sweet," she said with a nod, and I shrugged.

"She's worth it," I replied. "Okay, so, I got the first eighty lines of code or so mapped out, do you wanna..." But I didn't even get to finish my sentence, because as CG lifted her coffee to her lips to take a sip, she suddenly dropped it, spilling it all over me.

"DAMMIT!" I yelled, leaping to my feet. Thank god it was ICED coffee, but still, I was pissed. I looked up at her with an expression so fierce, if looks could kill, CG would have been dead and buried. "CG! What the hell?"

"Oh my gosh, Freddie, I'm so sorry!" she exclaimed, getting off my desk finally and reaching for a box of tissues, pulling one out. "Here, let me help you..." she tried to wipe the offensive brown liquid off me, but I just jerked away.

"Don't," I snapped, before sighing. "Luckily I keep a spare in my drawer here."

CG just shook her head, taking a step back, leaning against my desk. "Freddie, I'm really sorry. It was an accident, I..."

"It's fine," I replied, pulling my back-up shirt out of the file cabinet under my desk. I started to unbutton my shirt, but thought better of it, looking over at CG.

"Are you just gonna watch me change?" I asked, turning around to look at her, and she snorted.

"What makes you think I want to watch you?" she shot back, eyes glued to her phone as she idly flipped through it.. "You're so not my type."

"Well, whatever," I replied, turning my back to her. It was weird she was still standing there, but it was obvious she wasn't going anywhere. I just let out an irritated grunt, quickly unbuttoning my shirt and then pulling the fresh one on over my head, before turning back around.

"You get to do the rest of the code," I grunted, and she didn't respond, still looking down at her phone. "CG!"

"One second," she replied, busily typing away. "There. Done."

"Done with what?"

"Nothing you need to worry about. Just a little something to make my life easier," she replied. "Now get up, let me finish the code, and do it right."

I just scowled as I stood up and moved out of the way, letting CG take my place and busily begin typing away. Oh god, please let the girl hurry up so I could get home to my wife. I hated that we'd argued, and right now, all I wanted was for her to stop being angry with me, curl up in bed with her, and cuddle.

And the sooner CG finished, the sooner I could make that happen.

~*Sam*~

It would have been super awesome if I was able to get up and move around right now, because I was so pissed off I just wanted to pace back and forth, get my anger out of my system. As it were, I had no relief to speak of. What was I supposed to do, knit angrily?

I was so mad at Freddie for having to work late, but I did kind of feel like an ass. I knew better, Freddie would never cheat on me. I was just being insecure, and it wasn't his fault that I was feeling that way, it was mine.

I laid back on my pile of pillows, looking up at the ceiling. It'd been three and a half hours since I'd talked to him. I was ready for him to get home and make up. What could possibly be taking him so long?

I heard my phone go off with a beep, signaling I'd received a text. I sat up and grabbed the phone hopefully, thinking it'd be Freddie. Please let it be Freddie. Ugh, I felt so bad for yelling at him, why was I such a bitch sometimes?

I looked at my phone, frowning. I didn't recognize the number, and I had no idea who it could be. Not many people had my cell phone number, we'd learned years ago it was best to keep that private to keep the iCarly fans from calling us constantly. Who the hell could it be?

I opened the text, and as soon as I'd read it, I wished I hadn't. I felt my heart drop, my pulse quicken, and a sudden wave of nausea creep over me. I felt like I was going to be sick.

'I had fun with your husband tonight,' the message said.

Okay, this had to be bullshit. Freddie wouldn't do that. He would never cheat on me. He...

BEEP! Another message came through, this time it was a picture message, and it was from the same number. Oh god, no. Please, no. I really didn't want to see it, but you know curiosity, it gets you every time. Against my better judgment, I opened the picture message, and then I felt even sicker.

Freddie, somewhere at work...but not wearing a shirt. Getting dressed. Or redressed...

'Probably shouldn't have done it on the desk, but oh well. Have him call me!'

I dropped the phone onto the bed in shock, leaning back against the pillows. Part of me wanted to cry, but the other part was just too stunned to do so.

For three years, we'd spent all our time together. For three years, my life revolved around him. And since I was twelve, I'd loved him, more than I'd loved anything else in my life. And I thought he'd loved me.

But I guess I was wrong.

Finally, the shock began to wear off, and as I curled myself into a little ball, I began to sob. Not cry, but absolutely sob, the feeling of my heart breaking so severe that it actually physically hurt me.

Oh god, what do I do now?


	56. Chapter 56: Thieves

**A/N: Whoa. Got a ton of reviews for that last chapter, and after reading them, it's probably good CG is not a real person, because I'd miss all of you guys who got put in jail. =D I think it's obvious, nobody messes with Seddie! Nobody!  
><strong>

**Chapter Fifty Six  
>Thieves<strong>

~*Freddie*~

I felt so incredibly bad as I stepped off the elevator, walking down the hall towards the apartment. It was after nine, and I knew Sam was bound to be upset with me. Upset, or she'd already gone to sleep. I'd stopped off at a mini mart on the way home to buy some stuff for her, not trying to buy her affection, but hopefully to lessen the sting I'd caused by having to work late so many nights.

I'd made up my mind, I wasn't going to be working late anymore. It upset Sam too much, and it made me feel bad for leaving her alone all day...twelve hours today alone. It was just an internship, and I was taking it way too seriously. If I didn't watch myself, I was going to turn into a workaholic, and I didn't want that. Not for me, not for Sam, and not for our child.

I stuck my key in the door, turning the knob, and walked inside. All the lights were off, and it looked like the one in the bedroom was too, although there was a light glow coming from the bedroom I was positive came from the TV, but no sound. Not from the TV anyway, but there was a noise that distinctly sounded like Sam was crying, which alarmed me.

"Sam?" I called out. "Baby, I'm home."

No answer, still more sounds of crying.

I sat the plastic bag full of stuff for Sam on the counter, and then made my way to the bedroom, pushing the door open all the way.

"Honey?"

I could see Sam curled up into a ball in the middle of the bed, facing away from me. It was obvious at this point, she was crying.

"Sam? Is everything okay?"

"Go away," she said softly, sniffling, and I looked at her strangely.

"Sam! What's wrong? Are you still mad at me for working late?"

She rolled over, looking up at me, but not sitting up. She didn't look angry, she looked depressed.

"How could you do it?"

"Sam," I sighed. "I'm sorry. I couldn't help it. You know how it is."

She laughed bitterly, rolling away from me again. "Yeah, I know how it is."

I sighed, sitting down next to her on the bed, my hand reaching out to rub her back, and she jerked away from me.

"Don't fucking touch me."

"Sam!" I cried. "Come on, baby, you're being ridiculous."

Nothing on earth could have prepared me for the way she bolted up, and before I even knew what was happening, a felt a sharp sting on my cheek, the sound echoing through the apartment where she had slapped me.

"WHAT THE HELL IS WRONG WITH YOU?"

"BASTARD!" she yelled, slapping me again. "How could you do this to me? After everything that happened? Fuck you, Freddie! You told me you loved me, it was a fucking lie!" She moved to slap me again, but I grabbed her wrist, jerking it down.

"Don't. Fucking. Slap. Me," I growled. "And calm the hell down. I'm not gonna let you get all riled up and risk hurting the baby."

"You don't care about the baby, and you don't care about me!"

"You have lost your mind!" I yelled, standing up. "I was doing all of this for you! You think I wanna get up early and drag my ass into work and be around a bunch of high-strung technophiles all day? Or bitchy girls trying to take me down because they're threatened by me? I do this for YOU!"

"You slept with some girl for me?" she said, her voice dripping with venom, and I looked at her strangely.

"What the hell are you talking about, Sam? I told you, you've gotta trust me!"

"How can I trust you?" she cried, grabbing her phone and throwing it at me. "Look! Look at it, you son of a bitch!"

I growled at her for that last comment, before picking up the phone she'd thrown at me. "What am I looking for exactly?"

"Your girlfriend texted me."

"What?" I exclaimed, opening her text messages and going through it, my eyes nearly popping out of my head when I read the text, 'I had fun with your husband tonight.' "Oh, you've gotta be shitting me. This time the bitch has gone too far!" I looked up, over at Sam. "You're honestly telling me you believed this? You believe a total stranger over someone you've known since you were twelve?"

"She sent a picture," Sam replied, looking away, and I sighed, scrolling down further through Sam's phone. My eyes focused on the picture Sam was referring to, and I let out a sigh. Apparently CG had thought this plan out pretty well. Dump coffee on Freddie, Freddie takes shirt off, CG snaps photo of it, sends it to my wife, Freddie leaves company because he has no reason to say. That rotten little bitch.

But how did she get ahold of Sam's phone number? It was unlisted...oh god. She must have gotten it out when I left my phone on top of the fountain. I was so angry at that moment, no words could describe it. Not because she was an unimaginable bitch, though she was, but because my sweet Sam, feeling trapped and insecure enough without all this going on, was absolutely hysterical. Part of me wanted to be aggravated by the fact that she didn't trust me, but on the other hand, she was stuck in bed all day, feeling very insecure about her body, and I was gone. And now she had this to deal with.

I sat the phone down on the bed, trying to ignore the pain in my cheek, which felt like it was on fire. I'd deal with that in a minute.

"I want to show you something," I said, pulling my messenger bag off my shoulder and opening it. I leaned over and turned on a lamp, before pulling out the shirt with the massive coffee stain on it and laying it on the bed. She looked over it carefully, before looking up at me, a little confused.

"Remember, I told you about that girl? The one who's been gunning for me since the day I walked in?"

"Yeah," she said softly. "The same way I had it out for you since day one."

"No," I responded with a shake of my head. "You wanted me, not my job. I happened to mention today the only reason I'd taken the internship was to make sure you and the baby were taken care of. Guess she got it in her head if she caused a rift between me and you, I'd leave. She spilled coffee on me, and I guess when I stood up to change, she snapped a picture of it."

I watched Sam's face for a second, eyes flickering back and forth in confusion, until a spark of emotion crossed her beautiful face, and then it was all over. It she had been a cartoon character, smoke would've came out of her ears. Her eyes flashed with pure rage, face reddening.

"That...stupid...bitch..." she hissed. "Oh my god! If I wasn't pregnant, I swear to god I'd..."

"Calm down, Sam," I replied stoically. "Don't worry about it. I'm gonna handle it."

"How?"

"Make some calls," I replied. "Tomorrow. It's late."

I sat down on the edge of the bed, facing away from her and staring off into space. I was so, so angry about all of this. Pissed off at CG for trying to cause a rift between Sam and I for the sake of a stupid job, but I was also upset because Sam didn't trust me.

I was silent for a few minutes, until I heard the sound of Sam sniffling again, a few little squeaks escaping here and there. She was crying again, and this time she was trying to hide it.

"What's wrong now?" I asked.

"I did it again," she said softly. "I...I hit you."

"It's okay, Sam. You were upset."

"It's not okay!" she yelled. "I'm never going to change! I'm always going to be the same insecure, angry girl I was before!"

I turned to look at her, reaching out for her hands, which were shaking. "No, you're not. You're not the same person. You were upset because some stupid cunt took a cheap shot."

Sam's eyes widened a little as she looked at me in disbelief. Sometimes I was just as bad as she was about swearing, but she'd never heard me use that word before, and I just shrugged.

"It's not okay," she said again. "It doesn't matter how upset I was...you didn't deserve that."

"No," I agreed. "I didn't. But it doesn't change that I still love you. I'm not going to leave you. And I am never..." I let go of her hands, both of my hands going to her face and holding her still so she couldn't look away. "EVER going to cheat on you! It's not like you to be so damn stupid, Sam! Have I ever given you any inclination I would cheat on you? Ever? Have I ever paid attention to any girl other than you, this entire time we've been married? Jesus, Sam! I don't even look at porn!"

"I'm sorry," she said, a tear sliding down her cheek. "I didn't know what to think."

"TRUST. ME," I said, our eyes locked. "If nothing else, just trust me. I will never intentionally hurt you. You know that."

She nodded sadly, looking down at the bed. "I'm sorry," she said again. I let go of her face, sitting there for a little while quietly, surprised when I felt her arms go around my neck from behind. I lifted my hand to rub over one of her arms as she softly pressed her lips against the side of my face she'd slapped, planting little gentle kisses all over it.

"I'm sorry," she whispered, kissing my face again. "I'm so sorry. I'm sorry I didn't believe you. I'm sorry I hit you."

"It's alright, sweetheart," I responded as she continued to kiss all over my cheek. "It's alright."

"I love you so much," she murmured. "I don't know what I'd do if I lost you."

"It'll never happen."

"Are you angry with me?"

I shook my head before turning to look at her. "Don't EVER hit me again, got it?"

She nodded, looking down, a piece of hair falling in her face. "I'm sorry."

"Now quit apologizing," I replied, laying back, grabbing her arms as I did and taking her with me. She laid her head on my chest as I toyed with her hair, and we laid there in the dark quietly.

"What are you going to do?" she asked, still resting her head on my chest.

"I'm calling in tomorrow," I replied. "I'm not going in."

"What?" she said, lifting her head to look at me. "Why?"

"I've been neglecting you. I'm not going to work late any more."

"But I thought this was important to you," she replied. "Your future..."

"Our future, Sam," I grunted. "And it's just an internship. I've been putting way too much stock in it, and you're more important. So tomorrow, and the rest of the weekend, I'm staying with you."

She was quiet for a moment, laying her head back down. "Okay. But I was really asking about that girl..."

"CG? I'll take care of it."

"What are you going to do?"

"She accused me of only getting in there because of people I know? Well, I'm gonna use the people I know to get her out of there. She never should have fucked with me. She never should have fucked with you. It's war now."

Sam nodded against my chest. "Baby, I'm sorry...I know I keep saying it over and over, but..."

"Will you shut up?" I replied, before grabbing the back of her head and kissing her forcefully, immediately silencing her. Her eyebrows went up in surprise as I kissed her more passionately, rolling us so we were on our sides and pulling her against me, grabbing her leg and throwing it over me, grinding against her. "You wanna make it up to me?"

"Yes," she whispered, moaning softly as my mouth found her neck.

"You know what you need to do," I replied, laying back and staring at her. "So do it."

She sat up, studying me carefully, the way my eyes were locked on her and reading the expression on my face, and a smile crept across her mouth. "You're not mad at me, are you?"

"Nope," I replied. "But I will be if you don't stop talking and start using your mouth for something better."

"We're so not normal," she murmured as she bent down to kiss my neck. I hissed as I felt her dig her teeth in slightly, grabbing the back of her head, but I didn't stop her. We were both pretty riled up, pretty pissed off, but we both knew how to get it out of our systems. Maybe sex was off the table, but everything else wasn't.

"You're in for a long night, Sam," I told her. "Hope you can handle it."

"Game on?" she asked hopefully, and I nodded.

"Oh yeah. Game way on. Now get to work."

~*Carly*~

"Brad," I said with a laugh, shoving him off me as I leaned over to me and began kissing my neck. "Get off!"

"Uh, I'm trying, but you're making it difficult," he said with a smirk, and I rolled my eyes.

"Cute, very cute. But we don't have time for this! Show starts in half an hour...where the hell is Freddie?"

"He'll be here, babe. Chill out."

I was really nervous about the show. Aside from the one very short run-through we'd done right before Brad and I went to Tacoma, we hadn't rehearsed hardly at all, and we were trying something very risky tonight...a dual location webcast. The last time we'd tried this, it hadn't worked out well, but that had been years ago, and everyone had hope this time would go better. For one thing, we had Brad on one end, and Freddie on another. Assuming Freddie would get here in time!

Brad, the kids and I had only been back in town for about an hour and a half, and I'd felt like it had gone really well. Brad had seemed to get the answer he sought, though it wasn't at all what he wanted to hear, and Bryson had seemed to get over his fears of Brad abandoning him. Even Heather seemed to be getting a little better, and I was making a real effort to include her in everything, to make her feel like she wasn't completely alone and somebody understood her. And I'd completely fallen head over heels for Leah. She was the sweetest little thing, and absolutely adorable. Brad's grandparents were really excited for us, and also told us they'd help in anyway possible when it came to the kids, and that was kind of a relief.

But now I was all amped up and anxious over the show. I always got a little bit antsy, but I was especially nervous tonight, what with the show...and with Freddie running late! It wasn't like him to be this late. I wasn't sure if it was because of work or something else, but I hadn't heard a thing out of either one of them, and that worried me.

At that moment, the door flung open, and Freddie slid in, out of breath.

"Sorry," he said, breathing heavily. "My bad. I'm here."

"Where've you been?"

"Downstairs," he replied. "Lost track of time."

"Dude!" Brad replied. "You look like you got attacked..."

I followed the direction of Brad's gaze, my eyes widening. "Uh, that's a lot of hickeys..."

Freddie popped his shirt collar sheepishly, trying to cover up all the marks, but it did nothing for him, you could still see them, and my eyes narrowed.

"Thought you guys weren't supposed to be..."

"We're not," Freddie interrupted. "Just...improvising...okay, we're not talking about this! Let's just get everything set up!"

Brad just shook his head, laughing, before focusing on the issue of the show. "So...you think anyone's gonna care we're shooting half the show with Sam in bed?"

"Well, the couch. I'm thinking bed rest and couch rest are interchangeable," Freddie replied, scooping up the box of cables. "How'd it go in Tacoma?"

"Good," I said with a shrug.

"Eh," Brad replied. "My family's more fucked up than I thought."

"Not surprising," Freddie grumbled. "Okay, I'm taking this downstairs, I'll get the router set up...answer when I call." He gave Brad a menacing look, who just rolled his eyes.

"You're the one who never answers the phone!"

"Well, whatever..."

"Think you guys can keep your lips off each other long enough to do this?" Brad teased, and Freddie shrugged.

"Possibly," he replied, before shooting a look over us. "Besides, you're one to talk, you guys are getting as bad as we are!"

"Well...it's...fun..." I said, blushing a little, and Freddie just gave me a grin.

"Yes, yes it is," he stated, picking the box back up. "Alright, see you guys in a little while." With that, he headed downstairs, leaving me and Brad alone in the room.

"I need to go change for the show," I said, heading for the door, surprised when Brad grabbed my arm and yanked me back.

"Need some help?" he asked, kissing my bare shoulder, and I just gave him a smile.

"If we do that, neither one of us will end up being dressed."

"Not such a bad thing, Carly."

"What, you want me naked on iCarly?" I teased, and he scowled.

"Hell no. Just our bed."

"JUST our bed?" I asked, giving him a look, and he shrugged.

"Okay. Shower too."

"Behave," I said, swatting him on the butt, before walking out of the room and heading down to the bedroom. Ugh, I felt so gross, I hadn't had time to shower this morning, not even change. I didn't have time to shower, and I guess I'd just pull my hair back in a ponytail and have at it. It was funny how I was beginning to not care so much about those kind of things. I still liked to look nice, but I didn't need to spend two hours making sure every hair was in place and my makeup just so.

I quickly picked out an outfit before going to my dresser, trying to find the right underthings to wear along with it. Let's see, spaghetti straps, so I'd need a strapless bra, and a skirt, so boyshorts would be more appropriate. And of course, while we were at it, may as well pull out those cute plaid ones that Brad seems to like so much...

My brow furrowed as I pawed through my drawer, coming up empty-handed. Well that was weird. I couldn't find my boyshorts, and lots of other pairs of underwear were gone too. Shaking my head, I slammed the dresser shut and began walking downstairs, to find Heather poised at her laptop.

"Heather!" I said sternly, and she turned around, startled.

"What? I swear I didn't drink the last Peppy-Cola!"

I shook my head. "It's not about that. You know, it's fine if you borrow my clothes as long as you ask, but I've gotta draw the line at underwear...that's gross, Heather!"

Heather gave me a Look, signaling she was as grossed out by the idea as I was. "I'm not gonna wear your underwear, that's disgusting! Not only is it disgusting under normal circumstances, but you...do things. With my brother. EWWW."

"Heather, I know you took them, half my underwear is missing!"

"I didn't take them!"

"Heather!"

The front door flung open, and Freddie walked in, looking upset. "The router's broken," he said.

Oh god, two crises, same time? Could not deal!

"BRAD!" I hollered. "Get down here!"

A few moments later, Brad came downstairs, looking concerned. "What's wrong?"

"The router's broken!"

"And your sister is borrowing my underwear!"

"I am not! That's sick!"

Brad looked back and forth, not sure which issue to tackle first, but then something clicked in his head and his eyes darted over to Heather.

"Heather! I will buy you underwear! Or...no, wait. Creepy. I will give you money to buy underwear!"

"I didn't take her underwear!"

"Then who did?" I asked, my hands on my hips.

Brad stood there for a second, before his gaze traveled over to Freddie, who just gave him a pointed look. They stared at each other for a moment, before both of them turned in the direction of Carlton's room and began walking toward it.

"What are you two doing?" I asked, following them. "Brad! Freddie!"

"No, no, no. It's cool," Freddie said, holding his hand up as Brad opened the door. "We got this."

"But..."

"Carly, come on! The guy's a creep! I'd bet fifty bucks I know what happened to your stuff."

"We can't just barge into his room and start looking for stuff!" I argued as I followed them into the room.

"Oh man, this is getting good," Heather said as she headed in right behind me.

Freddie surveyed the extremely messy room, rife with science fiction and fantasy posters, little action figures everywhere, and he made a face. "Remind me to thank Sam for saving me from geekdom. This could have been my life."

"Aw, that's not true, Freddie, you would've found someone...you're really attractive."

"QUIT IT!" Brad yelled at Heather, shaking a finger. "Will you stop leering at him? That's so creepy!"

"Brad, we are in the depths of creepy," I stated, looking around. "I don't even know where to start!"

"Well, just start somewhere," Brad replied, pulling open a dresser drawer and peering inside carefully. "What the..." He slammed the dresser drawer shut, turning around and leaning against it. "You girls do NOT look in that drawer."

"Why?" I asked, and Brad shook his head, looking a little mortified.

"Let me see..." Freddie said, shoving Brad aside and pulling open the drawer. "Ohh!" he yelled, slamming it shut and stepping away from it. "That is...that's not kosher."

"Dude, let's just get this done. The sooner we do, the sooner we can kick him out," Brad said.

"What on earth was in that drawer?" I asked, hands on my hips, and Freddie and Brad both shook their heads.

"Not in front of Heather," Brad grumbled. With that, he and Freddie started looking through drawers again, albeit more carefully, and Heather pulled the closet door open, her eyes falling on a box full of magazines.

"That's a lot of porn..." she stated, her eyes widening, and Brad walked over, shutting the closet door.

"Aaaand you're out," he said, pushing her toward the door.

"But..."

"No buts, bye Heather!" Brad replied, shutting the door behind her.

"Okay," I said, trying to ignore the sounds of Heather banging on the door and yelling at Brad. "You wanna show me what was in that drawer now?"

Freddie and Brad looked at each other, shrugging, before Freddie stepped aside.

"Don't say we didn't warn you," he said. In retrospect I should have just left it alone, but my nosiness got the best of me, and I pulled open the drawer, immediately regretting that decision.

"Oh my god!" I cried, slamming the drawer shut. "Is that why I think it is?"

"Yep," Freddie and Brad said.

"But it looks like a..."

"He's obviously a very lonely man," Freddie grumbled. "Alright, let's get this done, before he gets back and hacks all of us into little pieces."

With that, we began searching the room in earnest, continuing to find something we wished we hadn't. Brad hesitantly approached the bed, dropping to his knees so he could look under it.

"If I find a dead body in here, I swear to god..." he stated, leaning down and peering under the bed. "A-ha!"

I froze, slightly horrified. "You found a dead body?"

"Who says a-ha to finding a dead body?" Freddie asked, and I shrugged sheepishly. "What'd you find?"

"How many pairs you got missing, Carly?" Brad asked, and I shrugged.

"I dunno, six, seven..."

"And...one, two, three, four, five, six, seven!" Brad replied, pulling a pile of underwear out from under the bed. "Are you missing any socks? Because there's socks. And...what the hell? I'm not touching that!"

Freddie sighed, dropping to his knees and looking under the bed. "Dude, it's just a clump of hair..." He trailed off, sitting up and looking at Brad, who had also sat up, staring back at him.

"CARLY'S HAIR!" they both yelled. "Oh my god!"

"I think I'm going to throw up," I said softly, sitting down on the bed, only to be jerked up by my arm by Brad.

"Don't sit on that!" he said. "Okay, do you believe me now when I tell you he's creepy? This is beyond creepy, this is some pyscho shit!"

"Do you think he took anything else?" Freddie asked, and Brad shrugged.

"Carly, do you have anything else missing?"

"I don't think so," I replied, edging back toward the door, but Brad and Freddie just went back under the bed, and then just as quickly scrambled back out.

"Okay, that's just...that's sick!" Freddie replied. "I am out of here!"

"So are we," Brad replied, grabbing my arm and yanking me out of the room. "And after we're done with the show, we're putting all of his shit outside! I am this close to kicking his fat, nerdy ass!"

"Dare I ask what you found?" I asked as he pulled me out of the room, and he shook his head.

"I don't want to worry you."

"Oh god," I said. "What could be worse than the hair and the underwear and the socks."

"Think about it carefully, Carly," Freddie said. "Long and hard."

The boys stared at me, but I still wasn't getting it, and Heather was just standing there watching us, eager to find out what was going on.

"I still don't get it," I replied. "Just tell me."

"Uh..." Freddie looked over at Brad, who at this point was pacing back and forth, arms crossed over his chest. "Okay, how do I explain this...what's something you're still doing that Sam's not?"

"Uh...walking around?"

Freddie shook his head. "Nope. Try again. She was absolutely thrilled to not have to deal with it for nine months?"

"I don't know," I said. "Working out? Uh...watching what she eats..." Freddie gave me a Look. "You're right, she's never done that...I don't know, I..." my face took on a horrified look. "Oh my god!" I screamed. "Oh my god! Why? Why? Why God why?"

"You guys have really bad judgment in roommates, you know..."

"Quiet Heather!" Brad and I shouted. Great, now both of us were pacing back and forth.

"Why did you have to move out, Freddie? Why?" I yelled, grabbing his shirt collar and shaking him hard. "There's a psycho in our house! Ed Gein is in our house!"

"Carly!" Freddie yelled, grabbing my arms. "Calm down!"

"I can't calm down!" I cried. "Why do I keep attracting creepy people? Matthew? Nora? Carlton? Why do they all try to get ME?"

"Because you're too nice!" Freddie and Brad yelled.

"Babe, you've gotta embrace your inner bitch!" Brad said. "You see what happens when you're too nice?"

"I am not too nice!" I replied fervently.

"It doesn't make sense, you're best friends with Sam," Freddie muttered. "And I mean, I love the girl, but she has to make a real effort to be nice."

"Well, I had to balance it out!" I responded, still freaking out. "What do we do?"

"First I'm gonna kick his ass, then I'm gonna kick him out!"

"Brad, you can't kick his ass," I said with a shake of my head. "That'd be like fighting a bag of potato salad."

"Didn't Sam try that once?" Brad asked, and Freddie shrugged.

"Yeah, but...she was blowing off steam."

"Well, whatever," Brad said, taking a deep breath and regaining his composure. "Fine, I won't kick his ass, but he's out!"

"No argument there!" I replied. "Okay, but...we've gotta figure out what we're gonna do about the show."

"We can't do dual location webcasting until I fix the router," Freddie said with a shrug. "You'll have to host on your own."

"I can't do that!" I replied.

"Well I can't do it!" he shot back. "I can't leave Sam by herself, she'll go apeshit."

"Well, what are we supposed to do, Freddie?" I asked. "We're stuck over a barrel here!"

Freddie and I began arguing back and forth about the show, while Brad just sat there, still pissed about Carlton the Creep. Heather was content to sit there and laugh at us, but Freddie and I were really freaking out. We were so lost in our argument we didn't even hear the front door swing open, but the slamming noise of the door shutting startled us out of our argument, all of us looking towards the front door.

"Gibby."

My jaw dropped, and a big smile crossed my face, Brad's and Freddie's too.

"GIBBY!" we all shouted.

"GIBBY!" he yelled, arms going up. "What goes on people?"

"Uh, not much," I said racing over to him and grabbing his arm. "So you're back for the summer? Gee, that's nice, hey wanna host iCarly with me? Cool, let's go upstairs." I was rambling so fast I wasn't giving Gibby a second to get a word in edgewise as I dragged him up the stairs toward the studio, and I was doing it on purpose. Gibby was the only shot we had at pulling off the webcast successfully tonight, I just hoped Sam wouldn't be too upset.

"How much time do we have?" I asked Brad worriedly as I shoved a handful of index cards into Gibby's hands.

"Five minutes," he replied, racing over to the laptop with Freddie not far behind. I shot Gibby a pleading look.

"Gibby, please, I know I sprang this on you out of nowhere, but you've gotta help. You'll help, won't you?"

"Uh, Gibby," he replied, pointing at himself, and I grinned at him.

"Thank you so much!" I cried, throwing my arms around him and hugging him tightly. I pulled away, and his gaze dropped to my hand, grabbing it and examining it carefully.

"Carly, are you engaged?" he asked incredulously, looking over at Brad, who just nodded, and Gibby gave me a big smile. "That's awesome!"

"I know," I said with a smile. "Isn't it? I'm so excited."

"Lot of stuff changed while I was away, I see," he replied. "What else is going on? Where's Sam?"

"Bed rest," Freddie said with a groan.

"With what, chicken pox? You look like you caught it too."

Freddie clapped a hand over his neck, still covered in hickeys, shaking his head.

"I'm going back downstairs. We'll be watching. Good luck, you guys."

Freddie turned and walked out of the room, giving Brad a high five as he did, passing Bryson along the way, who just scooted inside and looked at all of us.

"I'm here. Just in time," he said.

"Yep," Brad said with a grin, ruffling Bryson's hair. "Okay, so just go plop down on that beanbag over there, we're about to start."

"Oh my god, it's mini-Brad," Gibby observed, and Brad shrugged.

"Yeah, pretty cool, right?" Brad replied. "This is my little brother, Bryson."

"Don't you have a sister too? Other than the sulky one downstairs?"

"Oh, Leah's at Spencer and April's," I replied. "Playdate with Maggie."

"Wait a minute," Gibby said. "What exactly did happen while I was gone? Sam's on bedrest, you guys are engaged...and they're living with you?"

"Yeah, it's a long story, Gibs," Brad said as he picked up the camera and pointed it at us. "One that can't be explained in 5...4...3...2..."

~*Sam*~

"Can you see okay?" Freddie asked me as he laid on the bed next to me adjusting the laptop, and I nodded.

I was a little bit upset about not being able to do iCarly tonight, but it was out of everyone's control, and I definitely wasn't going to bitch at Freddie about it. I'd felt really bad, playing into the hands of that stupid girl and not even taking time to think about whether or not Freddie would actually do that to me. He wouldn't. Once I'd managed to calm myself down, I'd realized that. My insecurities were getting so overwhelming my brain was ceasing to function.

And oh my god, I had HIT him. I hadn't done that in years, but I was so upset, I just lost control. I knew it had upset him too, even though he was trying to act like it was fine, but it wasn't fine. I'd made a mistake, and I'd do whatever I could to correct it.

Of course, once we'd figured out what was going on, the drama had seemed to subside, Freddie had promised to stop working late, and he'd even called in today and stayed home. And yeah, today was a good day. Sure, I missed the sex, A LOT, but we were finding ways around it, ways to keep both of us happy. We'd made out for literally HOURS today, and had a lot of fun doing it, but right now were both snuggled up, watching iCarly live for the first time together. It was a little weird. No Sam, no Freddie, but Brad, Carly, and Gibby. It would definitely be an interesting show, that was for sure.

I laid on my side, facing the laptop, and felt Freddie's strong arms go around me as he snuggled beside me. I sighed happily, one hand running up and down his arm. I was so incredibly happy that what had happened yesterday turned out to be nothing, just some stupid girl trying to get rid of him. But it made me angry too. I wanted to break that girl in half, but there was nothing I could do. I was going to have let Freddie fight his own battle this time, something I didn't like. Normally, somebody tried messing with Freddie, and I succeeded in making them cry. But not this time. This time, Freddie would have to do it.

"I hope you make that girl cry," I muttered aloud, and Freddie laughed.

"Oh, it'll get taken care of. Monday morning. Don't worry your pretty little head about it, baby." He pushed my hair aside to kiss my neck softly, and I just smiled, enjoying the feel of his lips on me. "And tomorrow, Brad's gonna help me put the crib together and paint, just like I said."

"You are so great," I said softly. "I love you."

"I love you too, sweetheart."

"I'll never doubt you again."

"Good. Cuz I'd never hurt you. Not in a million years."

"I know," I sighed. "I know."

Thank God I'd come to my senses and realized he wasn't and would never cheat on me. I was going to keep my promise, I'd never accuse him of lying, or accuse him of doing anything else ever again. And I'd never ever EVER hit him again. He was the love of my life, my support, my best friend, my everything.

As we laid in the dark, watching a very unique iCarly go down live, Freddie ran one hand absentmindedly over the swell of my stomach, kissing my shoulder occasionally, having me pressed against him tightly, like he never wanted to let me go. And even though I'd been complaining about being in bed since I got put on bed rest, right now, there was nowhere else I wanted to be.


	57. Chapter 57: Dig

**A/N: Only a few more chapters until the Seddie baby! Yeaaahhh! Also, FYI, I now have a tumblr, same name as my username here and on twitter! Enjoy!  
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**Chapter Fifty Seven  
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~*Brad*~

"Alright, so...Bryson's playing with his little friend in 3-B..." Carly said.

"Check."

"Leah's going with to hang out with April and Maggie."

"Double check."

"What do we do about Heather?"

"Shit," I grunted, flopping back on the bed. "I dunno. Take her with us?"

"She's not gonna wanna paint, Brad," Carly replied.

It was Saturday morning, around eleven, and Carly and I were getting ready to go downstairs to help Freddie and Sam set up the nursery. I was really hoping that after everything that had been going on, today would be a pretty easy day. Gibby was coming over to help, and then after that, the guys and I were going to go to the gym, let Carly keep Sam company for awhile.

After we'd gotten done with the webcast, it had taken Gibby and I exactly thirty minutes to throw Carlton, along with all of his perverted belongings, including his furniture, out. He kept yelling about discrimination and violating the lease, until I'd threatened to violate his face, then he'd shut right up and hurried out, not even breathing a word about the fact that half his stuff was scattered all up and down the hallway. It was a done deal, and now Carly and I were in the process of figuring out whether to give Heather or Bryson the room. Heather was the oldest, but used to sharing a room with Leah, and Bryson was also the boy, so we couldn't be sure. Carly worried about the loss of income, but I had to remind her that we could more than afford it, even if we were down fifteen hundred a month now.

I shrugged at Carly's statement, looking up at her.

"She can just hang out with you guys. I'm not leaving her by herself."

"Brad, at some point you're going to have to trust her. She's gotten a lot better."

"Not better enough. Not yet. I'm gonna wait a little while longer."

"How much longer?" Carly asked, plopping down next to me, and I shrugged.

"After a few weeks in counseling. 'Til then, no sale."

Carly just gave me a smile, leaning back to lay against me. "It's cute how protective you are of them."

"Just doing my job," I grunted, and she nodded, kissing me.

"You do your job very well," she replied. "So...that might cause a problem, you know?"

"What do you mean?"

"Well, I was thinking...maybe we should go out. Have alone time. Adult time. That involves us keeping our clothes on," she stated, giving me a Look after I'd grinned at her. "Maybe dinner?"

"Well, I'm sure we could figure something out," I replied as I rubbed her back. "When did you have in mind?"

"Um, maybe tonight?"

"Something on your mind, Carly?" I asked, starting to get a little concerned, and she shrugged.

"Well, no. It's just...we kinda need it, you know?"

I nodded, thinking carefully. "Maybe talk to Spencer? I dunno. Or if she's not being too annoying, she could hang out with Sam for a few hours. They've always gotten along."

"I dunno how Freddie will feel about that," she replied, and I shrugged.

"He'll have to get used to it, they've got a kid on the way."

"Yeah, a baby!" Carly quipped. "Not a teenager!"

"True," I said. "Man, I dunno. We'll figure it out, but we'd better get downstairs before he starts calling. He's hellbent on getting that nursery finished TODAY."

"Only because Sam's been hounding him," Carly pointed out, and I nodded.

"What else is new?" I stood up, holding my hand out to Carly and pulling her to her feet, taking a moment to look her over. She was looking really good today, nothing but a pair of jeans that hugged her figure well and a white tank top, only a little bit of lipgloss for makeup.

"What?" she asked as I eyed her carefully.

"Is that MY wifebeater?" I asked, and she wrinkled her nose.

"I hate it when you call them that."

"Okay, fine, is that MY tank top?"

"Yep," she replied. "That a problem?"

"Nope," I replied, kissing her. "Looks good. I like you in my clothes."

She laughed, tossing her hair back. "Can't say I can say the same about you."

"Well, let's hope not," I replied. "Because that'd be creepy."

We headed out of the room and downstairs to the living room.

"Speaking of creepy," I said as we walked downstairs. "You ready for Monday?"

Monday, of course, was the hearing for the crazy stalker Matthew. I knew she was a little nervous about it, but she hadn't talked about it much. Of course, we'd been a little too busy to talk about that, what with everything else going on. Taking care of the three kids full-time was definitely a handful. It wasn't something I minded, but it didn't change the fact that it was a lot to deal with. We'd always had some pretty late nights, but now they were getting later, and our mornings were getting earlier. I was glad we had the summer to figure things out instead of trying to balance school and my siblings. Carly and I had decided to keep Leah in her preschool over the summer, mostly so she'd have a jumpstart in the 4 year old preschool in the fall, but also to give us a break in the mornings and early afternoons. But trying to figure out what to do with the other two had been an issue.

Surprisingly, Bryson was the most self-sufficient of the three, occupying himself with art or going downstairs to play with his friend Jason. Leah was usually happy as long as she had something to do, but as usual, Heather was worrying me. Carly had yelled at me over hiding everything sharp in the house, claiming I was going overboard, but I wasn't taking any chances. I couldn't help it, I was worried, and my worry over Heather was beginning to dominate my brain, the way I knew the trial was beginning to dominate Carly's brain.

She shrugged as she bounded down the stairs. "Ready to get it over with." She wasn't talking very much about it, and I couldn't tell if she was just too exhausted to do so, or if she was falling back into her old habits of not talking about her problems. I definitely didn't want that to happen, we'd come a long way in the past few months and I didn't want to go back. The only thing I could do was be there for her and try to reassure her.

"I know, babe," I replied, squeezing her shoulder. "Soon."

We reached bottom of the stairs to find Heather sitting at the bar, eating cereal.

"Coming downstairs with us?" I asked, and she shook her head.

"Nah. Painting's not my thing."

"Heather, you don't have to paint," Carly replied. "You can hang out with me and Sam."

Heather shrugged, eating another mouthful of cereal. "I don't want to go."

"Okay, let me rephrase. You're going downstairs with us," I replied, and she gave me a challenging look.

"Is that an order?" she asked, and I stared back at her, annoyed, trying to ignore the worried look on Carly's face.

"Yep," I replied, and Heather shook her head.

"Forget it. I don't have to do what you tell me until the state of Washington says I have to."

"Heather!" I shouted, agitated. "Come on! I don't want to leave you here by yourself!"

"I'm not a little kid, Brad! I don't have to be babysat all the time!"

I stood there for a second, weighing my options, before letting out a sigh.

"Fine. You know that makeup palette you wouldn't shut up about last night?"

"Oooh, the Smashbox one?" Carly spoke up, shrinking under the glare I gave her. Okay, fine, she'd made progress over the not being so shallow thing, but the girl still had a thing for makeup that just would not go away.

"Yeah, I know the palette," Heather stated. "What about it?"

"It's yours. Just come downstairs."

"Seriously?" Heather cried. "Whoo-hoo! Let me go change and I'll be right down!"

"Your own clothes!" Carly called as Heather scrambled up the stairs, before glaring at me.

"What?" I asked, and she sighed, shaking her head.

"You can't bribe them to do what you want, Brad."

"Come on, just this one time. I won't make a habit of it, I promise."

"Yeah, right," she laughed. "Every time I want you to buy something for me, you do it."

"That's different," I replied. "You're my fiance."

"Yeah, so?"

"So...I dunno, it's...it's different, Carly!"

Carly just shook her head. "It's not different. You're too generous with your money. You think I don't know how much that guitar cost you bought me at Christmas?"

"Speaking of that," I said with a Look. "When are you going back to the coffeehouse? You've been ignoring the calls from the booker. I've seen you."

Carly lifted one shoulder in a shrug, leaning against the bar. "I don't know. We've been so busy, and under a lot of stress."

"Doesn't mean I want you giving up on something you enjoy, babydoll," I replied.

"Yeah, but..."

"No buts. If I have to drag your cute little ass onstage myself, I'll do it. You're not giving up on it."

She nodded, giving me a smile. "Okay. You're so sweet."

"Why is it sweet?" I asked, and she shrugged.

"Not wanting me to give up on something I love. It's sweet," she replied, straightening up and kissing me. "I love you."

"I love you too, Carly." I kissed her again, wrapping my arms around her, and she did the same, kissing me back, the both of us getting totally lost in one another.

A groan came from the top of the stairs.

"You guys are going to have to stop that," Heather grumbled, walking right between us. "I'm ready. Let's go."

"Jealous," I grumbled as I followed her out of the apartment with Carly close behind.

"I'm not jealous!" Heather shot back as we stepped on the elevator. "It's gross!"

"He is not gross," Carly replied as she leaned against me, her head on my shoulder, prompting Heather to roll her eyes.

We got off the elevator, heading for Sam and Freddie's, and I saw Heather shoot a longing look in the direction of my parents' apartment. That stung. She missed my mom. I'd given up on that since the talk with my grandfather, because it was apparent that I didn't know my mom. Not the real her anyways.

"You have a key?" Heather asked as Carly opened the door, and she nodded.

"They have a key to our place too."

"Ever thought you guys are way too involved in each other's lives?" she asked, and I snorted.

"Only every single day," I replied. "But it works."

Carly pushed the door open, walking into the apartment. "Sam? Freddie?"

"One second!" I heard Freddie yell. I heard a bunch of giggling, and then heard the bedroom door open a moment later, Freddie walking out, buttoning his shirt.

"Hey," he said. "What goes on?"

"Your neck is wet," I observed with a grin, noticing he had a brand new hickey to go along with the others, and he scowled at me.

"So's your face." Without bothering to let me ask 'what the hell' and ignoring my perplexed expression, he moved on without missing a beat. "Okay, so we have to paint, put together a crib and a bookshelf, move the furniture in there..."

"Wait!" I said, holding my hands up. "Bookshelf? For a baby?"

Freddie gave me a withering stare. "I care about my child's education."

"It's a baby, dude!"

"And it's going to be the smartest baby on the planet!" he shot back. "So we have a lot to do, and we gotta haul ass if we want to make it to the gym before it gets late."

"Is Gibby still coming?" I asked, and Freddie nodded.

"Just texted him. He's on the way."

"So what colors are we working with?"

"Yellow and green. And...somehow we ended up with safari bedding...Sam!"

"What?" she yelled.

"Can we please discuss the baby's bedding?"

"NO!" she shouted from the bedroom. "I like it!"

"Why?"

"Because giraffes are cool!"

Freddie rolled his eyes, before looking back at me. "Okay, so...yeah. African Safari. In the baby's room. Whatever. Let's get to work."

"FREDDIE!"

"What?"

"Get me a popsicle and some cream cheese!"

"Are you serious?" he called. "You are not dipping the popsicle in cream cheese, Sam! That's disgusting!"

"Don't judge me!"

"Ugh," he grumbled, heading in the direction of the kitchen. "I'll be there in a second, you guys. While I'm in here, I'm making more coffee. I have a feeling I'm going to need it."

Carly and I shot amused looks at each other, while Heather plopped down on the couch and turned on the TV, glaring at me when I jerked the remote out of her hand.

"Hey!" she exclaimed, and I rolled my eyes.

"All you do is sit around and watch television."

"Yeah, because you guys are boring!"

I looked over at Carly, who just shook her head. Our lives were NOT boring, if anything, we could use a little boredom these days. Freddie finished in the kitchen, walking into the bedroom with a tub of cream cheese and a popsicle, grumbling the whole time.

"Alright, well, I'm gonna go hang out with Sam," Carly said, giving me a kiss on the cheek. "You guys have fun."

"Fun being a relative term," I grumbled. I'd promised to help Freddie, but that doesn't mean I was excited about it. I didn't mind putting the crib together, but I'd never been a big fan of painting. It took too long, the smell gave me a headache. But it had to be done.

I followed Freddie into what would soon become the nursery, looking around.

"Interesting rugs," I said, looking down, and Freddie shook his head.

"Sam..." he muttered.

"Everything alright?" I asked. "You seem like you've been on edge lately the last few days."

Freddie sighed, kneeling down to open a can of paint. "Dude, you have no idea. So there's this bitchy chick at work, right? Really threatened by me. Really threatened. Doesn't want me at the company, has gone to great lengths to get me to leave."

"How great?" I asked, my brow furrowed, and Freddie sighed, looking up at me.

"She sent Sam a text implying we were sleeping together."

"WHAT?" I exclaimed. "Dude! That's just evil! What'd Sam do?"

"Well, first she slapped the shit out of me..."

"Uh oh."

"Then she came to her senses. We're good now."

"I can tell. You look like you have leprosy."

"Dude!" Freddie hollered, his hand over his neck. "Shut up. We're improvising, okay?"

"The no sex thing is killing you guys, isn't it?" I said with a laugh, and Freddie shrugged.

"It's a little difficult, but luckily not everything's off the table. We make due."

"Well, that's good, I guess."

"You guess?" Freddie said with a laugh. "Dude, if I couldn't have something, I'd go crazy...but when it finally comes that we can have sex...oh man, I'm REALLY looking forward to it."

"I bet," I responded. "So...other than that, things are good?"

"Yeah, they're good," Freddie replied. "You and Carly?"

"Awesome," I responded. "Things are a little crazy around the apartment, but..."

"When are they not crazy?" Freddie replied, and I shrugged.

"That's a good point," I replied.

Gibby got there a little bit later, and we all got started, painting our asses off until it was done, then putting together all the furniture, Freddie even taking the time to make up the crib with the bedding. When it was all over, we were covered in paint, and completely exhausted, but Freddie seemed to be satisfied. Freddie took a step back to survey it, nodding in appreciation.

"Looks good," he said. "She'll love it." With that, he walked towards the door, sticking his head out. "Sam! You can get up for like two seconds and see the room if you want!"

"You're not gonna spazz out?" she yelled, and Freddie rolled his eyes.

"No, baby, I'm not gonna spazz out! Just come in here for a second. JUST a second."

A moment later, Sam came walking in, grumbling the entire time.

"My muscles are gonna atrophy if I don't walk around more than this."

"Aw, baby," Freddie said, kissing her on the side of the head. "You used a big word!"

"Shut up!" she laughed, smacking him, before looking around the room. "Aw, baby!" she exclaimed, leaning against him. "It's perfect."

"I didn't hang up any of the pictures, because the paint's still wet, but..."

"I don't care, it looks great." She kissed him. "You did a really good job."

"Told you I'd get it done," he replied.

"Thanks guys," Sam said to me and Gibby, and I just gave her a nod.

"You're welcome, blondie. Glad to help."

"Sam," Freddie said, giving her a pointed look, and she groaned.

"Fine," she grunted. "Back to my cage."

"Wow, she's really not happy about this whole bed rest thing, is she?" Gibby asked, and Freddie shook his head.

"Biggest understatement of the year."

"I figured she'd be psyched to lay around all day."

"Yeah, well, Sam's changed a lot," Freddie said with a shrug. "She doesn't like to feel useless any more."

Gibby shrugged, before moving on to the next topic. "So, gym?"

"Yeah, in a second," Freddie replied. "Let me go make sure she's settled and everything's cool."

I looked towards the door, thinking carefully for a moment.

"I'll be right back," I said, heading for the door.

"Where are you going?" Gibby asked, his brow furrowing, and I just waved him off.

"I'll be right back," I said again. "Make sure the girls keep an eye on Heather for me."

With that, I walked out of Sam and Freddie's apartment, heading down the hall to another one, and then banging on the door loudly, not bothering to let up at all. The door creaked open slowly, revealing my mom.

"Bradley..."

"Hi," I said, shoving the door all the way open and walking in. Perhaps I was being rude, but I was pretty angry with her, and I wasn't sure at this point if I'd be granted an invitation.

My mom sighed, shutting the door. "Come on in." I stared at her for a second, shaking my head.

"Why haven't you been answering my calls?" I asked quietly. "Or Heather's?"

"I...I don't know," she replied, looking at the floor.

"You've given up, haven't you?"

"Bradley, it's complicated," my mom replied, and I crossed my arms over my chest, glaring at her.

"Then explain it to me."

"Look, things are...not the way I expected, okay? My life went in a certain direction that I wasn't prepared to deal with, and now I finally feel like I have a break."

I stared at her for a second, shaking my head. "Your life didn't turn out the way you expected because of me, right?"

"Look, if your father and your grandparents had just let me put you up for adoption like I wanted to..."

"WHAT?" I exclaimed, taking a step back, absolutely shocked. I couldn't believe she had come out and say it, just like that. What happened to the woman I used to know? I guess she'd been a great actress, all these years, but she no longer felt the need to play a part. "You wanted to put me up for adoption?"

"I was sixteen, Bradley!"

"That doesn't matter!" I shouted. "You screw up, you deal with the consequences!"

"What would you do right now if Carly was pregnant, Bradley?" she shot back, and I shook my head.

"I'd be fucking ECSTATIC!" I responded. "What is wrong with you? You let me go my entire life thinking DAD was the bad one, and he wasn't! It was YOU, wasn't it? He had to step up and be a hard ass and ended up overcompensating because you wouldn't step up and be a mother!"

"You have no right to talk to me like that!" she shouted. "I had four children, and I'm about to have another!"

"You pawned one child off on his grandparents until he was old enough to take care of the other three! While you laid around and did nothing! I took care of them all the time, and you didn't even have a job!"

"I DIDN'T WANT THIS LIFE!" my mom shouted.

"Then why'd you keep having kids?" I yelled, becoming angrier by the second. "Because you couldn't keep your legs closed? Is that why you guys do what you do? Because you want to sleep with a bunch of different men and Dad just went along with you slutting around to keep you happy?"

Whack! I was completely unprepared for my mom stepping forward and slapping me across the face, though I should have seen it coming. I just stared at her, shocked, before shaking my head.

"Great way to say goodbye, mom," I said the last word, 'mom' with as much sarcasm as possible, my voice dripping with venom. "You won't see me, and you won't see those kids again. You got what you wanted."

"I didn't get ANYTHING I wanted," she hissed. "I didn't want the life I have now."

"You screwed up!" I shouted. "You have to pay the price!"

"You were the price," she said flatly, her eyes cold and emotionless. "And I never wanted you."

That comment stung more than anything I'd ever heard in my life, but I brushed it off, trying to maintain my composure. Still, it hurt, and I took a literal step back. I was quiet for a moment, looking down, before I looked back up at her, trying desperately to prevent my voice from shaking.

"And the baby?" I asked, gesturing to her swollen stomach.

She merely shook her head. "You can have her."

I stood there for a second, and then nodded, before letting myself out, slamming the door shut behind me.I leaned against the door for a moment, trying to get a grip on what had happened. Everything about my life up until this point had been a lie, and I didn't know what to do about it. But I knew what I wanted to do, and in my moment of weakness, I caved. I walked down the hallway, but I didn't go back to Freddie and Sam's. I walked to the elevator, but I didn't go back upstairs. I was going somewhere else.

The whole entire time, I was repeating to myself, over and over. Man up, Brad. Man up. Don't be a bitch. Don't cry. Just man up. Men DON'T cry. You don't cry. Man up!

It took all of fifteen minutes to get where I was going, and then I headed back upstairs to the apartment. I didn't want to see anyone. I didn't want to talk to anyone. I was afraid the second I opened my mouth, I was going to lose it.

I sat there, in me and Carly's apartment, at the bar, staring straight ahead, when my phone went off, signaling I had a text message. Sighing, I picked it up and read over it.

Carly: Baby where r u? U disappeared...

'Upstairs. Apartment.' I texted her back, not wanting to worry her, but not in the mood to talk either. Beep!

Carly: r u ok?

'No.'

I don't know how long I sat there, staring straight ahead, but it wasn't long before the front door opened, and Carly walked in, slamming the door behind her. I didn't bother to look up, just stared straight ahead, and she approached me hesitantly.

"Brad?" she asked gently, placing a hand on my shoulder. "What's wrong?"

"Where's Heather?"

"She's with Sam and Freddie and Gibby. What..." she trailed off, her eyes following my line of vision. "...the hell is that, Brad?"

"It's whiskey," I replied, resting my elbows on the countertop, my head in my hands.

"Brad..." she whispered, shaking her head. "What happened?"

"I went to talk to my mom," I said simply.

"And?"

"She said she never wanted me. And she slapped me."

"Oh my god," Carly replied softly, and I felt one of her hands go to the back of my neck, rubbing softly. "Brad, it's okay..."

"It's not okay, Carly," I replied hoarsely. "I was a mistake."

"No," she replied with a shake of her head. "You're not a mistake. You're the best thing that ever happened to me."

"She didn't want me."

"I want you," Carly replied, kissing the side of my head. "Brad, please, don't do this."

"It's done," I responded. "I bought the alcohol."

"You didn't open it," she said gently. "We can deal with this. We can. Please don't give up."

I sighed, leaning back. "I don't know how to deal with this."

Carly stood there for a second, before grabbing my arm and pulling me to my feet, leading me over to the couch.

"Sit," she said, and I did without putting up a fight. Carly sat down in my lap, stroking my hair, but I was too out of it, too depressed to even look at her. "Baby...come back to me. Please. Don't give up."

"I don't know what to do, Carly," I replied. "I feel like everything up to this point has been a lie."

"Brad..."

"I need a fucking drink," I muttered, and Carly shook her head firmly.

"No, you don't, Brad! Drinking isn't going to get rid of the problem! It's just gonna cover it up for a little while, but it'll still be there! But if you drink, I won't be!"

I finally looked at her, feeling panicked. "Carly, I..." I could hear my voice cracking, like I was about to cry, and I stopped talking, shaking my head back and forth, trying to will myself into forcing it away. Man up, Brad. Do not cry.

"I...I can't deal with this," I said, standing up so quickly Carly nearly fell off my lap and walking away. Carly scrambled to her feet, pulling me back with a death grip on my arm.

"Get back here!" she yelled. "Don't you dare walk away from this, Brad!"

"Don't tell me what do, Carly!"

"I'm not going to let you walk away from your problems!"

"I can't deal with it, Carly!" I yelled. "I can't think about it! I..." I took a deep breath again, still trying not to cry, and for a second I lost it, a tear spilling down my cheek, which I hastily wiped away. Don't let your fiance see you cry, Brad! Man up! "Fuck, I'm such a pussy!"

"You are not!" Carly replied, grabbing my arm again. "Brad, you gotta get this out!"

"I can't!" I tried to pull away from her again, but she held fast, jerking me back to her, and then completely taking me by surprise when she shoved me backwards onto the couch, leaning over me and staring at me menacingly.

"You gotta let this out," she said again. "And I'm not letting you up until you do."

"Carly, please move," I said weakly. "I can't...this fucking hurts..."

"I know it does, baby," Carly replied softly, both hands going to my face and refusing to let me look away. "But it's gonna be okay. I'm here. Just let it out."

I just stared at her, trying desperately to maintain some element of control, but it was getting harder and harder by the second. I just wanted to stop feeling like this. I just wanted it to go away.

"Quit acting so tough," she stated. "How can you be tough when you found out you were wrong about your father?"

"Carly..." I said, looking up at her with a hurt expression on my face. "Stop."

"How can you be tough when you had all this responsibility put on your shoulders?"

"Stop it!"

"How can you be tough when your mother told you she never wanted you?"

"STOP!" I yelled, finally pulling away from her, covering my face with my hands. "Fuck...fuck..."

And then it happened. I'd finally lost the battle with my own emotions. This entire time all of this had been going on, I hadn't cried. Not once. Guys didn't cry. But it was all over for me now. I couldn't stop crying. It just kept getting worse and worse, until I was gasping for breath, feeling like I'd completely broken apart.

Carly climbed onto my lap as I sat there crying, worse than crying, I was absolutely sobbing, and wrapped her arms around me tightly, stroking my hair and kissing the side of my face every now and then, but didn't speak. I'd been holding this in for such a long time, and she knew it. She also knew I probably needed to get it out, but I wasn't going to do it on my own. Smart girl I have here.

"Baby," she whispered. "I love you so much. Don't give up. Just let it out."

It took me awhile to calm myself down, nearly half an hour, and after that I was silent for a little while, feeling absolutely exhausted. I felt Carly's hand go to my chin, tilting it up, and she kissed me softly.

"There," she said. "How do you feel now?"

I took a deep breath, nodding. "Better."

"Good," she replied. "But...we need to talk about...the alcohol."

Hearing her say that made me remember it was still on the counter, and I stood up so fast Carly didn't have a chance to react as I hightailed it to the kitchen, picking the bottle up and twisting the top off.

"BRAD, NO!" Carly cried out, rushing over, and then stopped suddenly as she watched me pour it down the drain. I just dropped the bottle in the sink, not caring that the glass broke, and then sat down on the floor, resting my back against the cabinets. She approached me slowly, crouching down in front of me.

"Are you gonna be okay?" she asked finally.

I stared at her for a long moment, observing her carefully. She was the most beautiful thing I'd ever seen, and her big brown eyes were locked on me, filled with concern. I felt so discouraged, so depressed, so horrible. I felt completely unwanted. But then my eyes settled on the ring she was wearing. The engagement ring. The one I'd given her. And I suddenly remembered I WAS wanted. And loved.

I took a deep breath, nodding.

"Yeah, I'm gonna be okay."

After all, I had Carly.

~*Carly*~

"Oh my god, I feel like I'm gonna be sick," I moaned as I paced back and forth across the bedroom, fiddling with my jacket.

"Babe, calm down," Brad replied, standing up to help me button up the jacket I was wearing. "It's going to be alright."

"It's not," I replied. "I'm so nervous."

It was Monday, and we'd already had one hell of a weekend, what with Brad's mini-breakdown that had been coming for months, and he desperately needed. He'd been holding everything in for so long. Brad was a sweet guy, a wonderful man, but he hated showing emotion, at least the negative ones. In his mind, guys didn't cry, and he went to great lengths to avoid it, keeping everything locked up inside of him. But after he'd talked to his mom, I knew some sort of meltdown was swiftly approaching, and I didn't want it to take place in the form of alcohol. I'd refused to back down, up his face until he finally broke down. He seemed to be doing better after that, but I'd have to make a point to make sure he didn't get so wrapped up in taking care of his brother and sisters that he forgot about himself.

But this morning, I was pretty focused on my own problems. Today was the trial for Matthew, and I was really nervous about it. What if the restraining order got revoked? He tried to blackmail me! What if he did it again?

Brad finished with the buttons on my shirt, rubbing my arms up and down, trying to calm me down.

"Babe, it's okay. Everything will be fine. I'll be right there with you."

"I don't want to do this," I said softly. "I don't want to testify, and there's been way too much court stuff going on in our lives already! And it's just beginning."

"You gotta calm down." He kissed me softly, and I sighed against his mouth, a lot of the tension and anxiety leaving my body, but not all of it. "Look, it'll be over with soon enough, okay?"

"What if nothing happens to him? What if he goes right back to messing with me like before?"

"Then I'll handle it," Brad replied. "No worries."

I looked at him for a second, shaking my head. "You've sure got this protection act down, you know that?"

"I protect what I care about," he replied. "Bryson, my sisters...you."

I smiled at that. I knew Brad cared about me, that part was obvious, but it was always nice to hear.

"We've gotta get going, babe," he said. "Don't wanna be late."

With that, I followed him downstairs, heading for the front door.

"What are we going to do when Spencer and April get tired of dealing with the kids?" I asked, and Brad shrugged.

"Cross that bridge when we get there. I don't see it happening any time soon. Bryson and Spencer are always working on art stuff, and Maggie and Leah are like best friends. Plus, I mean, you know April's kind of turned Heather into her own little project."

"She's going to look like a Barbie doll after this is all over," I grumbled, pressing the button on the elevator.

"I seem to know a certain girl who used to aspire for the same thing," Brad pointed out, nudging me. "What happened?"

I sighed as we stepped on the elevator, leaning against the wall. "Don't know. Just...started to seem unimportant. I mean, fashion and clothes and stuff used to be how I expressed myself, but now I've got other ways..."

"Well, that's good," Brad replied, and I looked up at him.

"It doesn't bother you?" I asked. "That I'm not always dolled up all the time?"

"No," Brad replied with a shake of his head. "To tell you the truth, I mean...I've always loved you, but you had this...I don't wanna say shallow, but..."

"Superficial?" I asked, and he nodded.

"And you've always been beautiful, you didn't need all that extra stuff, babe."

"I didn't feel like it," I said softly. "I always felt like...like I wasn't quite pretty enough."

"Why didn't you ever tell me?" Brad asked, and I shrugged.

"Didn't seem important."

"How you feel is important," Brad replied with a shake of his head, kissing me. "It's important to me."

"I know," I replied quietly. "And I'm glad. I love you, Brad."

"Love you too, Carly," he replied simply.

Ugh, how on earth, with things as crazy as they were right now, did I manage to luck out so much with him? Things were better than ever, and I had no doubts in my mind that Brad was the one I wanted to be with. I couldn't imagine being with anyone else, and as I looked over at him, I knew I never would.

My happiness began to wear off though as we sat in the court room. I hadn't seen Matthew in a few months, but seeing him all over again gave me chills. Not the good kind either, he literally gave me the creeps. I felt Brad's hand on my leg, and I looked up to see him giving me a look that basically read, 'it's okay. I'm here.'

"How does the defendant plead?" the judge asked Matthew as he stepped forward. I eyed him carefully, wondering what he would say.

"Guilty, your honor," he said, and my eyebrows lifted in surprise. I was definitely not expecting an admission of guilt! I almost gasped aloud, covering my mouth with my hand as Matthew continued to speak.

"What I did to Carly was unthinkable. I lost my grip on reality when I realized I couldn't have her. Love...it makes you do crazy things."

Love? Are you kidding me? That wasn't love! What I had with Brad, that was love. What Freddie and Sam had, that was love. April and Spencer. That was love. Not this. This went beyond infatuation, way passed obsession, so something dark. Scary.

"That's no excuse for blackmailing a young woman, Mr. Hayes," the judge replied to Matthew. It occurred to me I had been threatened and blackmailed by someone whose last name I didn't even know. How odd.

"I know that, your honor," Matthew replied with a pained inflection in his voice that I was sure was a put on. "And I can't even begin to describe how horrible I feel. I've been in counseling, trying to deal with this control issue of mine."

I listened to my lawyer and his lawyer go back and forth like a proverbial game of tennis. I listened to the excuses the defense offered. I even put in my two cents, on the stand, about how scared he made me, how much of my life he disrupted, how violated I felt by him stealing those photos.

But it didn't do any good. The defense played a good game. They made Matthew seem like a victim of society, but he wasn't. He was the PROBLEM with society! What was wrong with this court? What was wrong with this judge?

I couldn't even control myself from blurting out in protest when the judge rescinded the restraining order. Matthew had pled guilty, gotten off with community service and probation, and I was shocked as hell.

"Are you kidding me?" I cried, leaping to my feet, but Brad just as quickly leapt to his, clapping a hand over my mouth and yanking me back down.

"Cool it," he muttered through gritted teeth. "Don't mind her, your honor!" he called to the judge after the judge gave me the hairy eyeball. "She didn't get much sleep last night. She's a little loopy."

"I am not loopy!" I cried, and Brad just sighed, looking skyward, as if to say, 'Oh god, here we go.'

"Miss Shay, that is enough," the judge warned.

"No! You can't revoke the restraining order! You just can't!"

"Okay, time to go, Carly..." Brad said, standing up and pulling me to my feet.

"No, we can't go!" I cried, looking back at the judge. "You can't do this!"

"Get her out of here or I'm going to have her in contempt of court!" the judge roared, and Brad just nodded, dragging me towards the door.

"Come on, Carly. Let's go rest."

"Brad! I don't need to rest!" I yelled, ignoring the commotion I was causing in the courtroom. I couldn't help it, I was completely stunned by the fact that Matthew had gotten off with almost nothing and I was still scared out of my mind.

Brad dragged me into the hallway, sitting me down on a bench.

"Are you crazy?" he exclaimed. "You could have got thrown in jail, Carly! You can't do that!"

"I don't care!" I cried. "Oh my god!"

"Look, babe, it's gonna be okay," Brad said, dropping to his knees in front of me, his hands on my legs. "I promise. Nothing's gonna happen to you, and that creep's gonna have that restraining order on his record for the rest of his life. If anything happens, the judge won't be as lenient the first time."

Court had been adjourned, and people began to file out, some of them glancing at me as they walked by, like, 'Look at that crazy chick.' It was supremely annoying, but I didn't really care, I was totally freaked out.

I nearly leapt out of my skin when I saw Matthew walk out, glancing over at us, and I hid behind Brad, peering over his shoulder at Matthew.

"So," Matthew began. "This didn't work out in your favor, I see."

"Back off," Brad growled, staring him down. "I don't care if we're in a courthouse, I will kick your ass."

"Relax, man, I'm not gonna mess with her," Matthew replied with a roll of her eyes. "The game has lost its fun."

"GAME?" Brad exclaimed, taking a step toward him. "She's not a game."

"I just had a question for Carly, that's all," Matthew responded, seeming unafraid.

"Just go away!" I called over Brad's shoulder, but it didn't come out as fearless as I'd hoped. Matthew gave me an amused look, before continuing.

"If you were so scared of me, why'd you wait until after we kissed to press charges?"

Oh, god. I felt Brad stiffen up, before he turned around and looked at me. "Please tell me he's joking."

"Ohhh...so you didn't tell him?"

"BEAT IT!" Brad roared, taking a big step toward him, and Matthew just shrugged, before turning to walk away.

"Bored now. Have a nice life, Carly."

We both ignored Matthew. I was too busy looking at the ground, wanting to disappear, and Brad was too busy staring at me in disbelief.

"Carly..." he said, his voice low and morose. "Tell me it's not true."

"I...I can't," I said softly.

Brad stared at me for a moment, before grabbing my wrist and practically dragging me out of the courthouse.

"Brad! Slow down! You're going too fast, let go!"

He finally released me when we'd got out the double doors, glaring at me.

"Why?"

"He...he kissed me. At the Beanery one night."

Brad stared at me for a second, silent, before shaking his head. "So that's why. That's why you were there all the time, not because of the music. Because of him."

"No, Brad!" I cried. "It's not like that! Yeah, maybe in the beginning, he was paying attention to me, and you weren't...so...so I encouraged it a little bit. But I swear, as soon as he kissed me, I backed off, I pushed him away, but he wouldn't give up!"

"Well, it's no wonder, Carly!" Brad yelled, exasperated. "You were giving him signals! I can't believe this!"

"Brad, please!"

"No, Carly...you...I told you about Nicole. What she did, and what she put me through, and you turn around and do it too! How could you?"

"Brad, I didn't! He kissed me!"

"What, like you didn't encourage it?" he snapped. My hand reached out to touch his shoulder, and he jerked away. "Don't."

"Brad, please..."

"I can't deal with this right now," he muttered. "Let's go."

"But..."

"I said, let's go!" he snapped, and I sighed dejectedly, following him to the car.

We didn't speak the entire ride back, or in the elevator. When we got to the apartment, he simply slammed the door shut, brushed past without even so much of a look my way, and headed up to the stairs, slamming the door loudly.

I sat on the couch in shock. Why hadn't I told him? Why had I gotten involved with that Matthew guy at all? Things had been going so good, and now they were falling apart again.

I looked down at my ring, running my fingertips over it and wondering how much meaning was behind it now. Would he call off the engagement again? Break up with me?

What was I going to do?

~*Freddie*~

"Hey man, what happened to you Friday?" Dongle asked me as I plopped down at my desk, chugging coffee.

"Uh...I was sick," I replied.

"No doubt," Mud responded. "Looks like you've got a rash."

My hand went to my neck, turning a little red. I'd have to remember to tell Sam to back off a little bit in the hickey department, but oh man, I loved the way it felt when she did that to me. We'd been banned from having sex, but that didn't mean we weren't still very physical. It took making out to a whole new level, and it could sometimes drag on for hours, mouths and hands everywhere. In a way, it wasn't a bad thing, because without getting rushed to the "good part", I'd been able to take my time with Sam. I'd thought after nearly three years of marriage, I'd discovered all of her sensitive spots, and she had discovered mine, but we were wrong, and I had a feeling that it was only going to make things more explosive when we were finally able to make love again.

But I couldn't think about that right now, I had to focus on something else. I'd made my calls, set up my plan. I wasn't playing nice anymore. CG could have caused some real problems between Sam and I, and if it had been another couple, I was sure it would have. But this was me and Sam. Nothing had ever been able to break us apart, and I wasn't about to let some little bitch who was threatened by not being the top dog even try. She was going down.

I sat at my desk for a little while, going over everything that had to be done today while making small talk with my co-workers, until I became aware of a distant click-clack noise. It was growing closer, and I recognized it, the quick-paced walking of CG. She even walked in a bitchy way, like she owned the place. I didn't bother to look up as she walked over.

"You're still here," she quipped, and I nodded.

"Yep," I replied.

"Figured you would have quit, since you didn't show up Friday."

"Had some problems I had to...attend to."

"Oh?" she asked, and I could hear the hint of amusement in her voice. "Like what?"

"Just stuff." I continued to pound away at my keyboard, working on a few algorithms I needed to get done, trying to ignore the squawking of CG bitching at the other guys. Still, I couldn't help myself from rolling my eyes.

BOOM! The double doors to the office banged open, and everyone looked up.

"Oh, shit," Spock muttered. "VP. Everyone look alive."

"Don't make direct eye contact," Mud added, and the guys looked up somewhat fearfully as the VP made a beeline for our cubicles. Everyone else tried to look busy, but there stood CG, trying to look like she was micromanaging us, like a good little employee. I had to bite my lip to keep from grinning.

"Mr. Callahan!" CG exclaimed. "What a pleasant surprise."

"Hello, Cassie," Mr. Callahan replied, and she smirked at me, noticing the way he didn't speak. "How are you today?"

"I'm well, and yourself?"

"Couldn't be better. Say, why don't you come with me? There's some things I'd like to discuss."

"Of course," she responded with a smile, before looking over at Dongle and Mud. "He remembered my name this time," she said under her breath, and the guys scowled at her. "Time for a promotion maybe?" With that, she turned, following Mr. Callahan out the door, and I leaned back in my chair, hands behind my head.

"Why do you look so damn happy?" Dongle demanded. "He didn't even speak to you. You screwed up, missing work. Now you're back down at the bottom with the rest of us."

"Oh, I don't know about that."

"Dude, if she gets a promotion, I'm quitting," Spock spoke up. "She already acts like she lords over us, if she actually does get a higher position, we're screwed."

"Wouldn't worry about that either."

"What?" Mud asked. "Why do say that?"

"No reason," I replied, and with that, I went back to work.

I kept myself busy, trying to focus on my work, until I heard the doors open again about twenty minutes later, and I looked up, pleased to see CG heading right for me. I was even more pleased at the sight of her, eye makeup smeared, like she'd been crying. Aaaand, go time.

"You asshole!" she hissed as she approached my cubicle, and I just looked up at her, yawning.

"What's the matter, CG?"

"I just got fired!" she cried.

"Oh!" I said. "Well that's unfortunate." I ignored the gasps from the guys, who were absolutely shocked...and sounding a little relieved.

"Don't act like you don't know! You called the VP on me?"

"No," I replied simply. "I called his best friend's son-in-law, and HE called the VP for me. Funny how that whole nepotism thing works, huh?"

"You screwed me, Freddie!" she yelled, and I turned in my chair, looking at her with a happy expression on my face.

"I did not such thing, CG. Not interested in anything that involves you and screwing in the same sentence."

"How could you do this to me? You bastard! You ruined EVERYTHING!"

"No," I said, rising to my feet. "You ruined everything. You could have stayed top dog without worrying about me at all, but you couldn't do that, could you? Aw, CG, are we insecure?"

I was a little surprised when she drew her hand back to hit me, but she was more surprised when I grabbed her wrist before she made contact.

"I don't think so," I growled. "Face it, when you sent that text and that picture to my wife, you fucked up, and you know it. You messed with the wrong guy."

"Everything was perfect before you showed up!" she hissed, and I shrugged.

"And everything will be better after you leave," I replied. "Now, run along, before security comes and gets you."

"Bye, CG!" Mud called, waving animatedly. "Good luck!"

"Fuck off!" she shouted, and with one last glare at me, she was gone. With that, I sat back down at my desk, going right back to work, leaving Mud, Dongle, and Spock perplexed as they stared at me.

"What? Something wrong?" I asked nonchalantly.

"What'd you do?" Spock asked, and I shrugged.

"Nothing. We should probably get back to those algorithms, don't you think?"

"But..." Dongle started, and then trailed off, shaking his head. "Wonder Boy strikes again."

Yep, they were right, I'd struck again, and I'd been victorious. I hadn't had a problem with CG in the beginning, I was used to dealing with aggressive people of course, just look at my wife. But CG had made the wrong move by trying to come between us. We were Sam and Freddie. Seddie. We'd dealt with every drama known to man, and nothing could come close to splitting us up. Not violent attacks, health problems, our own anger issues, and certainly not some stupid girl who was threatened by how good I was at my job. Nothing on earth could touch us, and nothing ever would.

I'd tried to get home as early as I could, determined to keep my promise to Sam about not working late any more. It was barely after five when I walked into the apartment, and I sniffed the air, noting that the apartment didn't smell like it normally did. It smelled like someone was cooking. I looked toward the kitchen, my brow furrowing as I noticed it looked pristine and untouched. Shaking my head, I walked toward the bedroom, pushing the door open.

"Sam? I'm home."

"Hey baby!" she greeted me with a big smile on her face, sitting cross-legged in the middle of the bed. "How was work?"

"It was good, I..." I trailed off, staring at her, a little confused. "Is that a George Foreman grill?"

"Yep."

"On our bedside table?"

"Chill, Carly brought it up for me, and then cried for an hour."

"Over a grill?"

"No!" Sam yelled, a little irritated at my slowness. "The trial was today? It came out about that Matthew guy kissing her, Brad went postal."

"Oh god," I groaned, flopping down on the bed next to her. "I'd better go talk to him...wait. Okay, why is there a George Foreman grill on our bedside table?"

"Well the bacon's not gonna cook itself!" she exclaimed. "And you can't bring me bacon while you're at work!"

"Bring you bacon? Sam..." I said in a firm voice, giving her a Look before rising to my feet and walking around to the other side of the bed. "If there's raw bacon in that drawer, I swear to god..." I froze as I made it to the other side of the bed, silent for a moment. "Where'd you get a mini-fridge?"

"I ordered it!" she exclaimed. "And I paid the delivery guy twenty bucks to hook it up!"

"Sam!"

"Freddie," she said with a roll of her eyes. "Calm down. Have some bacon."

"I can't have you making bedside bacon, Sam!"

"It's good! Just eat it!"

"I don't want bacon!"

"Why not?" she asked. "Do you want a kebob instead?"

"Kebob? Sam..." I just shook my head, flopping down on the bed. "Man...sometimes I forget how weird you are."

"Well, I'm happy to remind you," she replied, biting into a huge piece of bacon. "Is it a problem? I get bored!"

"So you want to grill things in bed?"

"Why not?"

"Ugh, fine," I grumbled, laying back. Sam put her bacon down, laying down next to me, her head on my chest.

"How was work?"

"Work was good."

"They didn't want you to stay late this time?"

"No," I responded. "They wanted to take me out for drinks."

Sam laughed, shaking her head. "So I guess the plan worked?"

"Ding dong, the witch is dead. Callahan kicked her right out on her ass."

"Well, it was pretty messed up what she did!" Sam replied. "Hey...where's my kiss?"

"Sorry," I responded, lifting my head to brush my lips against hers. "You had your mouth full."

She grinned, kissing me again. "So...Carly and Brad."

"What about them?"

"This might cause a big problem."

"Ugh, are you getting at what I think you're getting at?"

"Well, there's not much I can do sitting in this bed."

I groaned, my head going back. "So what do you want me to do?"

"Whatever you can."

"Fine, I'll talk to him," I replied. I laid there for a moment, silent, my hand rubbing Sam's back, before my hand went to her chin, tilting it up. "But first..." My mouth came over hers, kissing her passionately, and she moaned against my lips.

"Baby..." she whispered as I trailed my lips over her jaw and then to her neck. "Ooh!" she exclaimed as she felt me pull her against me, grinding my hips into her. "Miss me today?"

"You have no idea," I replied. "And I was thinking...maybe there's some spots I missed."

"Yeah?" she asked, a smirk forming across her perfect lips. "Wanna find out?"

"Mmmhmm," I responded.

"What about Brad and Carly?" Sam asked as I rolled her onto her back, pushing her shirt up.

"It can wait, baby," I replied. With that, I went back to kissing her, running my hands all over her body, eager to show her how much I loved her in a physical way. Nothing was going to come in between us, no matter what, and I'd spend the rest of my life proving it to her.


	58. Chapter 58: Familiar

**A/N: Forgive all the sappiness, it had to happen. I highly advise you tune in for the next two chapters. Not telling why, but...do it!**

**Chapter Fifty Eight:  
>Familiar<strong>

~*Sam*~

"Are you sure Carly's not going to get all...Carly... about you being here with me, alone?" I asked Brad pointedly as he sat on my bed.

Brad grumbled to himself, rolling his eyes at my comment.

"It's fine," he replied.

"Want some bacon?"

"Nah, I'm good," Brad replied with a wave of his arm. "Why exactly do you have a grill next to your bed?"

"Because I can," I huffed, arms crossed over my chest. "And hi, have we met?"

"Whatever," Brad replied, laying back. "Change the channel, this sucks."

"My TV, pretty boy!" I barked, jerking the remote away so he couldn't change it. "What's got your panties in a twist today?"

Brad gave me a Look that implied I was a fool, shaking his head. "You know exactly what has my panties in a twist today."

"So you admit, you wear panties."

"What?" Brad cried. "No! Sam! Come on!"

I just laughed, shaking my head. "Oh, fine. I'm sorry." I sat with my back against the headboard, keeping a close eye on my favorite new toy, my grill, before looking over at Brad. "You're not gonna dump Carly over this whole Matthew thing, are you?"

"No," Brad grumbled. "I just...man. What happened to talking about our problems? If she would have just told me in the beginning...but now I feel like she's been keeping secrets. And then I think, why would she need to keep secrets?"

"Because she knew how you'd react if you found out, Brad!" I replied, shoving his shoulder.

"And how is that, exactly?"

"Like this!" I responded. "You're wigging out for no reason, Brad! Carly loves you, it's obvious! If she didn't love you she wouldn't have stood by you through your...battle with the bottle..."

"Nice wordplay," Brad grunted.

"Yeah, I have my moments," I replied. "And she wouldn't have embraced this whole...let's take care of my entire family business you've got going on! And Carly hasn't complained, not once! Do you know what a big deal that is? Huge! Carly's a whiner, man! You know this! But she hasn't whined about any of your problems, she's just been there."

"Yeah but..."

"Look, the night it happened she was so incredibly mortified and upset by it! Convinced you were going to find out and you guys were gonna break up! She feels bad, but she didn't kiss him! He kissed her!"

"She was talking to him, hanging out with him, going the places she knew he hung out at...basically encouraging it and courting his attention! I have a right to be mad about that, Sam!"

"Yeah? Well you weren't exactly doing your job back them! But you both stepped up, you both changed, things got better! You gonna let something from the past destroy everything?" I asked. "You know you love her, Brad."

"Of course I love Carly," Brad said matter-of-factly. "That's the problem. I love her, she turned around and did that, and I'm upset. It brought back Nicole stuff. Nicole cheated on me! Two girlfriends in my life, both of them have kissed other guys while they were dating me! Do I suck that much?"

"I mean, no...not really. Most days," I responded, and Brad gave me a death glare. "And will you stop comparing what happened with Carly and Matthew to what Nicole did to you? In fact, stop comparing them all together! I've seen the pictures. That Nicole bitch ain't got shit on my best friend."

Brad gave me a curious look. "When did you see pictures of Nicole?"

"Did a little digging online one day when I got bored a few years back. And from the stories you told me...yeah, Carly's nothing like her, and you know it. Carly screwed up, yeah, but she didn't cheat. And she loves you. So just let this go!"

"I'm trying, Sam!" he groaned, throwing an arm over his face.

"You sure it's not stuff with your mom bleeding over onto issues with Carly?"

Brad lifted his arm to glare at me, before covering his face up again. "Thought you were majoring in Pre-Law, not Psychology."

"Very funny," I grumbled. "Don't make me beat you with pork. I'd hate to waste a perfectly good piece of bacon on you! But I'm serious. I know this is hard stuff to deal with."

Brad rolled on his side, turning to look at me. "How did you deal with it?"

I shrugged, popping open the lid on my grill and pulling off a piece of bacon, hissing a little at the temperature. "I've always known she didn't want me."

"Yeah, but...how do you cope, knowing that?"

"Focus on the people who DO want you, Brad," I replied. "Like Carly."

Brad groaned, flopping back onto his back and staring at the ceiling. "I am so stressed out right now, it's ridiculous."

"You and me both," I replied grumpily. "I'm so sick of this whole bed rest thing."

It had been about two weeks since Brad and Carly got into the disagreement over the whole Matthew kiss thing, and after hearing about it for days on end, I'd grown tired of it, and also a little worried that Brad was going to break up with Carly. They were speaking, but barely. Freddie had tried talking to him, but it hadn't made much of a difference, so I finally sent Brad a text telling him to come see me or I WOULD get out of bed and kill him. That got him here alright, and now we were sitting on my bed talking while Freddie was away at work.

I'd had a feeling Brad was just pushing his anger at his mom onto Carly and the whole kiss thing was just an excuse, and after talking to Brad, it turned out that I was right. Brad was absolutely shaken to the core over the whole issue with his mother, and although Freddie had been trying to talk him down, help him cope, it wasn't working. Of course, I figured it wouldn't. Freddie wouldn't understand. Marissa Benson was a little high strung, and a tad on the crazy side, but nobody could ever accuse her of not loving her son. Once Freddie had realized this, he'd thrown his hands up and given me full license to do whatever necessary to knock some sense into Brad, short of physically knocking sense into him. Knowing this, I wasn't all that worried about Freddie walking in on us sitting in bed and freak out. We just wanted Brad to feel better, and to get over this whole thing with Carly.

"It's hard though, isn't it?" I asked softly, and Brad nodded.

"Yeah," Brad replied. "It is. I...Sam I don't know what I'm going to do! My dad's not getting out for ten years! And my mom...she hates me! She hates the kids, but she mostly hates me! Because I'm the one that started it all!"

"Brad, don't be ridiculous, how did you start it all?"

"I was the first kid! She got pregnant when she was sixteen, with me! If I hadn't been born..."

"BRAD!" I shouted, smacking him on the arm. "Are you retarded? Stop! You can't blame yourself for existing! Maybe if your parents had used protection or your mom wasn't a total ho-bag like my mom...but it's not your fault!"

"I just don't know if I can do this, Sam," Brad muttered. "And I know it's too late to be having second thoughts, but...I'm a wreck."

"Dude, you'll be fine," I responded. "Trust me."

"You really think so?"

"Let me rephrase. If you stop taking this chizz out on Carly you'll be fine! If you don't stop, then the second I push this kid out I'll hunt you down like a moose."

"A moose?" Brad replied, giving me a Look, and I nodded.

"Always wanted to shoot a moose. I like meese."

"Meese?" Brad asked. "Sam! It's moose!"

"It's totally meese!"

"Oh my god," Brad spoke under his breath. "Dude...I think the baby's zapping all your brain cells."

"Shut up!" I yelled. "I will beat you with this meat!"

"Yeah, yeah, whatever," Brad responded. "I should get back."

"Are you gonna lighten up on Carly?" I asked. "You're freaking her out. She's scared you're gonna call off the engagement, or dump her..."

"I'm not going to do either one," Brad responded.

"Then why are you acting like this?"

"I don't know," Brad said with a sigh. "I just feel like I'm losing my head...and the idea of some other guy kissing Carly drove me crazy."

"Now you know how Freddie felt during that whole...thing that happened senior year," I stated, and Brad rolled his eyes. "I thought Freddie was gonna kill you."

"I thought YOU were gonna kill me!" Brad responded, and I nodded.

"I almost did! Putting your lips all over Freddie's property like that. No bueno, man."

"Just trying to knock some sense into you," Brad grumbled as he stood up. "Obviously it worked, because now you have Freddie-spawn."

"Oh yeah, me and Freddie totally give you the credit for us pro-creating," I said sarcastically, and Brad laughed.

"Well, it's good you finally admit it. I'll try to stop being such an asshole to Carly. It's just gonna take some time I guess."

"Dude, just...I dunno...get Spence to watch the kids and take her out, somewhere that can make you remember what you love about her."

Brad's eyes flickered back and forth, and I could tell he was thinking something over, before shaking his head.

"No, I can't do that," he muttered, and my eyebrows went up, my interest piqued.

"Do what?"

"Well, I was thinking about where we had our first date..."

"Brad, that'd be awesome! She'd love it!"

"The POOL HALL, Sam!" he reminded me. "Alcohol aboundeth, they never remember to check IDs?"

"Oh, right," I said flatly. "Well...maybe...I mean, if you wanna prove to everyone that you put it behind you..."

"I don't wanna be tempted, Sam," Brad replied, and I shrugged.

"Well, if you don't have the balls..."

"Sam!"

"What? I'm serious! Prove it to yourself! That you're past it, and that booze doesn't control you any more."

Brad stood there for a second, thinking it over carefully, and then a look of realization crossed his face.

"Shit!" he exclaimed. "What day is it?"

"Uh, the twenty eighth," I replied. "Sixteen days til me and Freddie's anniversary."

"Yeah, speaking of anniversaries, I gotta go!" he replied. "I can't believe I almost forgot...cuz I've been mad at her, god I'm such an ass!"

"But your anniversary's in September!" I reminded him, and he shook his head.

"Not that one. Different one. Gotta go, lots of things to do. Thanks for the help, blondie." He bent down, kissing me on the cheek like we did sometimes, before turning and running out of the room, leaving me utterly perplexed...but thinking about my own anniversary. It was definitely going to suck this year...I couldn't get out of bed. With the thought of our anniversary, and Freddie by that rationale in my mind, I grabbed my phone to text him.

'Hey baby. I miss you.'

Freddie: Miss you too sweetheart. Did you get Brad to come by?

'Yeah, but he ran off in a tizzy about something.'

Freddie: You made him mad?

'No! This was a good tizzy, but I don't know what about.'

Freddie: Oh. Ok. Chinese or pizza for dinner tonight?

'Both'

Freddie: Again? Fine. Only cuz I love you.

I smiled at that, biting my lip, before texting him back.

'Sixteen days til the suckiest anniversary ever.'

Freddie: I promise you, it will not suck. I have plans.

'You do? Tell me.'

Freddie: Nope. Want it to be a surprise.

I rolled my eyes, grunting in frustration. Freddie and his surprises. They always turned out amazing, but I hated waiting. Guess we were even though, I was keeping the surprise of a lifetime from him...the sex of our child. I didn't know either, but I was okay with waiting. Freddie, on the other hand, was not doing well waiting. It drove his inner planning instinct absolutely crazy.

'I hate you.'

Freddie: I hate you too.

I laughed, thinking about all the times over the years we'd said that to each other and what it really meant, before texting him back.

'Hurry home baby. I love you.'

Freddie: I love you more. Will be home soon. PS – Bringing home air freshener.

'No! I love this smell!'

Freddie: A bedroom is not supposed to smell like bacon. Bringing. Home. Air. Freshener.

'You are not.'

Freddie: It's happening. Deal.

'What do I get in return?'

I couldn't help but giggle to myself as I typed in my reply, knowing full well that Freddie would come back with anything.

Freddie: ...I can't find an emoticon for it in my phone.

'Is it dirty?'

Freddie: Very. See you in a few hours.

At that message, I just laughed, fluffing up my pillows and laying down to watch TV. Possibly nap. I had a feeling I'd need the rest...

~*Brad*~

"Carly!" I yelled up the stairs. "Carly! Get down here right now!"

I tried to put anger into my voice, though I wasn't angry at all, just to throw her off. Truth was, I was still a little bit upset over the thought of some other guy kissing my fiance, but the talk with Sam had helped me to realize that I was just taking all my anger at my mom and misplacing it, right onto Carly. I felt really bad about it, and I wanted to talk things out, get my head on straight, make things between us okay again.

Carly came down the stairs slowly, literally looking like she was walking on eggshells, which she was, metaphorically. She'd been doing it for two weeks, apologizing over and over, trying not to get on my bad side. I felt like an ass, but there were so many thoughts swirling around in my head. I was having so much trouble dealing with everything, and I had no idea how to cope. But I could start by getting things right with her.

"Yes?" she asked nervously.

"We need to talk," I said, and she nodded, biting her lip and staring at the ground. Usually nothing good ever came from the phrase 'we need to talk', and Carly was nervous about me breaking things off with her. I could feel it, and Sam had let me know it.

Carly took a deep breath, as if to steady herself for some blow to come. "Okay," she said softly.

"Come on."

"Where are we going?" she asked, and I shook my head.

"Just come on."

"But...the kids..." she began, and I cut her off.

"Spencer's on his way over. Don't worry about it."

Carly bit her lip again. "This sounds serious," she said sadly, and I nodded.

"It is."

"Oh." She sighed again, looking down at her ring, and then back up at me. I could tell she was trying to be brave, but I saw right through it. "Brad..." Carly began. "I told you I'm sorry. Please don't do this."

"Do what?" I responded, and Carly looked at me strangely, like she didn't know what I was up to. I reached out and took her hand in mine, the fact that gasped a little not entirely lost on me. "Come on, let's get out of here."

With that, I led her out the front door and straight for the elevator, and she leaned against the wall, eyeing me carefully.

"What's going on?"

"Nothing," I said with a shrug, looking down at my phone. "Hey, do you know what the date is?"

"It's the 28th," Carly replied. "Why?"

"No reason."

"Where are we going?"

"A place."

"Umm...okay?"

Carly was suspicious the entire time I drove, trying to figure out what was going on, but then I began to notice a look of recognition on her face, looking over at me with a slight smile.

"The lake?" she asked.

"Uh-huh," I responded.

We parked, and I quickly got out of the car before she could, racing around to the other side and pulling the door open, before grabbing her arm and pulling her out of the car.

"So...what's the date again?" I asked with a shrug.

"Uh, the 28th. Why do you ask?"

"You're not following," I replied as I led her down to the water. "Thought you loved me."

"I do...but...what are you getting at, Brad?"

I walked around behind Carly, pushing her hair to one side and kissing her shoulder. "I love you. I'm sorry for being an ass. I...I'm not mad at you. Am I mad that another guy kissed you? Yeah. It drives me nuts just thinking about it. Because you're mine. But I'm not mad at you. And I'm sorry. I've...been taking my anger out on you for too long, Carly. But it's gonna stop."

She nodded, looking over her shoulder at me and kissing me. "I love you, Brad. I'm sorry, I should have told you..."

"Thing of the past," I told her, kissing her again. "And while we're on the subject of the past, it's the 28th."

"Yeah, Brad, you've said that...I just don't understand why. Our anniversary's in September."

"Is it?" I asked, and she gave me a look. "Oh, right! It is. Three years, right?"

"Yeah!" she exclaimed, sounding exasperated. "Why are you acting so weird, Brad?"

"Well..." I said, flicking her on the end of her nose lightly. "I did some counting."

"Counting?"

"Uh-huh. And, as it turns out..." I trailed off, kissing her again. "We've been together a thousand days."

Carly stared at me for a moment before realizing I was right, her face breaking into a huge smile. "Brad!" she said, turning around to hug me tightly. "I can't believe you figured that out! I mean...that's so cool!"

"So..." I said, sitting down on the ground and motioning her to join me. She did, and I pulled her against me, one arm going around her. She rested her head on my shoulder, and I kissed the side of her head. "I've been thinking."

"Uh-oh," Carly murmured softly.

"Hey!"

"I'm kidding," she laughed. "What were you thinking about?"

"Can we...look, I know I'm a dick. And I know I haven't been treating you the right way. But...I promise you, it's a thing of the past."

"I believe you, baby. I know you've been going through some rough stuff. And...I should have told you the truth, and not kept it from you. I know it looked suspicious."

"It did," I said. "And I was angrier that you didn't tell me than anything. No more secrets, remember?"

"Yeah," she said. "No more secrets."

"Carly?" I asked, and she looked up at me.

"Yeah?"

"I wanna...I want to set the date. For the wedding."

"You do?" she asked, and I nodded.

"Can we?"

Carly looked away for a second, her gaze settling on the water, and I began to get a little nervous. What if I'd been too much of a dick, taken too much of my anger out on her? What if she was rethinking things again?

"Carly?"

"Next September," she murmured. "Not this one, but the next one. On our anniversary."

"You mean it?" I asked.

"Yeah. I do. I think it'd be perfect. And...we'll need that long to plan it out."

"So...so it's official?" I asked. "September 23rd?"

"Yeah," she said, looking up at me, a wide smile spreading across her face. "Yeah!"

"Oh my god," I said, breathing a sigh of relief and wrapping my arms around her tightly. "I love you, babe."

"I love you too," she whispered. "I'm so glad you're not mad at me anymore."

"I...I don't think I was mad at you to begin with. I'm mad at my mom, I know that, and I think I just misplaced the anger...took things out on you."

"How'd you figure that out?"

"Sam," I said with a shrug. "She's got a way of talking sense into me, you know?"

"I know," Carly sighed. I gave her a Look.

"Carly, don't start this again..."

"I'm not starting anything," she said with a shake of her head. "I know how you and Sam are...very, very similar. It makes sense that my best friend and my fiance are super alike. You're kinda like a male version of Sam."

"Wait," I said, giving her a perplexed look. "So...if you fell in love with a male version of Sam, then..."

"Oh, don't even start that!" Carly exclaimed with a laugh, smacking me on the chest.

"Just sayin'. Kinda hot."

Carly rolled her eyes, shaking her head. "You and Freddie are never going to get over your pervy little fantasy of me and Sam, are you guys?"

"Nope," I responded with a grin. "Come on! Just once!"

"Brad!" she exclaimed. "You'd get jealous."

"Probably," I agreed. "But...let's not talk about that. Let's talk about...wedding things. Over dinner."

"Yeah?"

"Mmmhmm. At the sushi bar. Where we had our first date. And then...shoot some pool."

"Brad," she sighed. "The pool hall...has some pretty bad connotations for you, you know?"

I shook my head fervently. "Not anymore, Carly. But I did take you there on our first date, so it seems like there's some good stuff in there too."

"You're not gonna drink?"

"Nope," I responded. "Just me, you, and some sticks. You in?"

"Sure. But I think I forgot how to hold the stick," she said flirtily, and I shook my head.

"Liar. You know damn well how to hold a stick, and good too."

"You're such a pervert!" she said with a laugh, shoving me. "You expect me to put up with that for the rest of our lives?"

"Yeah," I said, kissing her. "If you loved me, you would."

"Well, I do love you," Carly replied. "More than anything."

We sat there for a little while, just looking out over the water, together, and I felt like all the bad stuff was slowly beginning to leave my head, replaced by the realization that what Carly and I were doing, this engagement? It was for real. We had a date, set in stone, and now we got to plan out the entire thing.

I couldn't be happier.

~*Freddie*~

A month can go by pretty fast once you've cleared out all the unnecessary drama, I noted to myself as I walked down the hallway to the apartment, arms so full of bags I could barely move an inch without dropping something. The past four weeks had been a blur, especially after Sam had managed to knock some sense into Brad about Carly and the whole kiss thing. We were in rare form these days. Me and Sam were happy, Brad and Carly were almost too happy, no one was fighting, nobody had any outrageous drama looming over their heads. Life was good. I could only hope they would stay this good, because this year had been one hell of year. Our second year of marriage had been pretty free of incident, but the third one had proved to be almost as dramatic as our first year!

Speaking of all that, I was in a really good mood, and loaded down with all kinds of bags, because today was our three year anniversary. Truthfully, I would have wanted to take Sam somewhere nice, but it was out of the question because of the whole bed rest thing. But I didn't want Sam to feel like she was missing out. So I wasn't going to let her. I was still going to make it a good night. I'd gone into work that day, but only for half a day. It was a little bit after one, and I hadn't told Sam of my plans to come home early.

After I'd figured out how to balance all the bags on one leg, I managed to get my key in the door and unlock it, walking in and setting all the bags down on the counter before heading straight for the bedroom.

"Sam?"

My brow furrowed when I realized I was staring at an empty bed. Where the hell was Sam? A quick check in the bathroom, and she wasn't there either. What? Did she not understand what bed rest meant? Stay in bed and rest! Girl was in BIG trouble!

"SAM!"

"In here!" she called, and I followed the sound of her voice, coming from the baby's room, a little bit irritated. I'd told her specifically to stay in bed, not try to get anything done around the house, I'd take care of everything, and she wasn't listening! How long had she been doing this?

"Sam..." I said flatly as I walked into the room, prepared to yell at her, then stopping short at the sight of her laying in the middle of the floor, looking up at the ceiling. She had a stack of books next to her, along with a pillow and a bottle of water. "Honey, what are you doing?"

"Nothing," she replied.

"Why are you laying in the middle of the floor?" I asked. "You're supposed to be in bed."

"I swear I wasn't doing anything!" she said defensively. "I like it in here! I was just reading! I was laying down and everything! Don't be mad at me, I was just..." I dropped down to my knees quickly, kissing her and shutting her up, before pulling away, brushing a piece of hair off her face and giving her a smile.

"You do this every day?" I asked, and she nodded sheepishly. I just smiled, shaking my head. "Why, baby?"

"Because it's the baby's room. And...I like it. It's nice. You made it look nice."

"Well, I guess I can't be mad at you, it's kinda sweet. So long as you haven't been doing any manual labor!"

"I haven't!" she said. "I swear." With that, she sat up, kissing me again. "Hey, how come you're home so early?"

"Happy anniversary," I replied, giving her another kiss. "Got off early so I could spend the rest of the day with you."

"Aw...baby!" she exclaimed, throwing her arms around me and hugging me tight. "I love you. Can you believe it's been three years?"

"Best three years of my life," I replied honestly, and she nodded in agreement.

"Everything else about my life sucked until we got together," she said, staring at me. "You made everything go away. My protector."

"Always," I replied. "Let's get you off this floor, okay?"

She nodded, moving to stand up, but before she could do so I scooped her up in my arms, picking her up and carrying her back to the bedroom, gently depositing her in the middle of the bed. "I'll be right back," I told her, kissing her on the forehead.

I walked back into the living room, grabbing a few of the bags and walking back into the bedroom. "Okay, first of all..." I said, producing the bouquet of flowers I was carrying. "For you."

"Freddie!" she exclaimed, taking the roses from me. "These are beautiful!"

"Just like you."

"Aw..." she said with a smile, reaching for me. I bent down, and she threw her arms around me, before giving me a deep kiss. "I love you so much."

"I love you more," I replied. "Got us some new movies, I'm gonna make dinner, it'll be nice. I know we can't go out or anything, but..."

"It's fine," she said with a wave of her hand. "As long as I have you with me, everything's fine."

"Good," I replied, sitting down on the bed. "And then...later..." I said with a smile, pulling out a bottle of massage oil I'd picked up. "Thought we'd try this out."

"Mmm, sounds fun," she said. "So what are you making me for dinner?"

"Stuff," I replied. "You'll see. So put away the damn grill!"

"I love my grill," she replied with a pout, and I just laughed.

"Whatever, if it keeps you happy."

"It does," she replied. "So? Put in a movie and let's snuggle. I need some Freddie snuggles."

"Oh, you'll get plenty of them today, baby."

The rest of the night was pretty low-key, just the two of us laying around, talking, cuddled up in bed together. It was amazing how much stuff had changed over the last three years, and yet, how they hadn't changed at all. Despite everything that had happened, we were still Sam and Freddie. Still Seddie. Couldn't be torn apart. Even when we pretended to hate each other, we couldn't be torn apart. And I hoped it would stay that way forever.

Sam laid curled up against me in bed, staring at the TV but not really watching, her hand running lazily over my chest, when I began to be aware of it traveling lower, over my abs. Up and down she went, over my chest, down over my abs, until her fingers slipped underneath the t-shirt I was wearing, touching bare skin. She lifted her head to look at me when I sucked in a deep breath, a hint of amusement in her eyes.

"Did I find a good spot?" she asked, and I nodded.

"Keep doing it," I replied.

"Take this off," she said, tugging at my shirt, "And I will."

I obliged her quickly, tossing the shirt onto the floor and laying back. Sam laid her head back down on my chest, continuing to run her hand lightly over my skin, listening to the sound of my breathing. We'd learned a few things over the last six weeks or so when it came to this. With sex off the table, we had to find more creative ways of expressing ourselves, and this was how it started. Both of us were always on the look out for sensitive spots we may have missed, and a sharp breath or a gasp was usually a good indication we'd found one. I couldn't help but jerk a little bit as her fingers traveled over a spot above my hipbone, and she lifted her head to smirk at me.

"Found one," she said softly, moving further down my body and kissing over the spot she'd just touched, eliciting a groan from me.

"Uh-huh," I said, laying my head back. She kissed over the spot again, her hands still traveling up and down my chest and stomach, and she yanked down the side of my boxers, exposing the spot more fully, before she began kissing over it. Softly at first, then more pressure, running her tongue over it, scraping her teeth across the spot. I couldn't help but moan, squirming a little. It tickled at first, but the longer I let her do it, the better it began to feel, and soon my lower body began to wake up in response.

Sam didn't miss a beat, pulling my boxers the rest of the way off and wrapping her hand around me, pumping up and down slowly as she continued kissing over that spot.

"God, baby..." I groaned. "That feels good."

"Yeah?" she murmured, lifting her head to look at me, and I nodded.

"Yeah."

She went back to that spot, never releasing her hold on me, and then her mouth began to travel to other spots, places she had found before that she knew got a rise out of me. Over my abs, my chest, moving up my body in a fluid motion and attaching her mouth to my neck, all the while continuing to move her hand up and down, the steady pace beginning to drive me crazy.

I couldn't take it anymore. Must have mouth on Sam's skin, NOW. With that realization, my hands went to the bottom of her tank top, whipping it over her head and then kissing over her collarbone, enjoying the way she arched into me and moaned.

It was on now, she'd gotten me riled up, and spending all that time toying with me had gotten her riled up as well. Her mouth quickly found mine, and we kissed passionately as hands roamed everywhere. I loved this. It wasn't as good as the real thing, but damn it was close, these hot, passionate makeout sessions that would leave both of us gasping for breath, our senses completely overloaded. I pulled her underwear off, grinding against her, and she moaned, sinking her teeth into my shoulder.

"Baby," she gasped as I moved against her. "Careful. You don't want to..."

"Shh, I know," I replied. "I'm being careful."

I knew exactly what she meant, one false move, as riled up as both of us were, and I'd be inside her. If I moved my hips the wrong way, as excited as she was, I'd slide right into her, and then it would be game over. As worked up as I was, I wasn't willing to risk the health of my child over a few minutes of pleasure. Insane, incomparable, mind-blowing pleasure...that I couldn't wait to experience again. But I had to. And it would be worth the wait. For now, I was content with this.

The soft, supple feel of her skin, the way her hands and mouth seemed to know every part of me, the taste of her. Her soft, sweet moans, muffled from our mouths being pressed against each other in earnest. She gasped as my hand found the most sensitive part of her body, rubbing over her softly.

"Freddie..." she gasped. "Oh, baby...this feels so good. I love you."

"I love you, gorgeous. You're so beautiful. So incredibly beautiful." I kissed her neck sweetly, still rubbing at her at a slow, unrushed pace. "I love everything about you. I'm never gonna let you go."

"God, I love you!" she moaned. "It hasn't changed. Three years, it hasn't changed."

"I know, sweetheart. I know."

"Oh, please don't stop..." she moaned, her hips moving all on their own. "Please..."

As I continued to kiss and lick over all the spots on her neck and chest that she loved, her hand found me again, wrapping around me and moving at the same pace as I was for her, a perfectly matched rhythm that was driving both of us crazy.

"Sam..." I groaned. "Shit...don't stop..."

"Freddie..." she moaned. "Oh god. I...ohh. This feels so good."

"Getting close, gorgeous?"

"Yeah...are you?"

"Yeah. Don't stop."

I grabbed the back of her head, kissing her passionately as I could feel myself getting closer and closer to the edge, and she felt it too, a wave of pleasure sure to crash over both of us at any moment. I was beginning to lose control. She was losing control. We were both so close.

"Freddie!" she cried out. "Oh god...I...I'm gonna..."

"Ah...baby...SAM!"

"FREDDIE!"

I groaned as I felt that familiar explosion take hold, pulling Sam against me tightly as I shuddered against her, feeling the way her body trembled as she experienced the same feeling, pressing my mouth against hers and kissing her passionately.

The feelings subsided, and I laid back as I came back down to earth, Sam laying next to me trying to catch her breath. I looked over at her as she let out a laugh.

"What?"

"We take making out to a whole new level, you know that?"

"No kidding," I said with a shake of my head. "Pretty sure nobody else can do it like we do."

"Nope," she replied, snuggling against me and yawning.

"You gonna go to sleep on me, baby?" I teased, and she nodded against my chest.

"Happy anniversary," she murmured sleepily, and I kissed her on the top of her head, feeling sleep beginning to take hold of me as well.

"Happy anniversary, baby," I replied. "I love you so much."

"Not as much as I love you."

"Nope. We've been over it. I love you more."

"No," she replied. "I..." she trailed off, yawning again. "We'll talk about it in the morning."

"What? Who loves who more?"

"Mmmhmm. I'm a sleepy girl."

"Okay," I laughed, kissing her again. "Night baby."

"Goodnight."


	59. Chapter 59: Diamonds and Coal

**A/N: I know, super short chapter, but I had to split it into two parts...hope you guys enjoy!**

**Chapter Fifty Nine  
>Diamonds and Coal<strong>

~*Carly*~

"Carly!"

"What?"

"I can't find my sweater!"

"It's in the laundry basket!"

"Not that one, the blue one!"

"I don't know!"

"Can I borrow yours?"

I shot an aggravated look over at Brad, shaking my head. "We have got to upgrade that girl's clothing budget so she'll stop borrowing my stuff."

Brad just shrugged, pulling a shirt over his head. "Maybe. But let's get them through the first week of school and then we'll talk."

I nodded, continuing to brush Leah's hair, noting how still she was on the bed, not squirming or complaining.

"You're such a good little girl," I told her as I finished her hair, bending down to kiss her on the cheek. "You're done. Where's your backpack?"

"Downstairs," she replied, and I nodded, pulling her off the bed and shooing her towards the door.

"Go get it ready, make sure you have your blanket for naptime."

"K." She bounced off, and I fell back onto the bed, looking at Brad. "Man...I can't believe how fast the summer flew by."

"It was a pretty crazy summer, dealing with those three," Brad agreed, sitting down next to me. He leaned down to brush his lips over mine. "At least you don't have class today."

"Yeah, that's true," I said. "What classes do you have today?"

"Just the one. Cinematography."

"Oh. So you'll be back early?" I asked hopefully, and Brad nodded.

"You gonna go hang out with Sam?"

"Yep. Poor thing. She's going absolutely stir-crazy, and she looks like she's about to pop."

"Yeah, she has gotten big..." Brad agreed. "OW!" He glared at me after I smacked him in the chest. "The hell was that for?"

"You know she hates that! She can't help it!"

"It's not like I said it to her face, babe! Admit it, Sam's belly?"

"Well, there's a full-term baby in there! She's only got three more weeks!"

"That's true," he replied. He kissed me once more, before sitting up and stretching, bending down to pull his shoes on. "Alright, well...I gotta get those kids off to school, and then I need to get to class. I love you."

"I love you too."

"Try to behave."

"Brad! I'm just hanging out with Sam!"

"Like I said, try to behave," he said, giving me a Look. I rolled my eyes, throwing a pillow at him, and he threw it back, giving me a smile before heading out the door.

"BRYSON!" He yelled. "Get your artsy butt downstairs! We gotta go!"

I rolled my eyes, laughing a little as I fell back into bed.

Things were definitely beginning to pick up steam now. Aside from all the drama that comes with getting used to three new people in your house and taking care of all of them, the summer had gone pretty well. Brad and I were back to being that super-happy couple, so happy and smoochy we were actually beginning to get on Freddie and Sam's nerves, which said a lot. We just couldn't help it though. We were happy, in love, and engaged with an actual wedding date!

I was bouncing off the wall with plans and ideas for the wedding, and when it came to that, I was officially taking time off from being "deep" and not materialistic. It was my wedding, and man, it was gonna look good. I was still gathering ideas, but I had an abstract idea in my head of how I wanted it to go. Since classes didn't start until tomorrow for me, I was going to bring tons of bridal magazines over to Sam's and spend the rest of the day talking about it.

After Brad had managed to get everyone out of the apartment, I stuffed all the magazines into a bag, along with my PearPad, and headed downstairs to Sam's, letting myself in with my key.

"Sam!"

"In here!" she called back. "As always."

"Hey," I said as I walked into the bedroom, flopping down next to her on the bed. "I brought bridal magazines, and I thought we'd...whoa. You don't look very good," I commented, noticing that she looked a little pale, curled up into a ball.

"I don't feel very good," she muttered.

"Have you eaten?"

"No. I'm not hungry," she replied, and my eyebrows went up.

"Sam? Not hungry? Are you sick? Is the baby okay?"

"I think so," she replied. "And I'm not bleeding or anything...I checked. I just feel...weird. Gross. But antsy."

"Antsy?"

"Yeah," she replied, sitting up. "It's weird. Like...I feel like crap, but I wanna get up, do things. Like I have this massive burst of energy and I don't know where it comes from."

"Are you gonna be alright?" I asked her, my brow furrowing, and she nodded.

"I think so. Let's see what you brought."

I gathered Sam was tired of talking about how she felt. She'd had people fussing over her health for months, and Sam hated when people fussed over her. So I let the issue go, opening my bag and pulling out the bridal magazines, and Sam's eyes widened.

"Geez, Shay, how many magazines do you have?"

"Oh, this is just like...half of them," I replied. "I left a bunch upstairs."

"Someone's excited," Sam said with a laugh, grabbing one and flipping it open. "So...have you thought about locations?"

"Well, Brad wants it in the church..."

"Thought you didn't want a traditional Catholic wedding."

"Well, it's not going to be super traditional," I offered. "Brad's letting me pretty much do whatever I want, but his one request was that. So I figured, why not?"

"Leah gonna be the flower girl?"

"Of course."

"Awww...you better put her in something cute."

"Oh, she will be. Cute. Ridiculously frilly. Probably pink."

"Pink?" Sam wrinkled her nose. "Don't tell me you're having pink in your wedding."

"I dunno yet," I replied. "And I'm lost about dresses too. My dress, bridesmaid dresses..."

"Okay, well, we have to get something that looks good. Short. Freddie likes short dresses."

"Sam!" I laughed. "My decision on bridesmaid dresses is not dependent on what Freddie thinks you look hot in!"

"Well, it should be," she gruffed, and I rolled my eyes.

"Whatever," I replied with a shrug. "So...three more weeks."

"Ugh, longest three weeks ever...get this baby out of me!" she whined. "Can you give your child an eviction notice? Like...must vacate the uterus within twenty four hours?"

"You're ridiculous," I said with a laugh. "Baby will come soon enough. Are you...are you nervous?"

"About the labor?" Sam asked. "Incredibly."

"Like...are you scared something will go wrong, or..."

"I refuse to think about that," she mumbled. "I just know it's gonna hurt. A lot."

"Yeah, but...when it's all over...you'll have a baby."

"Yeah," she sighed, running her hands over her stomach. "I just hope it doesn't hurt too bad."

"You'll be fine, Sam," I said, trying to encourage my best friend. Truth was, I was probably just as nervous as she was over this whole thing, but for different reasons. I'd been trying to push the worry deep down inside me, and I'd been doing a good job for the most part because I'd been so busy trying to take care of everything else.

Leah was so young that she required almost constant care and supervision, but we'd bonded. She was definitely a girly-girl, and loved to play dress-up and have me fix her hair, which was a lot of fun. Like everyone else who'd met the little girl, I'd fallen heads over heels in love with Leah. Bryson was a definite character, but he kept to himself a lot, did his own thing. He was a lot like Brad. They had the same mannerisms, taste in food, they even kind of dressed similar, which I found adorable.

The most difficult one to handle had been Heather. I thought because of Leah's age she'd be harder to deal with, but Leah was a breeze compared to Heather. She'd gotten a lot better, but she was still a little moody and had a bit of an authority problem. She was always going head to head with Brad about nearly everything, from cleaning up to what she wore. Sometimes I thought Brad came down on her a little too hard, but the girl needed someone like that in her life to keep her in line, and I knew it couldn't be me. I was, as Brad and Sam had put it...too soft.

And that was fine by me, I'd let Brad handle all the tough guy business, and I'd be the nurturing one. We were like our own little 'good cop, bad cop'. And it worked. It worked better than I had expected. And once we'd gotten rid of the creepy roommate, we finally decided to give Heather the room, give her some privacy for a change, because she was a teenager and deserved it. It certainly helped with her mood to a point.

But right now, I was enjoying taking time off from the kids, just laying around with Sam talking about the wedding, putting together ideas, both of us animatedly typing on our PearPads and searching the web for any wedding stuff we may have missed.

I was so, so excited. I was literally bouncing up and down with excitement. I looked over at Sam, and she was having a little trouble sitting still as well. But she didn't look all happy and animated like I was. She looked distressed.

"Sam?" I asked, sitting up. "Are you alright?"

She shook her head. "I dunno. I've been having those...fake contractions...the something Hicks? Yeah, I've been having them a lot the last few weeks, but they're off the scale today."

"Does it hurt?" I asked, and she shook her head.

"No. Just feels weird."

"Do we need to go to the hospital?" I asked, and she shook her head slowly.

"No...I don't think so."

"When's Freddie supposed to get back?"

"Uh, his class is supposed to be over by four, so..." she sighed, laying back. "Man...what is wrong with me? I feel so weird."

"I don't know. Do you want some food? Maybe you're loopy because you haven't ate."

"No, I'm still not hungry," she replied.

"Oh...okay," I said, looking at her strangely. Something was definitely up, it wasn't like Sam to turn down food. "Are you sure you're all-"

"Carly?" Sam interrupted me, sitting up like a shot and grabbing my arm so tight it hurt. Oh god. I was scared to ask.

"I...I think my water just broke."

"Oh, ew, in the bed?" I asked, scrambling to my feet.

"Yes!" Sam said, getting out of bed herself and ignoring my protests. "Oh my god. My water DID break!"

We both stared at each other for a long moment, and then I gave Sam a big smile, hugging her lightly.

"Sam. It's time."

"Oh god," she said, grabbing my arm and looking a little panicked. "I...oh god."

"Thought you were ready."

"I changed my mind. I'm so not ready for this."

"Well, it's a little late for that, don't you think?" I replied. "Baby Benson's coming!"

"I know!" she replied, looking a little mortified, but excited at the same time. "Oh god...I...I'm gonna be a mother."

"Yeah!" I said, grabbing her shoulders and shaking her a little. "You're gonna be a mom, Sam! Like, really really soon!"

"Oh god..." she stated, seeming like she was in shock. "I...we haven't packed the overnight bag yet. We don't have enough baby clothes...everything's...it's not ready! Carly! We're not ready! Oh my god!"

"Well, too bad, because the baby's on its way!"

"What do I do?" she cried.

"Okay, Sam," I told her, pushing on her shoulders slightly so she was sitting on the edge of the bed. "Sit there. I'll get the bag ready. Call Freddie, we gotta get things going, right now."

"Oh my god..." she muttered, shaking her head. "Three weeks early? Is that okay? Three weeks?"

"I...I think you'll be alright."

"And the baby?"

"The baby will be fine," I told her. "Sam! You're gonna have a baby!"

"I know!"

"AAAAHHHH!" We both shrieked, hugging, and then I pulled away, remembering what I had to get done, scrambling around the room and grabbing clothes for Sam, running into the baby's room to get clothes for Baby Benson, while Sam sat on the bed, trying to reach Freddie on her phone.

"Oh my god, that NUB!" She shouted. "His phone's off!"

"Chill, Sam, maybe the battery died. I'll call Brad, they're both on campus, Brad will find him."

"But...but..."

"I'm gonna take you to the hospital! You'll be fine!"

"Carly," she said worriedly. "I'm a little freaked out, I...ow. Ow. OWWW!" Sam yelled, falling back on the bed. "Holy shit, ow ow ow! What the fuck? Owwww!"

"Oh god," I moaned, racing over and grabbing her hand. "Contraction?"

"NO SHIT! Oh my god! The baby's trying to kill me!"

"Sam, relax! Breathe!"

"You breathe! Oh my god, this sucks!"

"Okay, calm down," I told her. "I'm calling Brad!"

I frantically pulled Brad's number in my phone, hoping to god he would pick up, and he did so after a few rings.

"Hey babe!" he said. "Caught me at just the right time, I was just about to head home."

"Uh, can you put it off?" I asked.

"Why?" Brad asked, sounding confused. "What's up?"

"OWWW! It's happening again! Carly!"

"Is that Sam?" Brad asked worriedly. "Is she alright?"

"Uh...contraction."

"Contraction?" Brad exclaimed. "So..."

"So her water broke, she's having contractions, and we can't get ahold of Freddie. I need you to go get him. You know he'll probably be such a wreck he can't drive anyway."

"Oh, holy shit," Brad muttered. "So it's really time. This is really happening."

"Yeah, it's really happening!" I cried.

"OWWW! Oh my god, kill me! Kill me now!"

"Oh geez," Brad muttered. "Okay, just keep her calm, do you know what class he's in?"

"Sam?" I asked, looking over at her as she desperately tried to maintain her composure, breathing heavily. "What class is Freddie in right now?"

"I don't remember," Sam said in between gasps of air. "Something...Circuits...or something like that, I think the word design was in there...Lab..."

"Maybe Circuit Design Lab?" I asked her, and she growled at me.

"Don't push me right now Shay! I feel like I'm gonna...OWWWW!"

"Oh god..." I muttered. "Okay, we're not sure, we're thinking Circuit Design Lab, or something like that..."

"Nerd country, got it. That's on the other side of campus, but I'll haul ass. Just get her to the hospital, call Marissa, it'll be fine."

"Alright. Thanks. I love you."

"I love you too." He hung up, and I looked back over at Sam, who was having a hard time keeping herself together, hair falling in her face, curled up into a ball on the bed.

"Sam, you gotta get up...and you're laying in your own amniotic fluid. That's kinda gross."

"I don't care..." she moaned. "Oh god, just leave me to die."

"Sam!" I said, grabbing her arms and pulling her into a sitting position. "You're not gonna die."

You better not, I thought to myself. Sam, if something goes wrong and I lose my best friend, I'm never going to get over it. Okay, enough of this, I couldn't panic, Sam was already doing plenty of that, somebody had to be the level-headed one, and it should probably be the one not in labor.

"Alright, let's just get downstairs, you can wait in the lobby, I'll get the car, and we'll go to the hospital. Brad's gonna get Freddie, they'll meet us there. Everything will be fine."

I finally managed to get Sam out of the apartment and into my car, the entire time telling her over and over that everything would be fine and trying to keep her calm. Everything will be fine. Over and over I repeated the mantra. But not just for Sam, I was telling myself as well.

Everything would be fine.

It had to be.

~*Brad*~

"Where is this stupid lab?" I grunted to myself as I hauled ass through the building. Leave it to Freddie to pick the most obscure class with the most obscure classroom known to man. I wouldn't be surprised if this lab was on a floating island or something!

I skidded to a halt when I reached the end of the hallway, my eyes landing on the sign posted outside, and rolled my eyes. Of course. It HAD to be the last classroom in the whole building. Without waiting a second longer, I burst in, the door hitting the wall with a resounding bang.

Everyone in the room jumped, turning around to look at me, except the professor, who just glared at me.

"May I help you?" he asked flatly, and I just waved him off, looking around.

"Freddie!" I yelled, racing over to him. "We gotta go, dude!"

Freddie's expression changed from surprised to annoyed to perplexed, before finally settling on worried. "Is Sam okay?"

"Carly just called man. Her water broke. She's having contractions. It's go time."

Freddie stared at me for a long moment, stunned. "So...so...that means..."

"She's having the baby, man! We gotta go!"

"But she's not due for three weeks!"

"Tell that to the baby!" I responded, grabbing his arm and urging him to his feet. "It's time to go, Freddie! She's having the kid!"

Freddie stood there, silent, looking at the floor and shaking his head, covering his mouth with his hand. He laughed a few times in disbelief, before looking back up at me.

"She's having the baby," he said.

"Yeah, dude!" I nodded fervently. "You're gonna be a dad."

He laughed again, still in shock. "I'm gonna be a dad," he repeated softly.

"Yeah, you're gonna be a dad!" I yelled, shaking his shoulders.

"Oh my god!" he yelled. "I'm gonna be a dad!"

"Let's go man!"

He quickly grabbed his bag, throwing it over his shoulder, before turning to the rest of the class, his arms going up.

"My wife's having a baby! I'm gonna be a dad!"

"Let's go! Now!" I yelled over the sudden applause that went through the classroom, and Freddie just gave me a big grin, before the two of us raced out of the room, running down the hallway at top speed.

"I'm driving," I said as we cut through the campus lawn.

"That's fine, cuz I don't think I can," he replied. "Holy shit, man. I am so nervous!"

"Yeah, no kidding. Carly's got Sam, taking her to the hospital, we're meeting them there."

"Okay," Freddie responded with a nod, looking a little freaked out. "Okay."

We finally got to my car and I started the engine, pulling out and speeding the entire way. I was trying to remain calm, but Freddie was having a little bit of difficulty, his legs bouncing up and down.

"Dude, chill," I told him.

"What about Sam's stuff? We didn't pack a bag yet."

"It's fine, I'm sure Carly took care of it," I said with a wave of my hand. "You gonna be alright, dude?"

"Yeah," he muttered, staring out the window. "Yeah...I just...do you think she remembered my insulin? I don't wanna pass out in the middle of this thing."

"I'm sure she did," I tried to reassure him. "If not, I'll go get it myself. You won't pass out." I paused, looking over at him. "You know, as long as you don't look at it, while the baby's coming out."

"Brad."

"Dude, I'm serious! I saw a birthing video by accident once, scarred me for life! You look, and you'll never wanna go near it again."

"BRAD!" Freddie laughed. "Shut up!"

"Just trying to lighten you up, man. You gonna be able to handle this?"

"Yeah, I just...man...what if I'm not ready?"

"Too late. Shoulda thought about that before she got pregnant."

"Well...yeah. But...man, what if I can't do it?"

"Oh come on, man! You're Wonder Boy! You got this!" I replied, punching him in the arm as I sped down the road. "I know you and Sam will be good parents."

"How do you know that?"

"Because Sam had a shitty mom, so she won't make the same mistakes. And you lost your dad, so you'll overcompensate."

Freddie nodded, staring at the floorboards. "I hope you're right."

"I'm always right."

"Really?" Freddie asked, his eyebrows going up. "Always?"

"Uh, yeah!"

"What weighs more, a pound of feathers or a pound of lead?"

"A pound of lead!" I snapped. "What kind of question is that?"

"A pound is a pound, they weigh the same," Freddie replied with a smirk. "Always right, huh?"

"Dude, I'll kick you outta this car. You wanna hitchhike while your wife's giving birth?"

Freddie just laughed, shaking his head. "Man...everything's about to change."

"Yeah, but don't worry. You got this."

"I just hope Sam's doing alright."

"It's gonna be one hell of a day," I warned him, and he nodded.

"One hell of a day..."


	60. Chapter 60: Hello

**A/N: Aaaand the moment we've all been waiting for!**

**Chapter Sixty  
>Hello<strong>

~*Brad*~

"Dude, you are gonna have to calm down!" I yelled, grabbing Freddie's shoulders and shaking them. "Stop bouncing around the elevator! You're gonna make it crash or something!"

"Oh my god," Freddie muttered, leaning against the wall. "What is taking this stupid elevator so damn..."

Ding. The elevator stopped and the doors opened, and just like that, boom, Freddie was off like a shot, running down the hallway so fast I could barely keep up. Freddie all jacked up like this was more worrying than Sam being in labor. I was sure the guy was going to have a panic attack, or a heart attack.

"SLOW DOWN!" I hollered, running after him.

Over the years, I'd grown accustomed to dealing with Freddie's tendency to be a little high-strung, but he was taking it to a whole new level right now. I knew he must have been nervous beyond belief, but he was behaving like a crazy person. The whole ride to the hospital, he hadn't even been able to sit still. I just wanted to knock some sense into the kid.

I was hoping with everything I had that everything would turn out okay. They'd already had one scare over the course of Sam's pregnancy, along with mountains of stress. If something were to go wrong...it would absolutely break both of them, I was sure of it.

I followed him around the corner, barely skidding to a stop in front of the nurse's desk before I crashed into Freddie. He was doubled over, gasping for air, as the nurse looked at him strangely.

"My wife..." Freddie gasped out. "Where's my wife? Did she have the baby yet?"

"Calm down, sir!" the nurse laughed. "What's your wife's name?"

"It's..." he frowned suddenly, looking over at me. "Uh...oh my god."

Unbelievable! The kid was so freaked out he couldn't even remember Sam's name! I just put my hand over my face, shaking my head.

"Sam Benson," I muttered.

"Oh," the nurse said flatly. "That one."

"That one?" Freddie repeated.

"Follow me," she said curtly, standing up, and we followed her down the hall, shooting worried looks at each other.

That one? What the hell did that mean? I got my answer as we headed further down the hallway, the sounds of shouting echoing through the hospital halls.

"I NEED DRUGS!"

"Oh, jesus..." I grumbled, watching the nurse shake her head. That was unmistakably Sam. Yeah, this was going to be a rough day.

Freddie didn't even wait for the nurse to point him in the right direction, practically shoving her out of his way as he took off down the hall.

"FREDDIE! Dude! I'm going to tackle you if you don't chill out!" I shot a look over at the nurse. "Sorry," I mumbled as I took off running in the direction of the yells.

"I SWEAR TO GOD I WILL BEAT YOU TO DEATH IF YOU DON'T GIVE ME SOME DRUGS!"

I almost didn't want to go in there. Almost. But I probably needed to get Carly out of there, if she wasn't dead already. I half expected to find bodies of nurses laying everywhere as I caught up with Freddie, pushing the door open.

"Sam," he breathed, rushing over to her and kissing her. "Are you okay?"

"NO!" she growled, looking like some kind of rabid animal, her hair a mess and eyes flashing. "Make it stop!"

"Oh good lord," I muttered, looking over at Carly. She stood on the other side of the bed, looking slightly terrified. "Hey babe."

"Is it supposed to be this bad?" she asked worriedly. "I mean, look at her, she's..."

"AAHHH! FUCK! Oh my god!" Sam yelled, grabbing the rails of the bed so hard her knuckles turned white.

"It's okay, baby, it's alright, here...squeeze my hand."

"NO!" Carly cried, reaching out, but it was too late, Sam had already grabbed a hold of Freddie's hand, and I watched his face change from worried to excruciating pain.

"OWWW!"

"Ow, ow, ow! Sam! Sam! Let go!" Freddie cried. "It's okay! Breathe..."

"I'm gonna kill you Freddie!" Sam cried, still riding out the contraction. "Oh my god, I hate you I hate you! Why did you do this to me? Oh god, I hate you!"

I shot a look over at one of the nurses, slightly exasperated. "Can't you give her something? What about that spinal tap thing?"

"You mean the epidural," the nurse said curtly. "She's not dilated enough."

"Can't you make an exception?" I exclaimed over the sound of Sam's shouting. "I mean...look at her!"

The contraction seemed to subside for a moment, and Sam collapsed onto the bed, slightly sweaty and looking exhausted already. "I'm sorry..." she said, looking up at Freddie. "I'm sorry. I don't hate you. I'm sorry."

"It's okay," he replied, bending down to kiss her. "You'll be fine. I'm here."

"It hurts, Freddie..." she whined.

I looked over at Carly, gesturing her to come with me, and she shot a worried look over at Sam, before sighing and walking with me out the door, shutting it behind her and leaning against it.

"Has she been like this the entire time?" I asked, and Carly nodded.

"I...I don't think I wanna have kids."

I shot an exasperated look over at her, shaking my head. "We'll talk about that later," I replied. "Come on."

"Where are we going?"

"Get you some ice for your hand," I stated, taking her hand and kissing it. "I'm guessing it hurts."

"You have no idea," she grumbled. "I thought Sam was gonna rip it off."

"They better get her drugged up soon," I commented as we walked down the hall, still able to hear Sam yelling. "If not..."

"We are all doomed," Carly said with a sigh.

~*Sam*~

"Oh, god, come on..." I moaned helplessly as I was forced to ride out another contraction.

Short of having my ribs fractured, this was the worst pain I'd ever experienced. It was a different kind of pain too. A broken bone felt like your insides were on fire. A contraction felt like your insides had been set on fire and were then being ripped out of your body. Imagine the most intense period cramps ever, multiply that by infinity, and make them come faster, sharper, and last longer than ever before. That was a contraction, and I was having them every five minutes. I wanted to die.

As I laid there, feeling like I was dying and wishing I was dying but not being given the relief, Freddie paced back and forth next to my bed anxiously, a worried expression plastered on his face. I knew exactly what he was thinking, 'Sam is hurting and I can't do anything about it.' Freddie went to great lengths to make sure nothing and no one ever hurt me, and right now, he was completely helpless.

I took a deep breath, trying to maintain a grip on reality. It hurt. It hurt bad. But it wouldn't last forever. I just had to keep that in mind. It would pass. It would pass. It would...

"AAAHH!" I yelled as another contraction took hold of me, sitting up and grabbing my knees so tight it left nail marks in them. "Get this baby outta me!"

Freddie quickly raced back to the bed, grabbing my shoulders and rubbing them, trying to calm me down.

"Relax, baby. Relax. Breathe. Come on. It's alright. It's alright..."

"Oh god, it hurts..." I moaned. "I need something to take my mind off of it..."

As soon as I'd gotten the words out, Freddie's hand went to my chin, tilting my head back and pressing his lips against mine, kissing me. I kissed him back as best as I could, but it wasn't easy with all the pain coursing through my body. I heard him groan in pain as I grabbed his hair, and it wasn't that good pleasure/pain thing that drove us nuts, it was just raw, uncut pain. Probably because I was yanking his hair out. I loosened my grip as I felt the pain subside, until it had dissipated, and the only thing I could feel was his lips on mine. I didn't want him to stop kissing me. Give me some kind of relief from all this pain. No drugs? Fine. Give me Freddie! Almost as good, and just as addictive.

"Fredward!" we heard a voice yell, and we pulled apart to see Marissa standing in the door frame, shaking her head. "In the middle of a contraction? You know this is how you two got into this whole mess!"

"Well I don't know what else to do!" he cried helplessly. "They haven't given her an epidural yet!"

"Just calm down, both of you!" Marissa responded, walking into the room. "I just talked to Dr. Boyd, she's on her way back up here to check you."

"Marissa, just do something, please! I can't take this anymore!"

"You're not dilated enough, honey!" Marissa replied. "If you get it too early, it could slow down the contractions and then it'll take longer..."

"Ugh," I whined. "This baby hates me. It's trying to kill me."

"...but I did bring some Demerol." Marissa finished her sentence with an aggravated expression. She always hated being interrupted, but come on, lady, I'm dying here! My eyebrows went up at the word 'Demerol'.

"Will it make it stop?" I asked hopefully, and she shook her head.

"Not completely, but it'll take the edge off," she replied as she walked over to the IV bag.

"Well what are you waiting for?" I yelled. "Move, Freddie!" I practically shoved him aside so she could get at the entry point on the IV bag, and after a few moments I felt this warm, relaxing sensation flood through my body. It reminded me a lot of the morphine I was on after I got put in the hospital, but not as strong. I laid back, sighing, finally relaxed for the first time in over an hour.

"There," Marissa said. "Better?"

"A little, I..." I frowned as I felt another contraction coming. "Freddie," I said weakly, and he just grabbed my hand, almost looking like he was bracing himself. Poor guy, I was probably breaking his fingers little by little. "Owwww! Oh god..." It wasn't quite as intense this time, but it still hurt pretty bad. At least I was able to keep myself from swearing in front of Marissa. I'd been dropping every swear word in the book over the last hour or so, and I don't even want to think about what I called some of those nurses.

The contraction wore down, and I let out a deep breath, not even realizing I'd been holding it in.

"That one seemed less...intense," Freddie remarked, kissing me on the forehead, and I nodded. "You're doing really good, baby. Just hang in there."

"How am I doing really good?" I moaned. "I'm getting my ass kicked by a baby!"

"SAMANTHA!"

"I'm not responsible for the things I say!" I yelled. "How long is this supposed to go on?"

"Could take hours, but it some cases it can last up to seventy two hours..."

"Oh god!" I whined.

"Mom," Freddie hissed, glaring at her. "You are SO not helping!"

"Well excuse me for being realistic!" Marissa shouted. "I was in labor for twelve hours with you!"

"Twelve hours?" I exclaimed, shooting a dirty look at Freddie. "You did that? To your mom? For twelve hours?"

"Sam!" Freddie shot back. "Come on! You're being unreasonable."

"I am not being unreasonable, I'm...oh holy shit make it stop! I'm going to die!"

"You are not going to die, Sam!" Marissa replied. "You need to calm down! All women go through this, and..."

"And we're idiots! All of us! Oh my god I'm going to die!"

"Sam!" Freddie said, grabbing my hand and shaking it. "You've gotta stop saying that! You're making me nervous, and if Carly hears you, it's game over!"

"I can't help it," I whined. "If you had any clue how much pain I'm in...you wouldn't have done this to me...oh god..."

Freddie rolled his eyes, stroking my hair in an effort to calm you. "Yes, this entire thing was my idea," he said sarcastically. "Because everyone knows how much you hate sex."

I wanted to yell at him, but I figured that would be a bad idea. Oh god, where was Dr. Boyd? I'd never been so anxious for someone who wasn't Freddie to look at my parts. Just tell me I'm dilated! Just give me my epidural! Just hit me over the head with a brick and knock me out! Anything!

A few more minutes of torturous pain, and in walked Dr. Boyd, looking calm, cool, and collected. I wanted to growl at her. She was standing, she wasn't doubled over in pain, her hair wasn't messy and she wasn't soaked with her own sweat. Some things in life just aren't fair.

"How's it going, Sam?" Dr. Boyd asked, and I glared at her.

"Same as before...I'm still dying!"

"SAM!"

"What?" I snapped at Freddie. "You wanna step in and have the baby instead?"

"If I could I would! I hate seeing you like this, baby!"

"Okay, everyone calm down," Dr. Boyd replied, holding her hands up. "Let's see if you're dilated any further..."

"Please, just give me the epidural," I begged. "I don't care if it takes longer, I just want this pain to stop."

I didn't understand this whole business of waiting. Like, hey you're not in enough pain, let's draw it out further until you're ready to rip your eyelids off! How could this woman not understand what I was dealing with? She was a doctor!

Dr. Boyd took her time pulling on her latex gloves, before walking over to my bed, pulling the sheet back.

"Okay, let's have a look," she said, and I just sighed. I hated this part, but it was necessary if I wanted that stupid epidural. Freddie just took my hand, leaning over to kiss my forehead.

"Relax, baby."

"Oh," Dr. Boyd said, sounding a little surprised as she checked me. "Oh. Didn't see that coming."

"WHAT?" Freddie and I both yelled, alarmed.

"Didn't see what coming?"

"You're a lot more dilated than we thought," she said, and I threw my hands up in frustration.

"I knew it! Can I have my epidural now?"

"Yes, I'll get the anesthesiologist."

Twenty minutes later, well after the Demerol had worn off and I'd had a contraction so mind-numbing I wanted to throw myself out the window, the anesthesiologist walked in all slow and laid-back, like there wasn't a nineteen year old girl screaming her head off in pure agony laying in front of him.

"Well you made good time," Freddie said sarcastically, glaring at the anesthesiologist. "She's about to kill everyone!"

"Relax," the man said, holding a hand up. "I'm Kevin, I'll be giving you the epidural. I need you to sit up for me."

"Is it gonna hurt?" Freddie asked worriedly after I'd sat up, my legs hanging over the bed. He knelt down in front of me, taking my hand in his and kissing it.

"No more than the contractions," Kevin responded with a laugh, and I turned my head to glare at him. Was that supposed to be a joke?

"If it hurts more than that, I quit life. Right now," I muttered, jerking a little when I felt a cold sensation on my lower back.

"Just relax," Kevin replied. Easy for him to say! He wasn't about to get a needle jammed into his spinal cord, his insides weren't being torn apart, and he didn't have to push a human being out of his loins! "Ready?"

"Oh god, just do it, before the next contraction hits," I moaned pitifully, looking down at Freddie. "Baby, stand up."

"Why?" he asked, rising to his feet, and I grabbed his arm, jerking him towards me, before laying my head against his chest, sighing when I felt him kiss the top of my head. "It's okay, sweetheart."

The epidural stung for a second, and it stung hard, like a shooting pain going through my entire spinal cord, and then it was gone. And then, so was the feeling in my legs, and then the rest of my lower body began to catch up, until I felt nothing from the waist down. Immediately after that, I felt the contraction, my entire abdomen tensing up, but I didn't feel the pain, the searing pain that makes you want to hang yourself with your IV, and I just sighed, laying back.

"Better?" Kevin asked, and I nodded.

"Oh thank god," Freddie murmured, kissing me. "Gonna be alright, baby?"

"Yeah," I said softly. As long as this epidural did its job! I felt loads better, but still all jacked up and anxious. Now that I wasn't overwhelmed by pure agony, my brain was starting to gear up again, and now I was back to being nervous. What if something went wrong? What if everything went right, we took the baby home, and I just screwed it up?

"Baby?" Freddie asked, grabbing a chair and setting it next to my bed before plopping down on it. "You okay? You look like you've got something on your mind." He put his arms on the bed rails, resting his chin on top of them, and stared at me.

"What if I do something wrong?" I said softly, and his brow furrowed.

"With the delivery? Honey, you'll be fine. I think everything will just go on autopilot, you know?"

"No, I mean...after."

"What, with the baby?" Freddie asked, and I nodded.

"I don't...I don't want to make the same mistakes my mom made."

"And you won't," Freddie replied with a shake of his head. "You'll be a great mother. I know you. You won't mess this up."

"I hope you're right," I sighed. I had another thought. "Hey, do you see my phone anywhere? I need to call Mel, tell her the news."

"It's right here," Freddie replied, handing it to me. "You gonna be okay for two minutes by yourself? I'm gonna go tell Carly and Brad you've calmed down."

"Calmed down?" I responded. "Freddie! I was in excruciating pain!"

"I know, sweetness. It's okay now though, right? I mean...you're not in pain?"

"No," I said with a shake of my head. "I can't feel anything. Yeah, go get Carly and Brad, I'm gonna call my sister."

"K." Freddie stood up, leaning over the bed to kiss me before giving me that sweet smile of his that makes my heart melt, turning and walking out of the room. "I'll be right back! You better not push that kid out without me!"

"I'll try!" I responded with a smile. I waited for the door to shut before picking up my phone and dialing Melanie. I hadn't talked to her in awhile, maybe two weeks. Since the whole issue between her and Carly, it had been a little awkward, but things were getting better. I hoped, at least, she'd be happy for me.

It rang a few times, and then Melanie answered with a loud, boisterous "HI!"

"Hey, Mel," I said. "Guess where I am?"

"Uhh...Never Never Land?"

"Cute," I replied with a roll of my eyes. "I'm at the hospital."

"Oh my god!" she exclaimed. "Is something wrong?"

"Nope. It's baby time."

"But I thought you weren't due til next month."

"Hey, this kid's obviously impatient, just like me."

"Obviously," Melanie grunted. "So this is it, huh? It's really down to the wire now."

"I'm so nervous," I said softly.

"Puddin' Pop, you'll be fine," Melanie told me. "Look, I know I said some shit...the last time I was there, which by the way, I'm blaming all on alcohol, but it wasn't true. I know you'll be a good mom. Better than our mom ever was."

"I hope you're right," I mumbled, and I heard her laugh.

"I know I am," she responded. "Look, what do you love more than anything in the entire world?"

"Ham."

"Besides that."

"Bacon."

"Besides THAT!" Melanie exclaimed.

"Oh. Well, Freddie, of course."

"And you're about to give birth to something that's half Freddie that has been inside of you for nine months, you are going to fall hopelessly in love with this baby, spoil the hell out of it, and be an amazing mom! You'll be great, Sam!"

I sighed, laying my head back against the pillow. "Thanks, Mel."

"So...Thanksgiving? Maybe?" she asked hopefully. "So I can see my niece or nephew?"

"I'll have to talk to Freddie about it," I responded, biting my lip. "And don't you dare start in about him being controlling, we make these kind of decisions together, and..."

"Sam!" Melanie exclaimed, laughing. "Chill! I wasn't going to say anything! Just...think about it, you know?"

"Okay," I replied, looking up as the door creaked open to see Freddie, Carly, and Brad walk in. "I should go. This baby ain't gonna have itself."

"Alright, good luck."

"Thanks, I'll need it. Love you, Mel."

"Love you too, bye!" With that, she was gone, and I looked over at Freddie.

"How'd it go?" he asked. "Brought you some lemonade. Carly said you hadn't eaten all day."

"Thanks," I said, taking it from him. "It went fine."

"She didn't say anything...mean, did she?" Carly asked, and I shook my head.

"Hopefully we're past that."

"If she put the bottle down then maybe," Brad grunted, and I gave him a pointed look. "What? It takes one to know one, Sam!"

"I guess that's true," I said with a shrug.

"Well...you look a lot better," Brad commented. "Now that you're not screaming in agony."

"I feel a lot better," I replied.

"That was terrifying," Carly commented softly, sitting on the edge of my bed.

"Yeah, but I can't feel anything now."

"Yeah, I know. But...I mean...you haven't even gotten to the hard part yet, and..." she trailed off, biting her lip.

"Carly," I said, staring at her. "I'm gonna be fine. Okay? What happened to...you know..."

"My mom?"

"Yeah. It won't happen to me."

Carly shook her head, still uncertain. "I don't know."

I shot a look over at Freddie, my eyebrows going up, and he shrugged. He knew exactly what I was thinking, and he seemed to be okay with it.

"Stay in here," I said, and Carly looked at me strangely.

"What?"

"When I have the baby. Stay. Then you'll see that it's okay. And you won't be so...put-off, by the idea of having one of your own someday."

"But..." she bit her lip, looking over at Brad.

"Carly, it's a good idea. First you gave the excuse about not being the mothering type, well, you disproved that theory already, just with Leah. She adores you."

"She does?" Carly asked softly, and Brad nodded.

"Of course she does. You take care of her pretty good. I do what I can, but Bryson and Heather keep my hands full. You've really stepped up with her. So...the only thing holding you back is the fear."

"I'm not ready to have kids, Brad," Carly replied. "We've got a lot on our plate already."

"I know that," he responded with a shake of his head. "And I'm not saying right now, or even in five years. But someday...I'd like to have a child. Maybe two."

"Carly, just stay!" I urged, grabbing her hand. "Please? So you won't worry so much!"

"Alright, fine," she said. "But you better not die on me!"

"CARLY!" We all yelled, and she looked a little sheepish.

"Sorry," she said softly, then her eyebrows went up, as if she remembered something. "Oh! I left your bag in the car. I'll go get it." She stood up, giving me a smile and heading for the door.

"I'll go with you," Brad said as she walked out, before turning to me and holding his fist out. "You're fucking brilliant you know that?" he hissed as we fist-bumped. "Even in the middle of total agony, you're fucking brilliant!"

"All in a day's work, dude," I replied. "Now go get my bag. I need magazines and Freddie needs meds."

"Will do," he responded, walking out, leaving me and Freddie alone.

"You don't mind, do you?" I asked, referring to Carly, and he shook his head.

"No, it's cool. That's been your plan this whole time, hasn't it?"

"Ever since I found out about how scared she was at the idea of childbirth, yeah," I replied. "She doesn't need to be all scared like that, and I know Brad wants kids someday. I'm helping, the best way I can."

Freddie just laughed a little, shaking his head. "You're such a sweet girl."

"Shhh!" I hissed, smacking his arm. "Quit trying to ruin my rep!"

"Oh, it's tanked already," he replied, kissing me.

I nodded, laying back and staring at him. "Will you lay with me?"

"If the nurses see, they might get upset," he responded. "You tired?"

"Uh-huh," I responded. "Now that I'm not in pain, I'm exhausted. Please? Lay with me?"

"Yeah, sure," he replied with a smile, walking around to the other side of the bed and climbing in next to me. I turned on my side so I was facing away from him, sighing as he pulled me against him and pushed my hair aside to kiss my neck.

"Everything's going to change now," I said softly.

"Mmmhmm," he said with a rumble, running his hands over my stomach. "I'm excited."

"Scared?"

"Incredibly. You?"

"Totally."

"Well, we'll figure it out together, right?" he asked, and I nodded.

"How long do you think it'll take the baby to come out?"

"It's your child," he said with a laugh. "They'll come out when they want to."

"That's a good point," I replied. "But...it's only a matter of time. Before we meet Sadie, or little Freddie."

"Yep," Freddie murmured. "And I'll take care of them the same way I take care of you."

"You can't beat up other little kids that mess with them," I stated, and Freddie shrugged.

"Then they better not mess with them."

I just laughed, before letting out a yawn, and Freddie pulled me closer, toying with my hair.

"Rest baby," he murmured softly, and I nodded, closing my eyes. I was surprised when I felt myself begin to drift off, with everything going on, but I did, curled up in Freddie's arms, right where I was supposed to be.

~*Freddie*~

I laid in the hospital bed with Sam, propped up on my elbow as I watched her sleep. Those contractions must have taken a lot out of her, because she was in a deep, heavy sleep, soft snorting sounds and everything. I'd done this a lot over the past three years, watched her sleep, studying and memorizing the curves of her face, her soft features, the way her eyelashed fanned out over her cheeks, lips slightly parted. She was the most beautiful thing I'd ever seen.

Would the baby look like her? With a mass of blonde curls, big blue eyes, and fair skin, or would it have my features, the darker complexion? My personality, or Sam's? And geez, would it be a son or a daughter? I'd been going crazy all these months waiting to find out, and now it was finally here. And I couldn't wait any longer, but I had to! It was driving me crazy!

I was so incredibly nervous, but then again, so was Sam. Poor baby, not only was she nervous about raising the baby like I was, but she was nervous about the birth, so I had to step up and be the strong one. As I continued to stare at her, my thoughts changed from the future to the past, thinking back to my own father.

He'd been a good man, and a good father. I didn't get enough time with him, didn't learn enough. Didn't make enough memories. But the ones I had would just have to do, and I'd have to keep them in the front of my mind at all times. It was funny, I couldn't remember a single time of him disciplining me, though I know he had. All I could remember was the fun stuff, and that was a good sign. It meant that he really had been a good father, and I was determined to be that for my own kid. I just hoped I could handle it all.

Sam began to stir in her sleep, her legs kicking fitfully, and her eyes popped open, letting out a gasp.

"Baby?" I asked, rubbing her back. "Everything alright?"

She looked dubious, rolling onto her back and sitting up. "I...I feel weird."

"Weird?" I asked. "How?"

"There's all this pressure..." she looked at me, confused. Pressure? Pressure!

"Sam, I think...I think it's time...I think the baby's coming now."

"Oh..." she said nervously, fidgeting a little. "Get the doctor. And get Carly. Now. I don't want her to miss this."

"Okay," I said, quickly getting up. I bent down and kissed her quickly, before heading for the door. "CARLY!" I yelled as I ran towards the waiting room.

Carly was asleep in the uncomfortable waiting room chairs, and so was Brad, Carly's head resting on Brad's shoulder and Brad leaning against the wall. I clapped my hands together, startling them, and they jolted awake.

"What time is it?" Carly mumbled as she shook her head, trying to force herself to wake up.

"It's a little after ten," I said looking down at my watch. "And a quarter til BABY!"

"Oh, is it time to push?" Carly asked, rising to her feet, and I nodded.

"Come on!" I said. "Brad? Doctor? Please?"

"On it," he said, scrambling to his feet. Brad went one way down the hall and Carly and I went the other, hurrying back to Sam's room. Sam was sitting up and leaning forward, taking deep breaths.

"Okay," she said. "Yeah, it's definitely time to push...I can feel it...this kid is coming out."

"Oh geez," I muttered, rushing over to her and taking her hand. "It's okay, baby. I love you. You'll be fine."

"I love you too," she whispered, looking over at me.

"Everything changes now," I reminded her. "But it's always gonna be us."

"I know," she said. "Oh god...I'm nervous."

"You're fine," I said, and looked over my shoulder at Carly. "Get over here, Shay. Relax."

"I...I'm fine..." she muttered.

"Carly, it's okay," Sam said as Carly walked to the other side of the bed. "I feel fine. Just...weird. Like an alien is about to burst through my stomach."

"Oh god," Carly moaned. "I'm never having kids."

"SAM!" I scolded, and she shrugged.

At that moment, the door flew open, and my mom and Dr. Boyd came in, along with another nurse.

"Okay, let's have a baby!" Dr. Boyd said brightly. "Both are staying?"

Sam looked over at me, then at Carly, before nodding. "Yeah. Both of them. I...I can't do this without both of them."

"Fine," Dr. Boyd said with a shrug, pulling on her gloves while the nurse readied everything. My mom stood next to me, noticing how tense I was.

"Are you ready for this, Freddiebear?"

"Guess I have to be, right?" I said with a laugh, and my mom nodded.

"You'll be fine. You'll both be fine."

"Okay, Sam," Dr. Boyd said as she stood at the foot of the bed. "Ready?"

Sam's gaze flickered over to mine, our eyes locked on each other, and I bent down to kiss her softly, pushing her hair off her face. "You got this, baby."

She nodded, looking back over at Dr. Boyd. "I'm ready."

Sam started off cool and collected, ready to do whatever necessary to give birth, but ten minutes into it, she started to lose steam, collapsing back onto the bed, beads of sweat collecting on her forehead.

"Come on, Sam, you've gotta push," Dr. Boyd said.

"I can't...I can't." She was so exhausted, a blank, empty look in her eyes, her voice coming out weak and ragged.

"Come on, baby, you got this," I said, wiping her forehead and then kissing it. "Just a little more."

"Oh god...this is so hard," she groaned, taking a deep breath and finally willing herself to sit up again.

"Sam, you're doing so good!" Carly exclaimed, holding her other hand. "You're almost there!" Carly had started off more nervous than Sam, but now, seeing that Sam wasn't about to die at any moment, had almost become giddy, bouncing up and down, Sam's own personal cheerleader.

"I can see the head," Dr. Boyd said. "You're almost there."

"Oh, god..." she groaned. I watched her face contort into a grimace as she pushed again, letting out a frustrated grunt.

"Come on, baby. Almost there."

"One more push!" Dr. Boyd said. "Big push, come on!"

Sam took one last deep breath, biting her lip and gripping my hand hard. The last moment we'd ever have of being just the two of us in this world.

And then, everything changed. My stomach flip-flopped over and over as I heard the first cry, muffled at first, and then full-force. The sound of new life. The sound of a newborn baby. Our baby.

"You did it!" Carly exclaimed, sounding shocked. "SAM! Oh my god! You did it!"

Sam collapsed onto the bed, gasping for air.

"Baby..." I said, surprised at how choked my voice was, kissing her on the head. "You did it! Baby's here."

"Oh god, somebody get me a sandwich," she muttered, before regaining her grip on reality, and I watched a flash of recognition across her face, the expression of a new mother hearing her baby cry for the first time. It was a beautiful thing to see.

"It's a boy!"

"Oh my god," I breathed, looking at the squirming, crying little newborn in the nurse's arms. A boy. My boy. My son.

"You have a son," Dr. Boyd said, looking at me, and I felt my eyes start to water.

"I have a son," I repeated. "Sam, we have a son!"

"Oh my god!" Sam said, starting to cry, but that's okay, because I was too. We both were. The baby too. All three of us, crying. I leaned over to plant a soft kiss on Sam's lips, smiling against her mouth as I felt her hand go to the back of my head.

"I'm so proud of you, baby. You did such a good job."

"Is the baby okay?" Sam gasped. "Is he okay?"

"Sam, he's perfect!" Carly gushed. "Oh my god!"

"Freddie!" my mom exclaimed, hugging me. "Oh my goodness, I'm a grandma!"

I laughed, hugging her back. "Yeah! And I'm a father! Can you believe this?"

"Come cut the cord," Dr. Boyd said with a smile, and I looked over at her.

"Me?"

"Of course you, Freddie! That's your job!" my mom exclaimed.

"Seems like an easy job," Sam muttered from her place on the bed, and I glared at her for a second before it evaporated into a smirk, shaking my head.

"Your father did it," my mom replied. "Now it's your turn."

I nodded, taking a deep breath, as I walked to the foot of the bed, taking the shears from Dr. Boyd. I stared down at my child, my son, the little one I'd been waiting nine months to meet. He was small, so incredibly small, still crying. Squirming. And bright red! That part, I'd read, was normal. But beyond that, he was the most perfect thing I'd ever seen in my life. And even though he was little, covered in all sorts of stuff, I could tell already, he looked like me. A mass of dark brown hair. My nose. Amazing.

I cut the cord the way Dr. Boyd showed me, and then they took the baby to the little birthing station, cleaning him off, doing his little footprint for the birth certificate. I was finally able to tear my eyes away from him, and I focused them on Sam. My sweet, beautiful Sam who had gone through so much to bring him into the world.

She still looked exhausted, just staring off into space as Carly chattered away excitedly, and I made my way over to her, kissing her again.

"He's beautiful," I whispered, kissing her. "Good job."

"Yeah, I guess you did your part too," she teased, before looking over to where our new son lay. "Where is he? Give him to me!"

"Chill, baby, they're cleaning him off. You'll get him in a second."

A few minutes later, they had him all wrapped up in a little white blanket, still crying loudly, and the nurse carried him over, laying him in Sam's arms, and she let out a little gasp as she stared at her son, holding him for the first time. He stopped crying as soon as he was placed in Sam's arms.

"He knows his mama," I commented, and she laughed.

"Everybody knows mama," she replied with a smile, and I nodded, both of us staring at him in total silence.

"God, he's so beautiful," she whispered. "Freddie, look. Look at him."

"Yeah, he's perfect," I said softly.

And then, the baby, my son, Fredward Karl Benson, Jr. opened his eyes for the first time, and focused them on Sam, his mother. Sam let out another gasp, seeming stunned.

"Oh my god," she cried. "Those eyes...he's got your eyes."

"Freddie, he looks exactly like you," Carly commented. "That's incredible. I gotta get Brad, he's gotta see this!"

"Wait, Carly!" Sam cried, and Carly stopped in her tracks, turning around to look at her. "So I guess you're over your whole fear now?"

"I want two," Carly quipped, before turning and running out of the room. "BRAD!" I heard her yell. "You gotta come see this! Mini-Freddie!"

I just laughed, shaking my head, before turning my attention back to Sam and my son. My family. I leaned down, kissing him on top of his little head for the first time.

"I hope I can do this right," Sam whispered.

"You'll do great," I responded, kissing her. "You did so great bringing him into the world, he'll be fine with you guiding him through it."

"And you," she replied. "You're a daddy now."

"Yeah," I said with a grin. "Yeah, I guess I am."

A few moments later, the door burst open, and in came Carly with Brad not too far behind, and he gave me a huge smile, grabbing me into a hug.

"Congratulations, dude!" he exclaimed, slapping me on the back. "You're a dad now!"

"I know!" I replied with a big grin. "Look at him! Dude! Look at him! I have a son!"

"I know, it's so..." he trailed off as he took in the sight of Sam laying in bed with the baby. "Dude, that is freaky."

"BRAD!" Sam yelled, looking around for something to throw at him. "Don't call my son freaky!"

"No, not that! I mean, he looks exactly like Freddie! I mean...he looks exactly like you, man!" Brad said to me, and I nodded.

"Poor kid."

"Stop it!" Sam said with a laugh, smacking me on the arm. "He's perfect. And so are you."

Brad leaned over to get a closer look, smiling a little. "Good job, blondie. He turned out good."

"Thanks."

Brad studied the baby closely for a second, before shaking his head.

"Uh-oh."

"What?" I asked, looking over at him, and he just gestured towards Sam, who was lost in her own little world, staring down at little Freddie and closely examining one of his little hands.

"She's in trouble."

"Why?"

Brad just laughed, shaking his head. "Eyes like that, looking just like you? As gone as she is over you? Kid's gonna get away with bloody murder, dude."

"Yeah, he will," Sam replied, still staring at the baby. "But that's okay."

I just smiled, bending down to kiss her again. "I love you baby."

"I love you too."

"Anything I can do for you?"

"Yeah. Get me a sandwich."

I couldn't help but roll my eyes, glancing over at Brad. "And some things never change."

**A/N: Pssh, and you guys thought I was gonna make Sam miscarry or something. Kill the Seddie baby? That's just crazy talk!**


	61. Chapter 61: New Skin

**A/N: Hey guys, sorry for the lack of updates...it's been a very dramatic week for me. 35 hours work, broke my foot, and the dog ran away. I kid you not. Anyway, hope you enjoy!**

**Chapter Sixty One  
>New Skin<strong>

~*Carly*~

"Try turning it around."

"No, it's supposed to go on this way."

"No, it's not!" Sam exclaimed.

"Sam! I build computers and fix servers, I can figure out a damn diaper!"

"Don't swear in front of the baby!"

"You are driving me nuts, do you know that?"

I groaned, shooting a look over at Brad, who merely shook his head. It had taken Sam and Freddie exactly eight hours after bringing a new life into this world to start arguing again, and this time it was because neither one of them knew how to get the baby's diaper on. They stood around the hospital bed, looking over the diaper critically as if they were dismantling a bomb, while poor little Freddie Jr. cried, his little arms and legs squirming frantically.

"You guys want some help?" Brad called finally, trying to cover up his laughing.

"YES!" they both yelled, sounding exasperated, and Brad just flashed me a smile, the know-it-all smile, getting up and walking over to the two.

"Step aside," he said. "Let the professional work."

"Oh my god, don't grab his legs like that!" Sam cried, alarmed, as Brad just grabbed the baby's ankles and lifted him up slightly, scooting the diaper under him and fastening it closed in less than three seconds.

"There, done." Brad replied with a shrug. "Easy."

"You almost hurt him!" Sam exclaimed, picking the baby up so his little face was buried in Sam's neck, holding him tightly, but carefully, like she was half-afraid she'd break him. Brad just rolled his eyes.

"You're coddling the kid already."

"I don't coddle!"

"You coddle a little bit, baby," Freddie replied with a smirk. "And the baby's in MY spot."

"Well, you'll just have to take turns now," she replied, and Freddie just grunted.

Sam had turned out to behave exactly like I thought she would after she had the baby...like a rabid mother bear, literally growling at anyone who came near. It had taken a whole lot of persuasion to get the baby away from her long enough to give him his shots, and Sam wasn't too happy about the idea, actually calling the pediatrician a fascist. At least she was protective over her child. I could tell she was going to be a great mother.

I walked over to where she stood, cradling her son, and couldn't help but run my hand softly over the baby's little head, still surprised over just how much hair he had for a newborn baby, all thick and dark brown. Such a sweet little boy already, and already developing an intense attachment to his mother. Guess the apple didn't fall far from the tree.

"Sam, he is so sweet," I said softly, noting the way he had already curled up asleep against her neck, and she just nodded, smiling a little. "Let me hold him."

"Uhhh..." Sam trailed off, biting her lip, and Freddie rolled his eyes.

"Sam. Your BEST FRIEND is not going to hurt your baby. Let her hold him."

"But I wanna hold him!" she replied.

"You held him for nine months, give someone else a turn!"

"Ugh, fine," she grunted. "But...Carly, sit down first, okay? Please?"

"Sure," I replied, sitting down in the chair, and Sam sighed, the look on her face clearly stating she didn't want to let him go, before gently laying the baby down in my arms, still sleeping. "God," I whispered. "He's absolutely perfect. So tiny."

"I know," Sam responded, leaning over me to stare at him. "He's gorgeous. He looks just like Freddie."

Across the room, Freddie and Brad were having an argument over the carseat, Freddie turning it this way and that to carefully inspect everything, and Brad insisting it was perfectly safe.

"Dude, the baby will be fine! It's a ten minute drive!"

"Don't care!" Freddie responded, still looking over the carseat. "One minor malfuction, and..."

"It's a carseat," Brad said flatly. "Not a nuclear reactor. Kid'll be fine. Relax."

"Ugh, I just don't know..."

"Well you gotta get him home somehow!" Brad replied, his hands going up in frustration.

I couldn't help but laugh. Typical Freddie, freaking out about everything. I looked up at Sam, an amused expression on my face.

"He's turning into his mother," I said softly, and she nodded.

"I know," Sam replied. "But...can't say I blame him. Gotta take every precaution possible for this little guy." She bent down and kissed him on the top of his head, before pulling away and staring at him.

"You're totally in love."

"Completely," she responded softly, still staring at him. "I didn't think I could love anything or anyone as much as I love Freddie, but...I was wrong."

"Now you have two Freddies," I pointed out, and she laughed.

"Oh god. My heart. My heart! I can't take it! Too much love, not enough room!" She fanned herself dramatically.

I laughed, shaking my head. "Yeah, you've got your work cut out for you."

"Yeah, here...and in the gym," she grunted, looking down at her figure. To me, for someone who'd just had a baby eight hours ago, she looked great, but I could tell Sam was eager to get her body back.

"Gym?" Brad spoke up, looking fearful. "Dude, I am NOT getting in the ring with you!"

"Oh, but you'll get in the ring with Freddie?"

"Uh, yeah! At least I have a shot going against him! You'd kill me!"

"Hey!" Freddie yelled, punching him in the shoulder. "What is that supposed to mean?"

"It means your wife hits like a beast!"

"I do not!" Sam said defensively. "I...oh, alright. Fine. I do. Got a lot of rage in this little body, man."

"Yeah, well, you need to give it a week or two before you try to start doing all that," Freddie spoke up, and Sam glared at him.

"Uh, I want my body back!" Sam replied. "The one before the baby? Remember how I looked back when you couldn't keep your hands off me?"

I had to let out a snort at that, shaking my head. "Sam, he couldn't keep his hands off you right up until you pushed baby Freddie out."

"It's true," Freddie said with a smirk. "Alright, well, we gotta go back to campus and get my car, we'll be back soon. You gonna be okay?"

"Yeah, I'll be fine," Sam replied, before walking over to me, picking the baby back up. "Gimme back my baby, Shay!"

"Alright, alright, you can have him!" I laughed. "He's all yours."

"All ours," Freddie corrected me, then gave Sam a kiss, lingering for a few moments and then pulling away, giving her a smile. "Love you." He bent down to kiss the baby, running his hand over little Freddie's tiny head. "And you."

"Awww..." I cried, doing a little dance in my seat. "You guys are so frickin' cute!"

"Just a little," Sam said with a grin. "Bye baby."

"Bye, see you in a bit." With that, he and Brad were gone, leaving me alone with Sam and her precious little newborn. I couldn't get over how adorable he was!

"And now it begins," I muttered as I watched the way Sam look at Freddie as he left, rolling my eyes.

"And now what begins?" she asked, and I shrugged.

"You bitching for weeks about wanting to bang Freddie."

"Oh god," she groaned, sitting on the bed. "It's gonna be really hard to keep our hands off each other now. But we have to wait. Six weeks."

"Well, you made it this far," I pointed out, and she nodded.

"I think it'll be okay," she stated, and I gave her a strange look.

"I'm sorry...I think I just hallucinated...did I hear you say that it would be OKAY?" I couldn't believe I was hearing this out of Sam. The girl just couldn't get enough sex with her husband, they'd been like that since the very beginning, and now she was saying it's OKAY? What was going on?

Sam shifted on the bed, looking a little uncomfortable. She looked down at baby Freddie and let out a sigh, bending down to kiss him.

"Sam, what's going on?"

"Nothing," she responded softly, still looking down at the baby. "Just...before anything happens...I just...want to look like I did before."

"Sam, you look fine," I replied. Sam shook her head slowly.

"My stomach's all...squishy. And there's other stuff."

"You just had a baby!"

"No excuses!" she replied. "When the time comes for me and Freddie, when we can finally be together again, I want it to be perfect. And that includes my body." She sighed, groaning a little. "My boobs are killing me."

"Well, they'll go down, won't they?"

"Yeah," she replied.

"I'm surprised you're not breast-feeding."

Sam lifted one shoulder in a shrug. "It just...it seems weird, you know? I can't really get passed the idea of...well, you know. And...he'll be fine on formula."

"Yeah, he'll be good," I responded. "So...I guess we get to go shopping now? Buy lots of cute stuff for little Freddie?"

"Oh, I forgot about that!" she exclaimed. "Definitely! Awww...he's gonna look so adorable!"

"Baby talk already?"

"I can't help it. He's so cute...look at him..." she said the last part in a high-pitched voice, and I couldn't help but roll my eyes a little bit, but still. It was cute. Sam was already very attached to her son, she'd barely put the kid down since he came out of her.

"So..." Sam asked, turning her attention away from the baby and onto me. "You know...you and Brad are going to have to figure out what to do about Brad's mom."

"What do you mean?" I asked, and she shrugged.

"You guys were talking about trying to get custody of the baby, but you haven't made a decision yet. And that baby's gonna be here really soon."

I sighed, leaning back against the chair. "I dunno, Sam. Babies are cute, yeah, but...that's gonna be hard to deal with. Really hard."

"You said that about Leah and Heather and Bryson," Sam pointed out, bouncing little Freddie up and down as he fussed.

"Yeah, but...four kids? In the apartment?" I responded. "No way. We're over max capacity anyway, once the complex gets wind...we're out."

"Oh, geez," Sam groaned. "So what are you gonna do?"

I sighed, running a hand through my hair. "I have no clue."

~*Brad*~

"Okay, so after I get the baby home, I gotta go the grocery store...and then the baby store...and I gotta pick up more diapers, and formula, and...crap what are those things called? Ugh...and we really need to take a good look at the apartment, baby-proof it..."

"Dude, will you mellow out?" I asked, looking over at Freddie as I drove down the road. "You don't need to baby-proof yet...the kid's not even two days old yet!"

"Well I just want everything to be perfect!"

"Look man, things have a way of taking care of themselves, okay? You just need to relax."

"I can't relax," Freddie replied. "And I'm thinking I shouldn't go to class today."

"Dude!" I exclaimed with a roll of my eyes. "You gotta chill out, or you're gonna have to double up on your Xanax again! I don't think you want to spend baby's first year in a pharmaceutical fog, do you?"

"No," Freddie groaned. "I just have no idea what I'm doing, man."

"Well, nobody ever really knows in the beginning, but you'll pick up on it. Sam too."

"Sam already seems to have it down," Freddie said, a slight smile on his face. "I mean, did you see her with him?"

"And she was just as freaked out as you were," I pointed out. "But...I guess the mothering instinct just kinda took over, you know?"

"Yeah," Freddie said with a smile. "It's...it's pretty cool, you know? I know she's gonna be awesome at this."

"And you will too," I responded simply. We were silent for a little while, and I stared out at the road ahead, trying to concentrate on driving, but I had all sorts of thoughts swirling around in my head. Sam and Freddie finally having their baby, it made me think. I knew they'd be great parents, but they'd definitely have their work cut out for them. I would have my work cut out for me too, but I wasn't a parent, I was just a brother. I was going to have all these new challenges and responsibilities laid out for me.

I'd been pretty confident in making it work so far, but the more I thought about it, the more unsure I was. I was still on the fence about taking the baby from my mom. Still, what choice did I have? But could I handle it? Could I handle taking care of FOUR kids? Three were hard enough, and none of them were babies. Throw a newborn into the mix, and it had full potential for disaster. Carly and I had talked a LOT about it, but we still weren't sure, and we were definitely coming down to the wire now. I sighed, continuing to let a rush of emotions and worry flood through my head.

Freddie looked over towards me, his eyebrows going up.

"Okay, now where's YOUR head at?"

I shrugged, continuing to stare at the road. "Just thinking."

"About?"

"Kid is a big responsibility."

"Uh, yeah...it is," Freddie responded, making a face. "Care to elaborate?"

I sighed, gripping the steering wheel a little tighter. "I don't know, man...just thinking about stuff."

"Such as?"

"We still haven't decided what we're gonna do. You know, about the baby?"

Freddie let out a deep sigh, leaning back in his seat. "I don't know what to tell you man. I mean...this is beyond my realm of comprehension. You've already got way too much going on...a baby's just gonna add to the stress even more."

"Yeah, no kidding," I grumbled. "I don't know how I'm going to get through this semester...we're so damn busy I haven't had time to work on my new screenplay in weeks."

"What ever happened to the other one?" Freddie asked, and I made a face.

"Sent it off, didn't hear anything back."

"Geez, that sucks," Freddie responded. "How long ago did you send it off?"

"Few months ago," I said with a shrug. "Whatever though..." I paused, taking a deep breath. "Man, but what if I've been wasting all this time wanting to be a filmmaker and I'm not cut out for it? What then?"

"Trust me, you're cut out for it...just takes time, that's all," Freddie replied. "Just relax, man."

At that statement, my eyebrows went up, and I gave Freddie a pointed look. "Whoa, YOU'RE telling me to relax? I must be trippin' then."

"Just a little," Freddie said with a wry grin, and I rolled my eyes. "So assuming we can both get away, gym tonight?"

"Sounds like a plan," I said. "Except for the getting away part. Heather just started high school, so she's likely to be in a funk, Bry's getting bullied again, and Leah'll probably talk my ear off about 'big preschool'. And then of course, there's Carly..."

"What's wrong with Carly?" Freddie asked. "She seemed fine."

"Oh, she is. She's great."

"Then why..."

"Can't keep her off me," I said with a smirk, and Freddie just laughed, shaking his head.

"Wish I could say the same, but...gonna have to wait awhile on that."

"You're going to die, aren't you?"

"I might!" Freddie laughed. "Nah, it'll be all good, just gotta wait a little bit longer. Five weeks, five days, and eight hours longer."

"My god," I muttered, shaking my head. This definitely wasn't the first time he'd said something like that after a long stretch of not being with Sam, he'd had a similar countdown going after her accident senior year, and he'd been able to accurately rattle off the length of time left at any given moment. I wouldn't be surprised if he'd be able to do it again three years later, but I also had a feeling that the baby would keep both of them so busy they'd have less time to think about it. Because babies kept people busy. And if I took the plunge, took the baby from my mom, that baby would keep me and Carly busy. And we were already busy enough. It wasn't even about not wanting to deal with it, not wanting to squeeze something that major into our lives, but it was the nagging doubt about whether or not I could deal with it all.

I pulled into the parking lot at school next to Freddie's car, and he got out, turning around to look at me.

"Thanks man. I'll see you in a few hours probably?"

"Yep," I said with a nod.

"Cool. I'm gonna head back to the hospital, pick up Sam and the baby. Later."

"Peace, man," I called back, waiting for Freddie to shut the door before I backed out and left the parking lot. I drove down the road for a few minutes, not really sure where I was going. I didn't have class today, and all the kids were at school. Carly was still at the hospital with Sam, and she'd probably busy herself with fussing over her for the next few hours.

I didn't want to go back to the loft, but other than that, I didn't really know what to do. In the past, when I was put in this situation, I'd just go to the pool hall and shoot for a few hours, but I didn't want to do that. I had put all the drinking and partying behind me and I didn't want to be tempted again. It was funny, I had made every effort to get away from the stuff, and everybody thought that part of my life was over. A former alcoholic, cured. But I wasn't sure if I was cured or not. It was just something I avoided. Avoidance did not constitute a cure.

Truthfully, a lot of times I still got the urge. Usually when I was stressed out, and I'd been getting stressed out a lot lately. I'd had a few close calls, but for the most part, I'd stayed strong. But I was beginning to feel like I was a little in over my head with everything that was going on.

As I drove down the road, it began to occur to me that I wasn't a little in over my head, I was a LOT in over my head. What the hell had I been thinking? Babysitting your brother and sisters is a lot different than getting custody of them and taking care of them full time...being FINANCIALLY RESPONSIBLE for them! And how long were Carly and I going to be able to conceal from the apartment complex that we were WAY over capacity for our apartment? The place was rent-controlled, there'd be no way we could find another place that big for the price we paid.

I didn't want to take any of it back, but even if I did, it was too late. I wasn't sure if I had made a mistake or not, if this would turn out being a good thing for them. What if I screwed those kids up even more? And god, what was I supposed to do about the baby? I really felt like I had no choice. I just didn't know what to do.

"Holy shit," I muttered to myself. "What the fuck have you done?"

I continued to go over everything in my head as I continued to drive, beating myself up over every little thing, whether I could actually handle this, when I felt that familiar urge tug at me again. I sighed, shaking my head, and my eyes flicked up to the rearview mirror, staring myself down for a second.

"You could really use a drink."

I knew it was a bad idea, I really did. But my hands seemed to move on their own, turning the steering wheel so I was headed back to the pool hall.

Yeah, I could definitely use a drink right about now. But as I drove down the road, something else caught my eye, and almost without thinking, slowed to a stop, pulling off to park on the side of the road. I turned the engine off, getting out of my car and leaning against the hood for a moment as I surveyed the building in front of me.

I bit my lip, trying to figure out whether or not it'd be a good idea to go in. It'd been a really long time. But did that matter? Or was it really too late to bother?

As I stood there, staring at that old stone building, wondering whether or not I should go through with it, the doors opened, and two men walked out. I didn't recognize the first one, but I recognized the other. The two shook hands, and with that, the stranger turned and walked down the steps without casting a glance my way.

The old man turned his head, and his gaze fell upon me, a spark of recognition crossed his face, and he gave me a broad smile, ambling down the steps toward me.

"Bradley," he said, reaching out to shake my hand. "Haven't seen you in awhile."

"It has been a few years, hasn't it?" I responded with a shrug.

"Good to see you again."

"You too, Father McAllister."

"How've you been?" he asked, and I shrugged.

"My dad's in prison, my mom's checked out completely, I'm taking care of my three siblings, another on the way. Oh, and I'm an alcoholic, did I mention that?" I asked with a shake of my head, staring at the ground. "And apparently my screenplay is a flop...and I feel like everything's about to go down in flames."

Father McAllister gave me a sympathetic look and put his hand on my shoulder.

"Want to talk about it?"

"I..." I trailed off, thinking things over for a minute. What was I hesitating for? I remembered how things used to be, when I came here a lot. To church. Things had a way of making more sense back then. It'd be nice if things in my life started to make sense again.

"Yeah," I said finally. "I do."

~*Sam*~

"Ugh, you've gotta be kidding me," I grumbled to myself as I stood in the bathroom of my hospital room, staring at my reflection in the mirror.

Words could not express to me how happy I was now that I finally had my sweet, adorable little baby. He'd turned out exactly how I wanted him to...a carbon copy of his father. I couldn't get over how much little Freddie looked like his dad, and I was thrilled by it. I'd already fallen head over heels for that sweet little baby, and I knew it would only get worse. But right now, my mind wasn't on that. Right now, my mind was on something else.

What the hell had pregnancy done to my body?

I'd been blessed with an amazing metabolism my entire life, being able to eat whatever I wanted and not gain weight from it, but I stood in the bathroom, shirt off, carefully examining myself, I was beginning to think the Fat Cake free-for-all had been a bad idea. I'd definitely put some weight on in my upper arms, my thighs too, but what was really freaking me out was my stomach. It was...squishy. Floppy. Out of shape. And as I'd predicted, more stretch marks had come to party. I was absolutely mortified.

Oh my god, I was FAT.

I had to get on this whole fitness thing, and quick. Thank god there was still a six week ban on sex, because no way would I let it happen now...not with the way I looked. It was absolutely disgusting. Why hadn't I paid attention to those baby books? I'd skipped right over the diet and exercise chapters, and now I was really regretting it.

I was brought out of my concerns by the sound of the baby crying, and I pulled my shirt on over my head, pulling the door open.

"Shay, what are you doing to my baby?"

"Nothing!" she said, sounding a little frantic. "He just started crying! I swear I didn't hurt him!"

"Oh, give him here," I replied, holding my arms out, and Carly carefully deposited baby Freddie into my arms so I could pull him against me, tucking his little face against my neck. He stopped crying immediately, and Carly gave me an agitated look.

"Oh, come on!" she said. "I didn't even do anything, he just started crying, you touch him and he automatically stops?"

"The magic of motherhood, I guess," I said with a shrug, and Carly rolled his eyes.

"He is JUST like his father. He's totally fine, realizes you're not in the room, and then freaks out."

"What can I say?" I asked with a laugh. "Benson men love me."

"Apparently," Carly said with a little smile.

"You got class today?" I asked, and Carly nodded.

"Yeah, in about two hours."

"Oh," I said, a little bummed. "Freddie does too. Guess it'll just be me and little Freddie here. But that's fine." I pulled the baby away from my neck, giving him a tiny kiss on his forehead. "Isn't that fine?" I asked.

Okay, I've officially become that person I hate. The overprotective chick that speaks to her kid in that high-pitched, momsy-womsy voice. But oddly enough, I was pretty cool with it. I'd changed a lot over the last three years, that was for sure. I used to be so damn angry at the world, unable to express it except through causing pain to others. Looking back, it was like it wasn't even me who was doing all that stuff. Like I was trapped in a body that wasn't mine.

But ugh, give me any body that's not mine, right now. I knew I was being ridiculous, but I couldn't help it. I was seriously grossed out by the idea of looking like this, and if I was this grossed out, imagine how Freddie would react. This had all the makings of a disaster written all over it.

At that moment, the door creaked open, and Carly and I turned to find Freddie walking in.

"Hey baby," he said, walking towards me and kissing me softly. I gave him a smile, but it quickly faded when he unceremoniously removed the baby from my arms.

"Hey!" I cried, my hands going to my hips. "Give him back!"

"Nope," Freddie replied with a shake of his head and a smirk. I just scowled at him, before giving up and finally resigning myself to packing up all of our stuff so we could go home. Freddie sat down in the chair holding the baby in his lap facing him, careful to make sure he supported the neck. I couldn't help but my feel my heart melt a little bit as I watched Freddie kiss his son on the forehead.

"You know what's weird?" Freddie asked as he studied the baby carefully, glancing up at me. "He looks exactly like me. I mean, he doesn't look like you even a little bit."

"Maybe he's not mine," I said flatly, and Freddie rolled his eyes.

"Funny," he replied. "I'm just saying. He's like...a clone of me."

"Well, that's fine by me," I responded, and Freddie shrugged.

"I hope the next one looks like you."

"Not the way I look now," I mumbled, and Freddie looked up at me.

"Huh?"

"Nothing," I replied quickly, going back to packing, ignoring the looks Carly was giving me. Finally I grew tired of it, and gave her a Look of my own, mouthing 'not right now'. She seemed to get it, but still looked worried. It was nice of my best friend to be concerned, but Carly had only ever dealt with being UNDERWEIGHT, not hippo-sized like I was now.

Carly cleared her throat awkwardly, looking down at her watch. "Well, I gotta go, I need to go home and change before I go to class. Hey, Freddie, any idea where Brad is? He's not answering my texts."

"No clue," Freddie said with a shrug, before looking up at Carly, frowning. "You don't think he's..."

"No," Carly said quickly with a shake of her head. "No way. We're past that."

"Are you sure?" I asked. "I mean, you guys have been under a lot of stress lately, and..."

"Yes, I'm sure!" Carly snapped, and then suddenly looked remorseful. "I'm sorry, I just...with everything that's going on right now, that's the last thing we need and I just don't want to think about it. I really need to go. I love you guys." She gave me a big hug, before walking over to where Freddie was sitting, bending down to kiss him on the cheek. "Congrats, you guys!"

"Bye!" we both said, watching her leave. I sat down on the bed for a moment, just trying to regain my footing in life and clear my head, before I looked over at Freddie.

"Everything's packed," I said. "Ready to go?"

"Mmmhmm," he replied absentmindedly, still staring at the baby.

"Baby, you can stare at him when we get home," I said, walking over to him. "Though he is the most adorable thing ever. But I wanna go home!"

"Alright," he replied, standing up. "Let's go."

He walked the baby over to the carseat, carefully strapping him in as I hovered over them, urging Freddie not to hurt him and Freddie getting annoyed with my constant chiding, until we were both satisfied that our little one was safe and not going anywhere. We both straightened up, and Freddie turned to me, his arm going around my waist.

"I love you," he said. "So much."

"I love you too," I replied, and he smiled, kissing me softly. As usual, the kiss was amazing, but I wasn't thinking about that, I was too concerned with the size and shape of my body. I could feel him pulling me closer so he could press me up against him, but sorry, not today! I quickly pushed his hands off my waist, taking a step back.

"Are you ready?" I asked, and his eyes narrowed as he looked at me curiously.

"Are you okay?"

"I'm fine. I'm just sick of being in this hospital. Can we go, baby?"

"Yeah, sure," he responded, grabbing the carseat's handle and picking it up off the bed. "Sweetheart, are you sure you're alright?"

"Yeah, I'm fine," I repeated. "I just wanna go home."

He stared at me for a moment, trying to figure out whether or not something was really wrong, and then sighed, signaling he'd given up. "Okay baby. Let's go home."

We were quiet as we walked down the hallway, but we both had stuff on our minds. I figured Freddie was preoccupied with the baby, and I was too, but I was also really concerned about my post-baby body. I didn't know what to do. There was no way I'd be able to get back into shape in six weeks, was there? And I knew Freddie, the six weeks would be tough for him to take, he'd try to push the boundary until he crashed right through it. I'd just have to hold him off as long as possible, and really bust my ass to get back into shape. Couldn't be that hard.

Right?


	62. Chapter 62: La Vida

**Chapter Sixty Two  
>La Vida<strong>

~*Brad*~

"So..." Father McAllister said as we walked into his office. "Have a seat."

I sat down in one of the chairs, unsure why I was even here, but it seemed right. I was desperate to try and make some sense out of my life and everything that had happened, and I'd been unable to find it everywhere else I looked.

Father McAllister crossed the room, sitting down in the big leather chair behind his desk, hands folded. He stared at me for a moment, before shaking his head.

"Whatever it is you have going on, Bradley, I'll listen."

I sighed, leaning back in my chair, not really clear on what I was going to say and offered up a half-hearted shrug.

"I feel like everything about my life up until this point was just...not real. My parents did a very good job of hiding who they really were, you know? Mom's pretty much out of the picture...like...like my dad going to jail was the out she was looking for all this time."

"And your siblings? How are they coping?"

I shrugged again, running a hand through my hair. "Surviving. I...was responsible for them most of the time growing up, and after I left they all sort of went downhill...now it seems like they're getting back to normal, or what's normal for us. But I'm just worried, you know? There's a big difference between babysitting, even if it is most of the time, and being financially responsible for them and taking care of them all of the time."

Father McAllister nodded, thinking about what I'd said, and then gave me a sympathetic look. "God doesn't give us more than we can handle, you know."

"How do you know that? How do you know I can handle it when I'm not even sure if I can handle it?"

"You said so yourself, you've been responsible for them for most of your life, and they're getting back to what you consider normal. Obviously you're a good influence on them."

"I guess," I said with a sigh. "I just feel...kind of lost right now, you know?"

"Absolutely," Father McAllister said with a nod. "But you obviously care, and that will take you a long way with those kids."

"It's not just the kids," I sighed. "It's everything. The drinking...coping with it, trying not to do it. The fact that I haven't heard a thing from anyone regarding my screenplay. My life isn't turning out the way I wanted it to."

Ugh, I sounded oddly like my mother, and I hated that. I suppose life never turned out the way people wanted it. But I had some good things going on in my life too. I had Carly, and that was a lot.

"Well, life doesn't always turn out the way we expect it to," Father McAllister responded. "Only thing you can do is leave it up to God. He won't steer you wrong."

"Yeah," I grumbled, looking down at the floor.

"Something the matter, Bradley?"

I sighed, shrugging pathetically. "I don't even know why I'm here. I mean...it's been what? Two years?"

"You can always come back."

I shook my head, still dubious. "There's not enough time in the world for you to hear my confession."

"We'll take it step by step. You need to be back here, and your siblings too."

"Yeah, I know," I replied. "I dunno if Carly would be down, but..."

"Carly?"

"Yeah, my fiance," I replied. As stressed out as I was right now, every time I referred to Carly as my 'fiance', it gave me a little thrill. I wondered what it would be like when I finally got to call her my wife.

"Oh, well then. She definitely needs to come too," Father McAllister replied. "She's not Catholic?"

"No, I'd consider her sort of...undefined, you know? Spiritual, not religious."

"Well, it's better than nothing, I suppose," he replied with a shrug. "But your sisters and your brother? You need to bring them back. Is Heather still a wild child?"

"You have no idea," I said flatly. "That girl's gonna be the death of me."

"Then she could certainly use a little church, and from the looks of it, you could too," Father McAllister stated. "If I don't see you on Sunday, I'm going to be very disappointed, Bradley."

I nodded. It definitely wouldn't hurt, it might even do me a little good. The problem was figuring out whether or not Carly would be down. Heather would protest, probably quite loudly, but that was too bad for her, because she was definitely going. She needed this more than I did even.

"I'll be there," I said finally.

"So...you want to get a head start on this confession business? The sooner we get it out of the way, the better."

I frowned. "Well...how much time do you have?"

Father McAllister laughed, pushing his chair back and standing up. "Come on, Bradley. I've got time."

~*Carly*~

"Okay, I'm freaking out a little bit," I couldn't help but say aloud as I sat on the couch next to Leah.

"Reaaaadddd, Carwy!" she exclaimed, shoving one of her books back into my hands. I sighed, forcing a smile and opening the book to the first page.

Heather turned around from her spot at the counter with her laptop to look at me.

"Why are you freaking out?" she asked, and I shrugged.

"Uh, nothing...just...Brad's not back yet."

"And that freaks you out?" Heather asked, and I shrugged again. "Relax, it's not like he's cheating on you or anything."

"What?" I exclaimed. "Heather! What are you..."

"I'm just saying, he's obviously not...he always looks at you all goofy like he's sick or something."

I couldn't help but smile at that, biting my lip. "He does?"

"Yeah. It's nauseating," Heather replied with a roll of her eyes, prompting me to give an eyeroll of my very own.

"You're such a softie, Heather."

"That's what they tell me," she replied with a shrug. "Just saying, you gotta let the boy have some 'me' time, that's all. Don't you think he has his hands full?"

"Uh...well...yeah, but...wait. I'm not getting relationship advice from a fourteen year old!" I replied.

"Then who do you want relationship advice from?"

"I don't want or need relationship advice!" I replied, standing up and walking over to where she sat, grabbing my purple sweater from her. "And I've asked you over and over to stop borrowing my clothes."

"Well I need new clothes!" she shouted. "All my stuff's babyish!"

"Fine, I'll tell you what. You promise to stop borrowing my stuff, then Saturday we'll go to the mall."

Heather stared at me, a little bit surprised. "Really?"

"Yeah. Sam and I are going anyway, she needs to buy more clothes for the baby."

"Okay!" she said, sounding excited. "Yeah! Yeah, I'll stop borrowing your stuff!"

"Promise?" I asked, giving her a firm look, and she nodded.

"I promise!" she exclaimed. "Oh man, yay! New stuff!" With that, she stood up, heading in the direction of her room. "Time to rearrange my closet!"

I just shook my head, a little amused, before turning back to Leah. "Okay, Lee-lee, where were we?"

"Readddd!"

I picked up the book she was holding and began to read, something about a little family of ducks, as Leah snuggled up to me, listening to me intently. I couldn't help but smile, she was pretty adorable, and we'd gotten close over the last few months or so. Sometimes dealing with the three of those kids could be hard, but for the most part, we'd been making it work. It definitely gave me and Brad something to do, kept us out of trouble, but I didn't know if we'd be able to handle another kid being thrown into the mix.

As I sat there, reading to Leah, the front door swung open, and in walked Brad.

"BWAD!" Leah exclaimed, leaping to her feet and running over to him, squealing when he picked her up.

"What up, Lee-lee," he said with a grin, kissing her on the cheek, and then set her down, looking over at me. "Hey babe, what's...oh. You look mad. Why do you look mad?"

I didn't respond, just stood up, walking over to him and leaning towards him until my face was inches away from him.

"What...are you SNIFFING ME?" Brad exclaimed, taking a step back. "Carly, come on!"

"Where've you been, Brad?" I asked, my hands on my hips. "You haven't been answering my texts."

"I was...busy," he mumbled, and my eyebrows went up.

"Busy drinking?"

"Carly! Geez! Not in front of Leah, give me a break!"

"Then where were you?" I demanded, and he rolled his eyes.

"I was at the church, okay?" he snapped, and I gave him a surprised look.

"For two hours?"

"Yes, for two hours! I was talking to Father McAllister, and that took awhile...and the confession took even longer."

"Confession?" I repeated, and he sighed.

"Yeah...let's just say Father McAllister had his work cut out for him." With that, he picked Leah up, heading in the direction of Heather's bedroom and opening the door.

"Heather, you in here?" he called.

"I'm busy!" she barked.

"Yeah, yeah, just watch her for a second."

"You watch her!"

"Heather!" he begged. "Come on! I need to talk to Carly!"

"You can't talk in front of Leah?"

"Not about this stuff!"

"Twenty bucks."

"What?" Brad asked, setting Leah down. "Are you kidding me?"

"Do I look like I'm kidding?" she replied, and Brad just grumbled to himself, reaching into his back pocket to fish out his wallet. "Fine. Twenty bucks."

"Pleasure doing business with you, big bro," she replied, snatching the cash out of his hand and leading Leah into her room, slamming the door shut. Brad let out an agitated growl, turning around to face me.

"That girl...man..." he muttered, shaking his head. He took a breath, clearing his head, before looking at me. "We need to talk."

"About?" I asked, a little worried. Brad had been at the church for hours, I'd pretty much accused him of being off somewhere drinking, and now he wanted to talk. This didn't look good.

"Just about stuff," he sighed, flopping down on the couch. I sat down next to him, one hand tentatively reaching out to his arm.

"Sorry," I said. "For accusing you of drinking."

"You're just going off past history," he grumbled. "It's okay."

I nodded, silent for a moment. "So what did you want to talk about?"

"A few things, actually."

"Like what?" I asked, biting my lip. "You're not thinking of calling off the engagement again, are you?"

Brad looked at me like I'd just grown a second head, his eyebrows going up. "Are you nuts?" he exclaimed. "Like that's ever gonna happen! Sorry, babe, you're not getting out of it this time." He grabbed my hand, lifting it to his mouth and kissing it. "I love you. I'm not letting go of you."

"I love you too, baby. So what's on your mind then?"

"Everything," he groaned, leaning his head back. "Carly...I gotta start going back to church."

"Okay," I replied simply, shrugging. "That all?"

"You mean, you don't care?" he asked. "I know we've never really talked about the whole religion thing, and..."

"Brad," I interrupted him. "Do you think I'm anti-church or something? I believe in god, just never grew up in a church family, that's all. You wanna go, that's fine, baby."

He nodded. "And the kids need to go too."

"I completely agree," I said with a shrug. "Heather could definitely use some structure."

Brad sat there for a moment, playing with a stray string on his jeans, before looking up at me.

"What about you?" he asked.

"You want me to go?" I responded, and he nodded.

"Well...kinda. Yeah. I do. I know it sounds trite, but...I kinda miss it, you know? I feel like I had a much better handle on life when I was going, and as crazy as things have been lately...yeah. I mean, just once? Please?"

"Baby, it's fine," I replied, rubbing his leg reassuringly. "If it makes you happy, then I will."

"You will?" Brad asked, sounding surprised, and I nodded.

"Of course. If it's important to you, then it's important to me."

Brad nodded, his arm going around me, kissing my cheek. "Thank you, babe."

"So is that the only thing you wanted to talk about?" I asked, and he shook his head.

"No," he replied. "Carly, I've been thinking a lot about it, and I know we've been on the fence, but we HAVE to take the baby."

I was silent for a moment, staring at the floor. I knew this conversation would be brought up eventually, but I hadn't been sure where it would go. He was right about being on the fence...we both had been. I was still unsure whether or not it was a good idea, if we'd be able to handle it. Brad took my hand, continuing to talk.

"I haven't spoken to my mom since the day she slapped me, but I got the impression that she absolutely DIDN'T want the baby. And...if we don't, I don't know whether she'll keep the baby or not."

"You think she'll have an abortion?" I asked, surprised. "I thought it was too late for that."

Brad nodded. "It is. Thank god. But that's not what I meant. There's a good chance she'll put the baby up for adoption. I don't want that."

"But, Brad...do you honestly think we can handle four kids, one of them being a newborn?" I asked. "I'm not saying no, but...think about it. We're twenty. We have school. How are we supposed to handle this?"

"I...I don't know," he replied, running a hand through his hair. "But...I can't handle the idea of knowing I have a sister out in the world that I'll never get to know. It can't happen. I won't let it happen."

"As long as you know what we're in for."

He nodded. "I'm sorry you have to deal with all of this, babe. I know this isn't what you wanted...I know it wasn't in your plans to end up taking care of these kids, and I'm sorry! I know it puts a lot of stress on you, believe me, I know. And it's not easy for you to deal, I know that, but..."

I shook my head, my hand quickly covering his mouth. "Stop it. I love you. I want to be with you. Regardless of how bad things can get, it'd be worse if I didn't have you in my life."

"But..."

"And if I love you, I have to love all the parts of you, even if it means taking on things I'm not prepared to deal with."

"So..."

I sighed, laying my head back against the couch. "I have no idea how we're going to get through this, Brad. But if you think it's for the best, then okay."

Brad's eyes widened as he stared at me. "Okay?"

"We'll take the baby," I said, and then suddenly found myself mouth-to-mouth with Brad as he kissed me intensely.

"Thank you, Carly," he whispered, kissing me again. "Thank you."

"We have a lot to do before that happens," I said. "Stuff to buy, books to read...rearranging everything."

"Yeah, I know," Brad said.

We sat there in silence for a few minutes, until we were suddenly broken out of our thoughts by the sound of my phone beeping at me.

"What's that?" Brad asked as I grabbed my phone.

"My alarm," I responded, turning it off and setting my phone back down.

"For?"

I sighed, shaking my head. "I was supposed to play at The Beanery tonight, that was the alarm to tell me to start getting ready."

"Okay," Brad replied. "So go get ready."

I shook my head. "I'm not going. I don't have time for it anymore, I'm just going to stop playing there."

"What?" Brad exclaimed. "Carly! You love playing music!"

"So?" I said with a shrug. "We really don't have time for it! It's not fair for me to pursue that right now, with you talking about giving up filmmaking, and to disappear three nights a week and leave you here with the kids when you have studying to do and everything! Just forget about it, okay? I'm not going to-" But I was cut off, mumbling as Brad suddenly covered my mouth with his hand.

"Will you shut up already?" he barked. "I'm not gonna let you stop doing something you love, Carly! Now get your butt upstairs and get ready, you've got a show to do."

"But..."

"No buts!" he yelled, standing up and pulling me to my feet. "Upstairs! Now!"

"But, Brad..."

"I said shoo!" he responded, turning me toward the stairs and swatting me on the butt. "Go!"

"Geez, fine..." I grumbled, a little surprised at how he'd reacted, but pleasantly surprised. With everything going on, I hadn't expected him to be so adamant about me not giving up the things I loved, even though we didn't have time for it.

I trudged upstairs, heading for the bathroom and turning on the shower. Oh man. In a matter of weeks, we'd have a fourteen year old, a ten year old, a three year old, and a newborn living with us. Dependent on us. Trying to juggle school, the show, and trying to hold onto our little delusions of grandeur.

I glanced at my reflection in the mirror, shaking my head.

"Man, you've really got your work cut out for you, Carly."

~*Freddie*~

"Man, she better not bitch at me about being late," I grumbled to myself as I shoved my key in the door, balancing all the bags I was carrying on one leg. I'd been out for most of the afternoon, running around getting things for Sam. Poor thing had been through a LOT lately, what with the epic bed rest and pushing a human being out of her, so I'd made a point after I got out of class to pick a few things up for her, even though the only thing I wanted to do was race home and see my wife and my son.

My son. The whole idea was still breathtaking to me. I had a SON. Not just a son, but a tiny little version of me, that looked just like me, even shared the same name. It was incredible. I was still nervous about the whole thing, worried at the prospect of screwing things up, but man, I was excited too! I kept thinking about all these things in the future...teaching him to ride a bike, throw a baseball. I couldn't wait.

Easy, Freddie. Let's work on getting the kid to gain control of his neck muscles, then we can worry about baseball.

I finally got the door open, barely able to keep the bags from crashing to the ground as I stumbled in, and I spotted Sam walking around the kitchen. She looked up, flashing me a dazzling smile, and I melted a little. No makeup, hair up in a messy ponytail, wearing a baggy shirt and a pair of shorts, and had only given birth a day ago, and she was still the most beautiful thing I'd ever laid eyes on.

"Hey, baby!" she said, walking around the counter to throw her arms around me, giving me a sweet kiss.

"Hey, gorgeous," I responded, kissing her again. "How's it...wait." I paused, pulling away to survey the apartment. "Why is it so clean in here? What happened?"

Sam shrugged, fiddling with her ponytail. "I dunno. Just...stuff."

I gave her a Look, shaking my head in amusement. "You are absolutely thrilled to be off bed rest, aren't you?"

"God, you have no idea," she groaned. "I got bored. Where've you been? I thought your class was over a few hours ago."

"It was," I replied with a nod. "But I had to pick up a few things."

"Oh?" Sam asked, her eyebrows going up. "What'd you get?"

"In a minute," I replied. "Where's the baby?"

"He's right here," Sam replied, leading me into the kitchen where the baby was carefully strapped into his bouncy seat. He was sound asleep, and I dropped to my knees, staring at him.

"Man, we churned out a good-looking kid, you know that?"

"Narcissist," Sam said with a laugh. "He looks just like you."

"There's gotta be something in him that's you..." I replied, watching him sleep. "He likes sleeping. You like sleeping."

"He's a baby! All babies love sleep!" Sam replied. "And I think a lot of it's that bouncy chair. I put him in it a few hours ago while I was cleaning, haven't heard a peep out of him."

"Yeah, if I had a vibrating recliner, I'd pass out too," I said, leaning forward to gently kiss him on the forehead before rising to my feet. "So you wanna see what I got?"

"Mmhmm," Sam responded. "You better have got some good stuff."

"Oh, I did," I replied, walking over to the counter where I'd sat all the stuff down. "For starters..." I pulled a bouquet of mixed wildflowers out of a paper bag. "For you."

"Aww!" Sam exclaimed, taking them from me and kissing me. "Baby! You're so sweet, you know that?"

"Eh," I said with a shrug, and she smacked me on the arm.

"I'm serious! You're always bringing me stuff and doing stuff for me...I feel so lucky."

"Well, it's cuz I love you, sweetheart," I replied, taking her hand in mine.

"And that's why I'm lucky," she responded.

"I feel pretty lucky myself," I said. "Beautiful wife, beautiful baby. Yeah...I'm a lucky guy." With that, my arm went around her waist, pulling her to me so I could kiss her, pressing her against me with the one arm while my free hand went to the back of her neck as I kissed her slowly, passionately, feeling the fire well up in me already. Oh geez, the next six weeks were going to be hard. Possibly harder than the last few months had been. As beautiful as I thought Sam had been while pregnant, there was something about the way her body fit against mine now, like before. It was like we were made for each other. It was like she...

...was pulling away. I frowned as she broke the kiss and disentangled herself from my arms. Well, that was odd! Maybe she was sore or something, I couldn't be sure. I just gave her a quizzical look, one that she quickly brushed off.

"So what else did you bring?" she asked, biting her lip. I chose not to comment on her perplexing behavior, instead reaching into one of the other bags and pulling out a small plastic box.

"Oh my god," Sam breathed, her eyes widening. "Is that..."

"Sushi?" I responded with a grin. "Uh-huh. Salmon, spider roll, unagi...all your favorites."

"Baby!" Sam exclaimed, doing her signature happy dance. "Holy shit! I love you so much, do you know that?"

"Yeah, I know that," I replied with a smirk. "And then I got us a few more movies, so I figured...you, me, the baby, all cuddled up in bed together, while we eat sushi...sound good?"

"Sounds perfect," Sam said with a smile. "You're so sweet."

"Maybe just a little," I said, grabbing her by her waist and pulling her to me so I could kiss her again, my mouth coming down over hers quickly and kissing her intensely. She let out a moan of surprise, her hands going to my chest and pushing away.

"Um...I'm gonna...see if the baby needs to be changed," she said, moving away from me. My eyes narrowed as I looked at her suspiciously.

"Alright, what's up with you?"

"What do you mean?" Sam asked, biting her lip.

"I dunno," I said with a shrug. "You're just being...weird."

"How am I being weird?" she replied.

"Because every time I try to kiss you, you push me away!" I responded. "Why?"

Sam sighed, looking around for a second, and then her eyes settled on me. "My boobs are killing me," she said finally.

"Aw, baby," I stated, taking a step toward her and brushing her ponytail off her shoulder so I could kiss her neck. "I'm sorry. You should have said something."

"Sorry," she said half-heartedly. "I really do need to check the baby's diaper though."

"Alright," I said with a shrug. "Well, while you do that, I'll move all the stuff into the bedroom, put the movie on."

"Okay," she replied, giving me a smile. "Love you."

"Love you too, baby," I replied, watching as she walked over to the baby's bouncy seat to pick him up. I watched her bend over to get him, and as she did, my eyes nearly popped out of my head. Oh god. Those shorts. That ass! For someone who'd just had a baby, she looked absolutely amazing. Even compared to someone who hadn't just had a baby, she looked incredible. I had no idea how she'd managed to do it, but it was there. She was maybe ten pounds heavier than before she'd gotten pregnant, but it had all gone to curves I was particularly fond of, making them curvier. I could definitely get used to this.

She picked the baby up and turned around, eyeing me carefully when she realized I was staring at her.

"What?"

I shook my head. "Nothing. This is going to be a really long six weeks."

"What? Why?"

"Don't worry your pretty blonde head about it, sweetheart. Now go change that baby before I end up molesting you."

Sam just snorted inelegantly, and I could tell she was trying not to roll her eyes.

"Funny," she grumbled, carrying little Freddie into the nursery to change him.

Okay, that was odd. Usually she'd just laugh or make some joke about not if she molested me first. She was acting like I was being sarcastic or something, which I totally wasn't. I wanted to rip her clothes off and run my hands all over her body, then my mouth. For hours. Why was she acting so weird?

I decided not to pester her about it, just brought the sushi and the DVDs into the bedroom, popping one in before changing into more comfortable clothing. Sam came in a few moments later with the baby, carrying a bottle with her.

"Here, let me have him," I said, holding my arms out, and Sam gently deposited him in my arms before crawling onto the bed next to me.

"Isn't he perfect?" she murmured, resting her head on my shoulder, and I nodded.

"He is."

"I love you," Sam said softly, kissing me on the cheek. "So much."

"I love you too, Sam," I replied, turning my head to look at her. "My sweet, sweet baby."

She just gave me a smile, laying down next to me and pushing play on the remote. As I laid there, holding my son, I studied Sam carefully. Something was definitely off with her, I could tell, because her brow was furrowed, the way it only was when she was thinking about something that bothered her.

"Honey," I said, laying the baby down on the bed between us. "Something's wrong, isn't it?"

"What do you mean?" she asked, and I gave her a Look.

"Come on. I know you. I know when something's bothering you. It's not just because your breasts hurt, is it?"

"I...no," she sighed.

"Then what is it? Talk to me, sweetheart."

"I feel fat," Sam grumbled, crossing her arms over her chest and then quickly uncrossing them. "Ow."

"You are so NOT fat," I replied. "You look amazing. And you're sexy as hell."

"Whatever," she replied with a roll of her eyes.

"I'm serious!" I replied. "Did you not see me staring at your ass a few minutes ago? You look great, baby. I'm honestly having trouble keeping my hands off you right now."

"I don't look great," she replied. "My stomach, it's...never mind." She shook her head firmly. "I don't want to talk about it."

"But..."

"Please?" she begged me. "Not right now. I just want to have some peace and quiet tonight."

I sighed, running a hand through my hair. I didn't want Sam to be upset, or having negative thoughts about herself, but I also didn't want to drive her crazy with questions, and I knew I had a tendency to do that. So I let it go, not wanting to start an argument.

At least she wasn't mad at me, that part was obvious. As we laid in bed together, Sam alternated between fussing over little Freddie Jr, gorging on sushi, and then feeding me sushi. It was nice, just the three of us together. And I was happy. A little bit worried about Sam, but happy nonetheless. I would have been content to stay like this forever.

Some time over the course of the night, I must have drifted off, but I awoke to find Sam sound asleep next to me, laying on her side with her arm wrapped around the baby protectively, who was also asleep. I couldn't help but smile...they looked adorable together. Made me melt a little bit. I hated to have to wake her up to put the baby in his crib, but it had to be done. I worried about rolling over on the baby or something like that.

I reached out, shaking Sam's shoulder gently, and she stirred a little, burying her face in her pillow.

"Sweetheart," I murmured, shaking her a little bit firmer. "Let me put the baby in his crib."

"No..." she mumbled, her eyes fluttering open. "Let him stay."

I shook my head, sighing. "It's not safe, baby."

"I won't roll over on him," she replied, lifting her head to look down at him, then kissing him on the top of his head.

"I might."

"No you won't," she replied, yawning. "Please? I don't want him to be alone..."

"Baby..." I began, but she just gave me a pleading look, and I sighed. "Fine. Just for tonight. Tomorrow night, he needs to sleep in his own bed, or we'll never be able to get him used to it."

"Okay," she replied sleepily, leaning forward to kiss me. "Love you."

"Love you too, baby. Get some sleep, he'll probably wake up soon and want to eat."

She nodded, laying her head back down, and soon drifted back off to sleep. I turned the TV off, then laid there in the dark, thinking.

I was really hoping Sam's current insecurities would pass. It worried me, for one thing, and for another, I thought she was being ridiculous. She looked amazing. She always had, and having a baby hadn't changed that. And even if it had, if for some reason the pregnancy had ended up changing her body so she looked different, I wouldn't have cared. I loved that girl, for a lot more reasons than how she looked. I hoped she could remember that, and if for some reason she didn't, I'd be happy to remind her.


	63. Chapter 63: Nebula

**A/N: I'm going to try to finish Chapter Sixty Four and post it up by tomorrow, but if not, I probably won't be able to update until next Friday, because I have to go to Texas for a week for work. But I'll be bringing my laptop, so if I can update, I will! This chapter is entirely from Sam and Freddie's POV, just so you know...**

**Chapter Sixty Three  
>Nebula<strong>

~*Sam*~

"Sam," Carly sighed, sitting on my bed as I pawed through my closet frantically. "Will you just get dressed already? We're on a serious time limit here! I've got a million things to do today!"

It was Saturday, and Carly and I had plans to take Leah and Heather to the mall today. Heather had been driving Carly up the wall lately with constantly borrowing her clothes, and Leah had apparently hit a growth spurt, so Carly definitely needed to make the trip, and I wanted to pick up a few things for the baby as well. A little time out and about would probably do me some good, because things around the apartment were not going very well.

The baby had been keeping me and Freddie pretty busy, but I have to say, I was expecting a lot more trouble. For the most part, little Freddie was easy to keep happy as long as he was warm, dry, and well-fed. He didn't cry for long stretches of time, and when he wasn't sleeping, he just sort of gazed around in wonderment at everything. He seemed to be most happy when he was in my arms, and I loved that. He was such a sweet little boy, and he made me so happy.

That was good, because there were a lot of things going on that were not making me happy. Freddie and I had been butting heads for days, and a lot of it was my fault. Every time he kissed me or put his hands on my waist, I'd panic, and push him away. I couldn't help it. All I could think about was how fat I was, how horrible I looked. There was no way he'd find that attractive. I was going to pretty great lengths to keep myself covered up, hoping he wouldn't be aware of the way my stomach, my hips, my thighs looked. By comparison, Freddie looked great, still all toned and muscular, and I was beginning to feel like I didn't even deserve him any more. Thing was, I didn't know how to tell him that. I knew he'd just tell me I was being silly, because he didn't want to hurt my feelings. But I knew he was suspicious. I'd barely let him touch me, he hadn't seen me without my clothes off since before I went into labor a week ago. And I wasn't eating as much. The whole thing threw him off, but every time he tried to talk to me about it, I'd just brush him off, start fussing over the baby, which only seemed to make him madder.

Freddie very clearly loved his son, that part was obvious. Whenever I wasn't holding him, Freddie would. He still spent his usual two to three hours a night on his laptop, but now he'd sit there the entire time with the baby in his lap, typing one-handed. Freddie would talk to him, hold out little toys in front of him to try and stimulate his little brain, even read to him. But the one thing he didn't want was the baby sleeping in our bed. Freddie insisted it wasn't safe, and that it would spoil him. But I didn't care. I'd put my foot down. I wanted my son in bed with me, cuddled up against me where I KNEW he'd be safe. That only seemed to make Freddie madder for some reason. I hated that we were fighting, but I didn't really know how to fix it. Just like I didn't know how to fix my body, other than stop eating so much, work out, all of that.

Ugh, my body. Must find clothes to hide it. I continued to rummage through my closet, ignoring Carly's frustrated sigh.

CRASH!

"Carly!" Freddie yelled from the living room. "Help me!"

Sam and I exchanged worried looks as another loud bang echoed through the apartment, and then the sound of the baby crying.

"Leah! Get away from my laptop!"

"No!"

"Oh, lord..." Carly muttered, rising to her feet. "I better go see what the problem is..."

BANG!

"Carly! Just because you can handle a bunch of kids at one time doesn't mean I can! Help me!" Freddie yelled.

Carly rolled her eyes, heading for the living room. "What's wrong with you? Heather help him!"

I sighed, trying to focus on finding an outfit that didn't make me look huge, until my eyes settled on a loose-fitting checkered shirt. That'll work, I thought to myself as I whipped my nightgown off over my head and pulled the shirt off the hanger. As I did, the door swung open, and in walked Freddie with the baby.

"Hey, Sam..."

"Geez!" I yelled, startled, and quickly spun around so my back was to him, pulling my shirt on quickly. I turned around to see Freddie giving me an incredulous, but pissed off look, his jaw in a firm line.

"You've gotta be fucking kidding me," he growled, laying the baby in the center of the bed.

"What'd I tell you about swearing in front of the baby?" I snapped.

Freddie crossed his arms over his chest, shaking his head. "He doesn't understand words yet! And forget about that for a second, you're telling me I'm not even allowed to look at you now? Are you serious, Sam? What's wrong with you?"

"Nothing!" I yelled. "You just...caught me off-guard, that's all."

"Bullshit," he growled. "You're lying."

"Don't call me a liar!"

"Okay, then take your shirt off," he said with a shrug, and I shook my head.

"I...I can't," I said weakly, looking down. "I've gotta get ready, Carly doesn't have much time, and...where are you going?"

"Upstairs to hang out with Brad," he replied gruffly. "You taking the baby, or am I?"

"It's up to you..." I said with a shrug, and he just growled at me.

"Fine," he replied, picking little Freddie back up. "Let me know when you've stopped being absolutely crazy."

"I am not crazy!" I shot back, and Freddie calmly walked toward me until we were only inches apart.

"I dunno what pisses me off more," he said. "The fact that you won't even let me touch you...or the fact that you think I'm so damn shallow that a few extra pounds would bother me. I love you, Sam. Get it through your damn head." With that, he turned, heading for the door.

"Wait, Freddie!" I cried. "You don't have a right to be upset about this! Can't we talk?"

"I'll talk when you stop being so stupid," he replied, grabbing the baby's diaper bag and then walking out of the room. A minute later I heard the door slam, and I sighed, falling back onto the bed.

"Heather, if you don't watch Leah, I'm not buying you a thing!" Carly yelled as she walked in, sitting down on the bed. "What happened?"

I shrugged, staring at the ceiling. "You wouldn't get it."

"Why not?"

"Because you've never had this problem before."

"What problem?" she exclaimed, and I shrugged. She sighed, flipping her hair out of her face. "So what happened?"

"He just...caught me off-guard when he walked in...and so I just pulled my shirt on over my head real quick-like, and he got upset by that."

Carly nodded, thinking for a moment. "Well, he wouldn't have gotten that upset if it were a one time thing, so how long has this been going on?"

"I don't know," I grumbled. "Five or six days..."

"A week?" Carly exclaimed. "Sam! No wonder! Have you let him get anywhere near you since then?"

"Why?" I replied. "It's not like we can have sex yet, and...I'm not exactly looking forward to it."

"What?" Carly asked softly, completely shocked. "Sam. What's the matter with you? So what if you can't have sex, it didn't stop you guys from being all over each other when you were pregnant. What changed?"

"Look at me," I said. "I'm disgusting."

"You are not!" Carly exclaimed. "And if Freddie's willing to get into an argument with you over it, then obviously he doesn't think so either! You've gotta stop this, Sam, or it's going to cause some really big problems with you two."

"I know," I sighed. "But...just the idea of him seeing me like this, it's mortifying. And...it's not only that."

"Then what?" Carly asked, her eyebrows going up.

"What if it hurts?" I replied. "I just had a baby, and that hurt like hell. And..what if it doesn't feel the same? What if we don't have the same spark? What if..."

"Well you're never going to know unless you try, Sam! And you still have five more weeks to think about it," Carly reminded me. "But you gotta understand, the problem's all in your head. Freddie doesn't think of you any differently. The problem's you this time."

"I know the problem's me, Shay!" I barked. "My stupid brain, AND my stupid body."

"Ugh," Carly groaned. "You're being ridiculous. Sam, you look fine!"

"Whatever," I sighed. "Let's just go, okay?"

"You're not freaking out over Freddie running off with the baby?"

I shook my head. "Nah, he's in good hands with Freddie."

"And so are you," she reminded me. "He loves you, Sam. Anyone can see that."

"I know he does," I replied. "Guess I'm just not loving myself these days."

"And he helped you through that before, remember?" Carly said gently. "Come on, Sam. Don't go back to that girl. Please?"

"I'm trying really hard not to."

Deep down, I knew I was being silly. And I was trying to not feel this way, but I couldn't help it.

I just hoped Freddie wasn't too angry with me.

~*Freddie*~

"I am so pissed off I can't stand it," I growled as I sat on the floor of the studio, trying to release my frustration via taking apart one of the lights.

"I thought Sam told you to stop swearing in front of the kid," Brad commented as he gestured to Freddie Jr. who was safely strapped into his carseat, just looking around. I had to say, I had a pretty cool son. He was a very patient baby, and only made a lot of noise when he was hungry. That was definitely something he had in common with Sam. Girl could definitely be a beast when she was hungry. Come to think of it, she'd been pretty irritable the last few days...

Without bothering to respond to Brad's statement, I pulled my phone out of my pocket, dialing Sam.

"Hello?"

"Have you left yet?" I asked, standing up and walking back and forth like I normally did when I was on the phone.

"Yeah, why? Is something wrong?"

"When's the last time you ate something?" I responded. "I don't remember seeing you eat breakfast this morning."

"I'll get something at the mall," she replied, and I sighed.

"You're really starting to worry me, you know that?"

"I'm fine, Freddie."

"Sam," I said softly. "You're not fine, and I don't know how to fix this."

"Then stop trying. I don't need you to be on my case about eating. When I'm hungry, I'll eat."

"But you're always hungry!"

The line went quiet for a minute, and I instantly regretted saying that.

"Thanks for reminding me," Sam said flatly. "Have fun with Brad. Don't forget to change the baby."

"I'm not going to forget to change the baby. And I'm not going to forget about this either. I'm gonna stay on your ass about it."

"Goodie for me," she grumbled. "Bye."

"Wait, Sam! I -"

Click.

"...Love you," I finished, rolling my eyes. "Ugh."

"Dude..." Brad said, giving me a worried look. "What's going on?"

"Nothing, just Sam being crazy," I grumbled, sitting back down to finish working on the lights.

"Crazier than normal?"

"Way more," I sighed. "Man! She's driving me nuts! She's being so damn insecure..."

"Ever thought of trying to reassure her on those insecurities? In your special Freddie way?"

"Yeah, if she'd let me get anywhere near her!" I shot back. "This morning, while she was getting dressed, I walked in, and she freaked out and covered herself up! Did you hear me? She covered herself up! I dunno what to do, man!"

"Whoa...that's really bad," Brad said with a shake of his head. "And you think she's not eating?"

"She ate dinner last night, but I don't know if she ate breakfast or lunch, and I haven't seen her eat anything today. What am I supposed to do, dude?"

"Maybe you're overreacting..."

"She turned down a Fat Cake last night!" I yelled, and Brad gave me a horrified look.

"Oh my god. Okay, yeah, something's not right with that girl. Do we need to stage an intervention?"

"Probably NOT a good idea," I responded with a roll of my eyes. "I'm really hoping she gets over this, man. She looks great."

"I dunno what to say, man..." Brad replied with a shrug. "All of my ideas involve force-feeding her and catching her off-guard in the shower."

"And people say you're not a gentleman."

"Well, whatever. So other than that, how goes it? Everything all good with junior over there?"

I just smirked, looking over at my son, who had drifted off to sleep at some point again. "Yeah, he's awesome," I responded. "So...speaking of babies, did you figure out what you were going to do?"

"Yeah, I did," Brad replied.

"And?"

"We're taking the baby," he said simply, and my eyebrows went up.

"I hope you know what you're getting into, man."

"Why does everyone keep saying that?"

"Because it's true!" I exclaimed.

"Well, I do know. But it's what's right. And Carly's okay with it. She's even going with me to mass tomorrow."

"Mass?" I repeated. "Really?"

"Yeah. Something wrong with that?"

"No! Damn, why is everyone on edge so much these days?" I barked. "You guys keep it up and I'm gonna start putting Xanax in everyone's food."

"Might be an improvement," Brad grumbled. "Man, I dunno though, it just feels right to go back."

"I agree," I replied. "If you think it's best for you. Go for it."

"Yeah, should be good for all of us," Brad replied.

We went back to working on technical issues for the show, wanting everything to be perfect for next Friday, which would be Sam's official return to iCarly. For the last few months, we'd been making due without her, but it wasn't easy. I wasn't a huge fan of being on camera, and neither was Brad, but we had to alternate so Carly wouldn't be without a co-host. But still, it wasn't the same without Sam. The fans were for the most part sympathetic, but I'd actually been able to chart a drop in ratings since Sam had been on bedrest. She was an integral part of the show, and I was so happy she was finally going to be able to be back on camera.

Even if she wasn't being the same Sam right now. I knew I shouldn't be coming down on her so hard, because I had no clue what was going on in her head. It couldn't be easy watching your entire body change in a matter of months, and I guess got her frustration that she didn't look exactly the same. Plus, she was probably still burning off some pregnancy hormones. But I couldn't help it, she worrying me, frustrating me. I got that we still couldn't have sex, but I missed touching her. I missed being able to cuddle up to her, hold her, kiss her whenever I wanted. I was going to have to think of something to get her out of this funk.

"Man, don't take this the wrong way or anyway, but if you would've just let Sam take the baby, we could be at the gym right now, working off some frustration. Because I've got it in spades right now, and you? You really look like you wanna hit something right now."

"I kinda do," I responded with a nod. "But seriously...mark my words, by the age of three, I'm teaching this kid how to box."

"I'm sure Sam will be more than happy to help out with that," Brad said with a laugh, and my brow furrowed. "Okay...that was a joke..."

"I know," I replied absentmindedly. "Just thinking."

"About?"

"Nothing...I mean, I'm not even sure if it work..."

"If what would work?"

"She could get mad. Or worse."

"Wait, what could she get mad about?" Brad asked. "And number two, what on EARTH is worse than Sam Benson being mad? That's how people die, man!"

"Sad Sam. I would take a lifetime of beatings from Angry Sam if it meant Sad Sam wouldn't come up," I responded, biting my lip. "And she's already pretty down, so...man. I just don't know."

"Care to share?" Brad asked, and I shook my head, standing up and grabbing the baby's carseat, heading for the door. "Where are you going?"

"Look, if I text you in an hour, be ready to go, okay?"

"Go where?"

"You think Carly could watch the baby for like an hour or two?" I responded. "If not, I could get my mom to do it."

"Why?" Brad yelled. "I hate being left out of the loop, man! You're de-looping me again!"

"Just shut up!" I replied. "If it works, I'll loop you, okay?"

Brad grinned at me. "That sounded a little dirty."

"Dude!"

"Why, Mr. Benson, I never realized..." Brad teased, wiggling his eyebrows, then laughed as I shoved him back with one arm.

"You're ridiculous sometimes, you know that?" I laughed, shaking my head, and Brad shrugged.

"Got you to stop being so serious, didn't it? So I guess you won't be cluing me in then?"

"Not until I see if it works or not."

"Fine," Brad sighed.

"Later, man. I wanna get there before she does," I responded, and with that, headed out of the studio and downstairs, out of the apartment and towards the elevator. As I stepped on, I heard a soft little noise that was unmistakably my son, and I looked down to find him peering at me.

"Hey, buddy," I said, giving him a smile. "You finally decide to wake up?"

Of course, he couldn't answer me, but he did start crying out of nowhere, and I sighed, setting the carseat on the floor and unstrapping him, picking him up and bouncing him a little.

"Shh. It's okay. Your mommy will be here soon."

More crying.

I sighed, rocking him back and forth. "You're either hungry, or you need to be changed." I waited for the elevator doors to open, picking up the carseat and walking to our apartment, unlocking the door and walking in. "So let's try both, just to be on the safe side."

I made quick work of changing his diaper, then fed him, relieved he'd stopped crying. Still, it was pretty cool, having the power to do that. I frowned when I realized I was not having the same effect on his mother. I was supposed to make Sam feel better, it was my job as her husband, and she was having all this stuff going on in her head that I wasn't even aware of. It made me feel horrible. I just hoped I'd be able to fix it.

After I finished feeding Freddie Jr, I laid down on the couch with him resting on my chest, rubbing his back so he'd fall asleep faster. Eventually I fell asleep too. I don't know how I slept for, but I slowly became aware of something touching my forehead. Then the feeling of something else on my neck and around my face, which I quickly realized was hair. I didn't even have to open my eyes to know it was Sam, kissing me on the forehead.

"I'm sorry," I heard her whisper. "I love you."

My eyelids fluttered open as she pulled away, and I grabbed her arm, pulling her back, and then letting my hand go into her hair so I could pull her back down to me. She stared at me for a moment, and just like every time I looked at her, I found myself lost in those beautiful big blue eyes of hers. Suddenly she kissed me, and it surprised me, because for the past few days I'd been having to initiate everything. But she kissed me like things were normal, and man, it felt good. It was hard to keep still, to not just quickly sit up and ravage her, but I couldn't do that with the baby laying on me. So I just laid there, content to kiss her. She finally pulled away, pressing her forehead against mine, and let out a sigh.

"Baby, talk to me," I whispered. "Please."

"There's nothing to say that I haven't said before."

I sighed, my hand going to Freddie Jr's back so I could sit up without dropping him, and Sam sat down on the couch next to me, laying her head on my shoulder.

"I can't help how I feel," she said.

"I know that, baby. And under normal circumstances I wouldn't say this, but this time...the way you're feeling...it's wrong. You look amazing."

"I don't feel amazing," she grumbled.

It seemed like a shopping trip with Carly had mellowed her out, so I decided to press my luck. My eyes dropped down the carseat sitting on the ground a few feet away, and I inched my body down the couch a little, catching the edge of the carseat with my foot and pulling it closer to me so I could put the baby in it. Then I turned back to Sam, one arm going around her so she couldn't move away and pulling her against me.

"I bet you feel pretty damn amazing," I growled as I kissed her neck.

She gasped in surprise, one hand gripping my arm as I took my time kissing over her neck, and for a second I thought I was beginning to make some progress, but as soon as I tried to start inching up her shirt, she seized up, and pushed me away.

"Don't, okay?" she said, resting her elbows on her legs and looking down at the ground. I sighed, my head falling back in frustration.

"I don't know how I'm supposed to help you, Sam."

"You think I know how?" she snapped. "You think I like feeling like this? Do you think I like worrying all the time that how I look now is gonna throw you off, or worse, disgust you?"

"You're not gonna throw me off, OR disgust me, Sam!" I yelled. "Dammit, I can't keep doing this!"

"Sorry I'm so damn fat!" she yelled, standing up and heading for the bedroom, but I quickly rose to my feet, grabbing her arm and pulling her against me.

"You are not FAT," I hissed into her ear. "Knock it off."

"I am," she said weakly. "Quit trying to make me feel better. Quit lying to me. Just let me go."

"Fine," I growled. "I'll stop trying to make you feel better. Go change your clothes."

"What?" she asked, whirling around to face me. "What is that supposed to mean?"

"I'm taking you with me to the gym. Now go change."

"Why?" she asked, her hands on her hips. "Because I'm fat?"

"No!" I shouted. "Because you're driving me insane! What just happened on the couch is the most you've let me touch you in a week! I can't deal with that! I NEED to touch you, Sam. I feel like that connection we had is dropping off, and if the only thing standing between us getting that back is you dropping five pounds so you'll feel better about yourself, then I'm taking your ass to the gym!"

"Ten pounds," Sam grumbled, and I rolled my eyes.

"Whatever," I responded. "Just go change already, I'm gonna text Brad and get all the baby's stuff together."

"Wait, what?" Sam asked, backing up. "What are you doing with my baby?"

"Uh, OUR baby?" I corrected her, agitated. "And Carly's gonna watch her for a little while."

Sam sighed, biting her lip, and fidgeted a little, which meant she wasn't comfortable with the idea, but didn't want to say so. I sighed, kissing on her forehead.

"Carly will take good care of the baby, honey. We won't be gone that long. Come on, I just want you to feel better."

"And what if it doesn't?" she asked, and I shrugged.

"Then we'll try something else. If you can think of something else that'll help, tell me. I'll listen."

Sam shrugged, looking down. "I just wish..."

"You just wish what?"

"You know I'm not entirely comfortable with myself right now, but you're still kinda pushing me. And it's not like I don't want you touching me, it's just...I don't know. It's hard to describe."

"So do you want me to stop then?" I asked, and she nodded, letting out a sigh.

"I'm sorry," she said softly. "I just..."

"It's okay, sweetheart," I reassured her. "You want me to back off until you're a little more comfortable, I can do that." It'd be hard as HELL, and I'd probably die in the process, but I guess I could do it, if that's what Sam wanted. I just hoped it wouldn't go on for too long.

"Look," Sam said, tucking a piece of hair behind her ear. "It's not just the whole...weight issue. I'm worried that it'll hurt...that it won't feel the same as before."

"Baby..." I said softly, taking a step toward her. "You know I'd never hurt you."

"Not on purpose," she said. "But come on, I just had a kid."

"We still have five more weeks to wait on that," I reminded her. "And what do you mean it won't feel the same?"

"For you, I mean..." she said, and I shook my head.

"I'm not worried about that. But...again, you want me to back off, stop being so...determined, I will. I just thought...I dunno. If I kept pushing you, you'd realize that I still think you're absolutely beautiful. Because I do. I love you, baby. I love you so much. Nothing will change that."

"I know," she said, nodding. "And I love you too. And I'm sorry I'm acting like this, I can't help it, I just..."

"It's cool, baby. Now go get dressed, okay? If anything, you'll be able to work off some frustration."

"I still don't know," she said uncertainly.

"I'll let you hit Brad," I offered, and her eyebrows went up.

"I'm in," she said simply, and with that, headed for the bedroom, shutting the door behind her. I shook my head, setting myself to the task of gathering up the baby's stuff as I pulled my phone out of my pocket to call Brad.

"Hey man, you ready to go?"

"Yeah, but...where the hell are we going?"

"Gym."

"Aw, sweet!" Brad replied. "Just give me ten minutes and I'll..."

"...with Sam."

"What?" Brad cried. "Aw, dude, I am not taking a punch from her!"

"Oh, come on man!" I said. "I've done worse stuff for you!"

"Like what?"

"I taught you that thing that Carly likes! You owe me, bro!"

"No way! That was three years ago, asshole!"

"You still owe me!"

"Ugh, fine..." Brad grumbled. "You still want Carly to watch the baby?"

"Yep. Come to think of it, she owes me too."

"I hate you so much sometimes," Brad replied. "But alright. Bring the baby upstairs when you're ready to go."

"Okay. Should be just a few minutes, Sam's changing."

"Why do I feel like this is going to be a disaster?" Brad asked, but I ignored him.

"Later, man," I stated, and with that, hung up the phone and finished packing up the baby's stuff. Sam came out a few moments later, in a tank top, zip up sweatshirt, and cropped yoga pants, pulling her hair into a ponytail.

"Are you ready?" she asked, and I nodded.

"Yeah, I'll change at the gym, I've got clothes in the car."

"Okay," she said. "And you're sure the baby's gonna be okay?"

"Come on, sweetheart, he'll be with Carly. You know she loves him, and we won't be that far away, alright?"

She nodded. "Okay. Let's go."

Twenty five minutes later, after we'd left the baby with Carly, we were standing around in the gym. Sam was a little hesitant to jump into any sort of set routine, and Brad had vehemently protested getting in the ring with her, which left only one option: teaching Sam how to box, and letting her use me as a practice dummy. The thought made me a little nervous, and I'd most likely end up with a few bruises, but anything to make my sweet wife feel better. It'd be worth it, at least I hoped it would be.

"Dude, I'm seriously thinking this is a bad idea," Brad told me as I sat on the bench, lacing up my gloves.

"What makes you think that?" I asked, and Brad shrugged.

"Sam hasn't gotten into a physical altercation in years, she's probably off her game. There is a slight possibility you could hurt her, you do realize that, right?"

I shrugged, lifting my head to look in the direction of Sam, who just walking around in circles in the middle of the ring, growing impatient.

"Hey, baby?" I called.

"Yeah?"

"Brad thinks I might hurt you."

"Brad's a pussy! Get up here!"

I looked over at Brad, smirking a little. "Sweet AND delicate, huh?"

"Like a daffodil," Brad muttered with a roll of his eyes. "Fine, whatever."

"I think it'll be alright," I replied as I rose to my feet. I looked over at Sam again, who was stretching, and my eyes widened at the sight of her bent over. Damn. She better not take this working out thing too far, because if she loses that ass, I might get upset. Still, I couldn't help but shoot a grin over at Brad. "Yeah, this'll be fun."

With that, I climbed into the ring, giving Sam a smile.

"Promise you're not gonna kill me?" I asked her, and she shrugged.

"I'll do my best."

"Duly noted," I said. "Okay, gloves up, like this." I let my fists come up close to my face, elbows bent. "Legs shoulder width apart. Good. Now try and hit me."

She pulled back and swung, growling when I easily dodged it, and I just smirked at her.

"Try putting a little more heat on it, baby. I know you can."

"Fine. Dodge this!" she stated, swinging again, hitting my glove.

"Okay, that was better, but your form's a little off."

"What?" she exclaimed, looking irritated, and I knew exactly what she was thinking. She'd spent our entire teenage years beating the crap out of me, and now I was teasing her about not being able to hit me. Maybe a little bit of teasing was exactly what she needed to get her ass in gear, and besides, I was having a little fun with it.

After a few missed swings at me and me unable to keep from laughing at her, she lost her temper and just started swinging aimlessly at me. I didn't miss a beat, darting back and forth this way and that, and when she started to tire and became less frequent with her attempted hits, I darted behind her, briefly pressing against her and kissing the side of her neck.

"Whatsa matter, baby?" I teased in her ear breathily. "Can't hit me?"

I kissed her neck again, pressing against her a little more firmly, and she let out a gasp. I couldn't tell if she was mad or turned on, but in any case I didn't stay there long enough for her to figure it out, just moved away and then positioned myself in front of her again.

"Come on, Sam. Hit me."

She growled at me once more, before finally getting a hit in, hitting me square in the middle of my chest and sending me back a step. I grimaced, my hand going to the spot she'd hit, and she just shrugged.

"Better," I said, "But maybe something more like this." With that, I fired off and hit her in the shoulder, nowhere near as hard as I'd ever hit Brad or anyone else I'd sparred with, but I ended up putting more heat on it than I'd wanted to, and a pained expression went across her face as she gripped her shoulder.

Oh, shit.

"Baby, I'm sorry...I didn't mean to hit you that hard...are you okay?"

The corners of her mouth turned down, her eyebrows went up, and she nodded. I knew that look, it meant she was impressed, and that was surprising.

"Not bad," she said. "I mean, I knew you were a pretty good shot, just never been on the other end of it before."

"So I didn't hurt you?"

"I just pushed a human being out of my loins a week ago! I'm fine!" she replied, her gloves going up. "But I bet you can't hit me like that again. I can hop around like you can."

I couldn't help but grin at her, shaking my head a little. "So it's on, then?"

Wham!

"Damn, Sam!" I barked, grabbing my arm. "Warn me!"

"That was your warning," she said with a smile, her eyebrows going up mischievously, and I just smirked.

"Okay, fine. Don't hit me in my face or my crotch, got it?"

"Don't hit me in my face or my boobs."

"Wouldn't dream of it, baby. Now come on, go time. Hit me like you mean it."

With that, it really was on, and I was surprised how easily some of the old stuff had come back to her. She was definitely giving me a run for my money. We mostly ended up blocking each other's hits, but the ones she did manage to get in, they stung. But I was definitely having fun with it. It reminded me of when we were kids, and then of course, watching Sam all red-faced, sweaty, and out of breath...that definitely made me think of something else.

Yeah, I was a little turned on, but I couldn't help it. It'd been a week and a half since we'd been able to have any serious make out time, and over four months since I'd made love to her. But I was going to keep my promise about not pushing her. If anything, I was going to take it to the extreme...tease her, make her crazy, until she just lost it and caved. I just wondered if it would work.

After about ten minutes of going back and forth, I began to get way overheated, and put Sam on hold for a second long enough to whip my shirt off, tossing it to the ground.

"Okay," I said, turning back to her, and that's when I noticed her eyes traveling over my body, a very familiar look on her face. That dark, turned on look. She looked like she wanted to eat me alive.

"Baby?" I asked. "You ready? Round two?"

"Huh?" she asked, finally snapping out of her trance. "I mean...yeah. Yeah. Let's go."

"Okay," I replied, walking past her and pausing for a second, so close I was almost touching her, but not quite. I lingered for a second, then brushed past her, turning to her face her. "Baby? Snap out of it, honey. What's the matter? You tired?"

"No...just...frustrated," she grumbled, and I pretended not to hear her.

"Sorry, what'd you say?"

"Uh, nothing. Let's just..." she bit her lip, studying the sight of me shirtless again. "Round two. Come on."

Yeah, this was definitely going to work.


	64. Chapter 64: Nowhere Fast

**A/N: Heyyy! Sorry it's been so long since I updated, I've been traveling for work doing store inventories and I've honestly been too busy. This chapter's a little on the short side, but I'm just getting back into the swing of things. All I ask is that you keep an open mind about this chapter...and have a little bit of sympathy for Freddie.**

**Chapter Sixty Four  
>Nowhere Fast<strong>

~*Freddie*~

This definitely wasn't working.

I was beginning to reach the end of my rope as far as Sam was concerned, and it was really starting to wear me down.

I didn't know what to do any more. I'd done everything I could think. I'd tried being more determined as far as physical contact was concerned, and that failed. So I tried backing off, letting her come to me in her own time, and that hadn't worked either. Every time I tried talking to her, I hit a brick wall, and I was running out of ideas.

We'd kept up the gym thing for awhile, and it was making a difference, at least with helping Sam lose weight, which was what she was concerned over. But she'd lost almost seven pounds, and she was still being weird. I didn't know what to do any more, if anything at all would make a difference.

And I hated to admit it, but I was starting to become jealous of my son.

I loved the baby so much, but Sam literally never put him down. She was always holding him, always fussing over him. Even my mom had pointed out that Sam was too attached...and my mother was the queen of overbearing parents! That was really saying something, if you ask me.

And don't even get me started over the whole sleeping arrangement issue. I'd literally begged Sam over and over to put Freddie Jr. in his crib, but it had fallen on deaf ears. She refused, and would sleep with him all cuddled up against her every night. Like I said, I loved my son, but the whole holding Sam all night thing? That was my job! It was like the girl didn't even need me any more, and I'll be honest, it hurt.

We were arguing like crazy, had been for the last two weeks, and it was really wearing me down. I'd even had to up my dosage of Xanax just to keep myself in check, and that seemed to aggravate Sam even more. We were going downhill fast, and I didn't know how to fix it.

As I trudged down the hallway, fresh from class, I took a deep breath, preparing for another fight. It happened more often than not, and I definitely didn't need it today, not when we had a production meeting in less than an hour.

I stuck my key in the door slowly, trying to not make a lot of noise, and pushed the door open, looking around. No sign of Sam. I knew she was here, I'd seen the car parked in the parking deck when I came home. I set my bag down, heading for the bedroom.

I smiled when I caught sight of my son's sleeping form on the bed, surrounded by pillows. He couldn't roll over yet, of course, but Sam went to great lengths to make sure he was safe at all times. I wasn't angry at Sam for loving our son. I was just...feeling a little left out, I guess.

I leaned over the bed to kiss Freddie Jr. lightly on the top of his head.

"Hey, buddy," I whispered, then stood up straight, looking in the direction of the bathroom. The door was cracked slightly, and judging by the small amount of steam creeping through, Sam had just gotten out of the shower.

Okay, don't just walk in there, Freddie. You'll just piss her off again.

Still, I couldn't stop myself from peeking through the door. If I got caught, I'd likely get yelled at, but I could help it. Sam was standing at the sink, putting some kind of hair product in her hair. She wasn't wearing a towel, because it never stayed on when she blow dried her hair, and I couldn't stop staring at her.

Man, even though I was super-pissed at her, I couldn't deny how absolutely incredible she looked. She was absolutely crazy, thinking something was wrong with her. She was beautiful. I just wanted to shove the door open, walk up behind her, wrap my arms around her, and kiss all over that beautiful body. But again, I'd just get yelled at.

This was such bullshit. I shouldn't have to spy on my wife! Suddenly overcome with irritation, I banged on the door.

"Sam? You in there?"

"Yeah," she replied. "How was class?"

"It was fine. I kinda need to get in there, take a shower before we go to the production meeting, so hurry up, okay?"

Ugh, it was like I was talking to a roommate!

"You can come in," she replied.

Huh? Maybe I misheard her or something...

"I said, you can come in...I mean, unless you don't want to look at me or something."

"Sam!" I scolded her, pushing the door open. "I'm getting really sick of this shit, you know that? There's nothing wrong with you!"

"Whatever," she said flatly.

I was pretty sure my brain had shut down at that point, that was the only explanation for what happened next when I suddenly grabbed her shoulders and pushed her against the bathroom wall.

"Have you lost your mind?" I shouted. "What the hell's your problem? You don't want me near you, you go out of your way to come up with some kind of an excuse why I can't touch you...is all of this an act or something? Maybe you think you look fine. Maybe you just don't want me touching you any more."

"That's not true," she said softly, and that's when I caught that frightened, deer in headlights look in her eyes. "Let go of me. Please?"

I moved away from her, taking a deep breath. "Sorry. I'm sorry."

One shoulder lifted in a shrug, and then she reached up to grab her robe, pulling it on. "Don't do that again."

"Sam, I..."

"I need to check on the baby," she said quietly, pushing past me and walking out of the bathroom. "We need to leave in half an hour."

"Wait...Sam!"

"Just get ready, okay?" With that, she closed the bathroom door, leaving me alone. I stood there for a moment, clenching and unclenching my fists repeatedly.

Oh my god, why had I just done that? I knew I was frustrated, just not THAT frustrated. What was wrong with me?

"Dammit!" I roared, slinging my arm forward and knocking everything off the bathroom counter. I leaned against the door, taking deep breaths, trying to calm myself down, and I caught a glimpse of my own reflection in the mirror. I just shook my head, staring myself down.

"Get ahold of yourself, Benson," I growled.

But I couldn't. I felt like I couldn't control anything any more. Not my own behavior, not the way Sam felt about herself, and it was like she didn't even need my help with the baby any more.

I was really, truly starting to lose it. I rifled through the medicine cabinet, pulling out one of my pens and the bottle of Xanax, hastily pulling the cap off and pulling one of the pills out, popping it into my mouth and chewing it. I grimaced at the taste, it was horrible, but I didn't care. I didn't have time to wait for it to dissolve in my stomach, I needed to get a handle on things now.

After I took my shot, I took a quick shower, toweling off and heading into the bedroom, anxious to talk to Sam. I felt a little better after the pill had kicked in, but that didn't mean she did. She was sitting on the bed quietly, feeding the baby, dressed and ready to go.

"I'm sorry, Sam," I said quietly, and she looked up at me.

"It's okay," she replied. "I know this whole thing makes you upset."

I shook my head fervently. "It's not okay. I had no business doing that."

"You're right, you didn't. If it happens again, I'm gone."

I sighed, trying to keep a grip on myself. "Baby..."

"But I know it won't," she finished.

I sat down on the other side of the bed, looking down at the floor, silent as I tried to think of something to say.

"I'm losing you, aren't I?" I asked in a choked voice, still staring at the ground. I was surprised when she suddenly reached out and grabbed my hand, lifting it to her lips and planting a soft kiss on my palm.

"No. You're not."

"I feel like I am."

"Don't give up on me," she whispered, and I shook my head.

"I'd never give up on you. But...what just happened...maybe I don't deserve you."

"Baby..." Sam replied, laying the baby down in the center of the bed and sliding over to me, crawling behind me and rubbing my shoulders. "You just lost your head for a second. It's okay."

I shook my head. "It's not. I was out of line. All I can do is promise you it'll never happen again."

"I know," she replied, kissing the side of my neck. "I love you, baby. You know that. This is my issue, not yours."

"Makes me feel like I'm not doing my job," I grunted, and she sighed.

"Look, we'll talk about this later, okay? Get dressed, we've gotta go. I'm gonna put the baby's stuff together, just come out when you're ready."

With that, she stood up, leaning over to grab the baby and then walking out of the room, leaving me to get dressed.

Ugh, I felt so incredibly guilty, like an absolute piece of shit. I did the one thing I swore I'd never do...putting my hands on my wife in an aggressive way. What was I thinking? Was I even thinking at all? I needed to talk to Brad about this, get some perspective on this whole thing.

Sam and I were silent in the elevator, neither of us sure what to say. The tension was so thick, it was like you could cut it with a knife. I was actually relieved when the doors opened and Sam and I stepped out, heading down the hallway.

"I'm gonna take the baby to your mom's," she said. "I'll be there in a minute."

"Okay," I replied, looking down at the ground awkwardly, shoving my hands in my pockets. "I'm really sorry, Sam. I don't know what came over me, I..."

"It's fine, Freddie," she interrupted. "I'll be at Carly's in just a sec, okay? I love you."

"Love you too," I replied, before knocking on Carly's door. It creaked open a moment later, revealing Brad.

"Sup, dude?" he asked, frowning when I grabbed him by his arm suddenly. "Whoa...what up?"

"I need to talk to you..." I muttered. "I fucked up. I fucked up bad."

Brad gave me a worried look, obviously concerned. "Okayyy. Let's go upstairs then."

I nodded, and we headed upstairs to the studio, where Carly was already sitting, going over some notes.

"Hey, Freddie," she said.

"Hey," I said flatly.

"What's wrong?" she asked. "Are you and Sam still having problems?"

"That's an understatement," I grumbled. "Man...I...fuck..."

Carly and Brad shot worried looks at each other, and I just flopped down onto one of the beanbags, my head in my hands.

"Uh, babe, give us a second, okay?" Brad asked. "This seems pretty serious..."

"Sure..." she replied, giving me a strange look. "I'll be...downstairs."

With that, she left, shutting the door behind her, leaving Brad to lean against the desk and stare at me, arms crossed over his chest.

"Alright, out with it."

I sighed, leaning back in the beanbag. "I pushed Sam."

"What?" Brad exploded. "Dude! What the fuck? What is the matter with you?"

"I don't know!" I yelled. "Man, I just lost it! Like...I just...man...I don't know what's wrong with me. I just started thinking, you know? This whole body thing she's dealing with? What if it's an act? She lost the weight! She looked fine before, and she looks fine now! But it's still not enough...or...it's not even real."

"What do you mean?" he asked, his brow furrowing, and I sighed.

"I thought I was making progress with her. But...she still doesn't want me to touch her. She keeps the baby superglued to her. I can't get close to her any more. She...she won't let me."

"Man," Brad sighed. "I knew she was getting a little out of control as far as the baby was concerned, but...this isn't good."

"No, it's not," I agreed. "I don't know what to do any more, Brad. I'm fucking losing it. If...if she decides she doesn't want to be with me any more, I know I won't be able to handle it."

"I think you're worrying about this a little prematurely, but shoving her definitely isn't going to help you in that regard, dude."

"I know! I feel like shit, man! How am I supposed to fix this?"

"Don't do it again!" he barked.

"Well, obviously!" I shot back.

"I'm starting to think you have a problem, man. If you're getting this jacked up about not getting laid..."

"It's not about that!" I responded. "I feel like she doesn't even need me any more. She doesn't need my help with the baby, she won't talk to me about anything...it's bad, Brad! I feel completely useless, and it's bullshit!"

"Okay," Brad said, hopping up on the desk. "First of all, the baby needs to be in his crib."

"I know that, but she's not gonna go for it."

"Well, too bad. You've gotta put your foot down on this. You guys need some reconnecting, and in a big way. Starting tonight. And you should probably think about upping your Xanax again."

"I did," I grumbled.

"And you're still freaking out?"

"Yes."

"Oh, man," Brad sighed. "I dunno what to tell you, man..."

At that moment, the door opened, revealing Carly and Sam, and Brad and I both stopped talking. Carly eyed us strangely, but Sam just gave me this look, like she wasn't happy with me, but she wasn't going to talk about it. She did that a lot lately. It seemed to make me feel even worse.

"Everything okay?" Carly asked cautiously, and Brad shrugged.

"I guess..."

"Did you tell him about the overage charge for bandwidth we got?"

"WHAT?" I roared. "How much?"

"Five hundred," Carly said weakly.

I stood up, staring off into space for a second, my jaw twitching back and forth angrily.

"Dude..." Brad began, putting his hand on my shoulder, but I just brushed him off.

"Dammit!" I yelled. "This is such bullshit! I knew we needed to upgrade again, but did I do anything? No! Of course not!"

"Freddie, it's okay," Sam said. "It's just five hundred. You can fix it tonight!"

"It's NOT okay!" I yelled. "I swear to god, I just can't do anything right, can I?"

Sam gave me a shocked look, quickly rushing over to me, her hands on my shoulders. "Baby, you gotta calm down, you're gonna have a panic attack!"

"I can't calm down," I said flatly. "I...first I fuck up with you, now this..."

Sam looked over at Carly, her hands still on my shoulders, and drew in a deep breath.

"Guys, we're gonna need to take a raincheck on the meeting tonight, okay?"

"Yeah, that's fine," Brad replied with a wave of his hand. "Dude, just...calm him down. He's seriously starting to lose it."

"Yeah, I know," she replied softly, looking back at me. "Come on, honey."

"Freddie, this isn't like you at all," Carly commented. "Are you sure you're okay?"

"I don't know," I replied with a shake of my head.

"He'll be fine, Carls," Sam responded, leading me toward the door. "Let's go, baby."

~*Sam*~

I quietly shut the door to the baby's room, turning around to look at Freddie, who was currently laying on the couch, staring up at the ceiling. I'd left the stereo on and the lights down low, trying to keep him calm, while I tried to get the baby to go to sleep.

Well, that was hard. Putting the baby to sleep in his own crib, I mean. Not just because it had taken over half an hour to get him to sleep, but I was obviously more attached to keeping the baby in bed with me than I'd thought.

Freddie and I had been arguing for weeks over this...putting little Freddie to sleep in his crib. I hated that it bothered him so much, but on the other hand, it absolutely killed me, just thinking about the idea of my son laying in his crib by himself every night. What if he got cold? What if he was lonely?

But Freddie had a point. I HAD been using the baby like a shield, always keeping him cuddled up against me in bed, and leaving Freddie to lay on the other side of the bed by himself and make frustrated noises all night. I'd gotten a lot better with this issue I was going through, absolutely hating my body. I'd lost about eight pounds, mostly thanks to Freddie and my new gym habit, but in my mind, it still wasn't good enough. So I did what I could to put some physical distance between us. I just hadn't entertained the possibility that Freddie would take it personally. I thought he knew, that it was about me and how I felt, not him. But he was starting to think I didn't want him! And it was really messing with him!

I'd been so busy attending to my responsibilities as a mother, I'd been neglecting my responsibilities as a wife. It definitely wasn't fair to Freddie. I was going to have to find a happy medium, and somehow I was going to have to get over my body issues, once and for all. Otherwise, we probably wouldn't be able to survive this.

I approached the couch cautiously, full of concern and worry for my sweet husband. I knew he'd been beating himself up all night about how he'd snapped on me. Honestly, it had scared me a little at first, but I knew Freddie, and I knew he'd never hurt me. It had scared me because I hadn't realized how much all of this was affecting him.

"The baby's down," I said softly, kneeling down next to the couch, and he nodded slowly.

"I'm sorry," he said. "You didn't have to put the baby in the crib, I know you don't want to..."

"Baby, just stop..." I replied, leaning forward to kiss him on the forehead. "You're right. It needed to happen. And I think he'll be okay."

"Yeah," Freddie responded.

"How are you feeling?" I asked, and he shrugged.

"Shitty."

"Baby, don't feel like that," I replied.

"How can I not?" he responded flatly. "I pushed you, Sam...I fucking pushed you...I'm a horrible husband."

"You're not!" I cried. "Baby! You're a wonderful husband! You made a mistake! Remember how I used to slap you across the face all the time? That was bad. And you still stayed. That's how I know you're a good husband. Because you wouldn't give up on me. Just like I won't give up on you."

"I feel like you don't even need me any more," he muttered, and my eyebrows went up.

"Are you kidding me? What would I do without you, baby? You're everything to me!" I shoved his legs aside, sitting down next to him. "What do I have to do to get you out of this funk?"

"Get up," he said, staring at me, and I shook my head slowly.

"Why?"

He just shook his head, giving me a sweet smile that caught me off-guard, considering we'd been arguing, and then reached for my hand, pulling me off the couch and then against him.

"Freddie..."

"Dance with me," he murmured, taking my arms and putting them around his neck. "I like this song."

I stared at him, slightly surprised, unable to keep the smile from creeping onto my face, and I just shook my head.

"What?"

"Just thinking..."

"About?"

"I've never...slow-danced with you. Or anyone, for that matter."

He frowned suddenly, pulling me closer to him. "You haven't?"

"Nope. Aside from our little grind-sessions at clubs and stuff...never really danced with anyone."

"Well, you're dancing with me now," he replied. "But I haven't slow-danced with anyone much either. Other than...your sister." He laughed at that, and I knew why. The first time he'd met Melanie, thinking I was just playing a prank on him, and that there was no Melanie.

"And Carly," I pointed out, and he frowned again, looking slightly surprised. "Girls' choice dance? I know you remember."

"I remember," he replied. "I just didn't know that you knew about it. Did Carly tell you?"

I shook my head. "No. I saw you two there together that night, and...I left before you saw me."

"Oh..." he said, seeming like he didn't know what to say to that. "I'm sorry, baby."

"I cried that night," I said softly, laying my head on his shoulder. "I wanted to be the one dancing with you, not her. You know I always gave you shit about her because I was jealous."

"Do you know how badly I wanted you to ask me to that dance?" he murmured, and I shook my head.

"You wanted the little blonde-headed demon to ask you to the girls' choice dance?"

"Desperately. But...if you would've found out...it wouldn't have been good, that's for sure."

"That's not true," I whispered as we continued to dance. "I loved you. I always did."

"You hid it well."

"So did you," I replied. "But I guess we couldn't keep it hidden forever, could we?"

"Nope," he responded.

We were quiet then, just content to be in each other's arms, swaying softly to the music, and a shiver went through me as I felt Freddie push my hair back, his fingertips barely grazing my ear, and then he bent his head down, his lips close to the side of my face.

"I'll be your crying shoulder, I'll be a love suicide," he sang softly. "I'll be better when I'm older, I'll be the greatest fan of your life."

He'd never really been the greatest singer, but it didn't really matter. The sound of his voice, low and sweet in my ear, it made my stomach flip-flop, nearly brought me to my knees. I loved him, more than anything. I loved being in his arms like this. He made me feel so safe, so happy, so loved. Had I forgotten that? Had I been so wrapped up in my own insecurities, how I felt about myself, that I'd completely ignored the opinion of the person who mattered most? It didn't matter how I felt about myself. I had a man who would live and die for me, it was his opinion that mattered.

I lifted my head back up, staring into his eyes, and he stared right back, the distance between us growing smaller, until he brushed his lips across mine. He stayed there for a moment, totally still, just trying to see what I would do. He expected me to pull away, I was sure of it, but I couldn't do that any longer. I kissed him back, with all the passion I could muster, weeks worth of frustration and longing finally coming out. He groaned against my mouth, kissing me back intensely.

"I love you," I whispered against his mouth.

"I love you, Sam," he responded, kissing me again. "Stop pushing me away...I can't take it. It...it makes me feel like you don't want me."

"I do want you," I replied softly. "I'll never push you away again."

He didn't respond to that comment, just surprised me by picking me up suddenly and carrying me to our bedroom, laying me down on the bed and then coming over me, kissing me passionately, one arm holding himself up and using his free hand to run down my side. I wasn't even thinking about my insecurities right now, all I could think about was the feeling of his mouth on mine, how good he tasted, the heat and weight of his body on mine. Oh god, I'd missed this...

I was acutely disappointed when he moved off me, but he just laid next to me, turning my face toward his and claiming my mouth with his, grabbing my leg and throwing it over him as he ground his hips into me.

"Oh, god..." I moaned as his mouth found my neck. "Freddie...baby..."

"I love you," he murmured against my skin. "You're so beautiful..."

We kept it up like that for awhile, kissing each other as we laid in our bed, like we couldn't get enough of each other. There hadn't been any intense, passionate lip-locking sessions between us for awhile now...for weeks. I'd been so wrapped up in body image issues, I had been afraid to. Afraid of him touching me, seeing me...the way my body had changed. But I didn't care any more. He loved me. I loved him.

And that was enough.

~*Brad*~

"I am absolutely exhausted," Carly moaned, laying back on the futon in our bedroom. I looked up from my laptop, slightly concerned.

"Leah does have a lot of energy..."

"I should kill you for giving her cookies before bed," she groaned. "But at least she's asleep now."

"Bryson too?" I asked, and Carly shrugged.

"He's laying in bed sketching. I'm sure he'll go to bed soon. At least he's being quiet."

"That's true," I agreed, and with that I went back to typing, working on another screenplay. The first one obviously hadn't been well-received, since I hadn't heard a response back yet, but that didn't mean I was going to give up. I just rarely had time to work on anything these days.

I was beginning to have doubts about this whole filmmaker thing. What if my father had been right about it being a pipe dream? I had a lot more to worry about nowadays, especially in terms of money. We couldn't keep doing iCarly forever, and after that, then what? I had to decide on a job, a career. It was frustrating to say the least, and a little intimidating too. The idea of working a normal job, normal hours...a suit and tie? Ugh, the thought made me cringe. I'd leave that to my best friend, because he seemed absolutely thrilled by the idea, but me? Not so much.

"Hey, did you leave your phone on silent all day?" Carly asked suddenly, and I shrugged.

"Probably...why?"

"It's blinking."

"Ugh," I groaned. "Probably Freddie, bitching about Sam again," I said as I reached for my phone.

Carly sat up, running a hand through her hair and hugged her knees to her chest. "I'm a little worried about them."

"Yeah?"

"It's weird. I mean, they're obviously having problems..."

"Sam's being really insecure," I said with a shrug. "She's being stupid."

"Brad!"

"What?" I shot back. "She is! She looks fine..."

"Well, obviously she doesn't think so!" Carly replied. "Come on, Brad...Sam's really hurting right now, you could at least be a little sympathetic."

"Yeah, well it's wearing Freddie down too," I responded. "You can tell. It's not like him to blow up over something stupid like an extra bandwidth charge."

"Yeah, that's true," Carly replied. "So was it Freddie that texted you?"

"Oh, shit. I forgot," I said, looking down at my phone. "Oh...it's not a text...it's a voicemail."

"So check it," Carly said with a shrug, picking up her guitar and tuning it.

"Okay," I replied. With that, I hit the send button on my voicemail and lifted the phone to my ear, my eyebrows lifting in surprise at what awaited me.

"This message is Brad Harrison, my name is Michelle McKay, I'm an agent for United Artists Management group. I'd like to talk to you about your screenplay. If you could give me a call whenever it's convenient for you, we can discuss representation. Thank you, have a great day."

"Holy shit!" I exclaimed, and Carly nearly dropped her guitar, startled.

"What?" she asked, looking over at me. "Brad! Who was it?"

"Holy...shit..." I repeated, shaking my head. She rolled her eyes, standing up and walking over to me.

"Give me the phone," she said, taking it from me and replaying the message, her eyes widening as she listened to it. "Oh my god..."

"Yeah..." I breathed. "Oh man, I was not expecting to hear anything back... I sent it away months ago!"

"Brad, this is awesome!" she squealed, leaning down to hug me. I was still a little in shock, barely able to hug her back. She looked over at the clock and rolled her eyes.

"It's after ten, it's too late to call now."

"Ow!" I hollered, rubbing the spot on the back of my head where she'd smacked me. "What the hell, Carly?"

"Stop leaving your phone on silent!" she barked. "And you'd better call this lady first thing in the morning!"

"Geez, you sound more excited than me."

"Baby," she replied, climbing into my lap and rubbing my shoulders. "I know how important this is to you. I want you to be happy, that's all. And I know this will make you happy."

"You make me happy," I reminded her, rubbing her back, and she gave me a sweet smile.

"You make me happy too," she responded, leaning down to kiss me, and my hand went to the back of her head so she couldn't pull away.

"Want me to make you super happy?" I said in a husky voice, and she nodded.

"Yeah...right now," she whispered. "Take me to bed."

"No argument there," I responded, picking her up and carrying her to the bed, laying her down gently and coming over her, kissing her softly. "I love you, babe."

"I love you too, Brad."

"Sure you don't want me to pick up Leah tomorrow?" I asked, and she shook her head. "I don't want you to be distracted while you're trying on wedding dresses."

"Well, Sam will be there," Carly responded. "She likes Sam."

"She hates Freddie," I laughed, and Carly rolled her eyes.

"That's because Freddie won't let her play with his laptop."

"True. But I can pick her up from school tomorrow if you'd like."

"No, it's fine," she replied, kissing me again. "Now shut up. Use your mouth for something more important than talking."

"Mmm, someone's being a dirty girl tonight," I teased, laughing when her cheeks reddened a little.

"You're still talking," she reprimanded me.

"Sorry," I responded, before kissing her neck. "Now...where was I? Right about...here?" I let my tongue travel over a particularly sensitive spot of hers, and she shivered.

"Yeah...right there," she responded. "Brad...baby...don't stop..."

"Never, babe..." I replied, continuing to kiss that spot that just drove her nuts.

I felt pretty bad for Freddie and Sam, but I was on cloud nine right now. Somebody was finally interested in my screenplay, and knowing Carly was dress shopping tomorrow only solidified the fact that we were getting married, that in about a year, she'd be Carly Harrison, my wife. I couldn't wait to spend the rest of my life with her.

"I love you, Brad..." she whispered.

"I love you too, babydoll. Forever and always."

God, did I love her. Forever and always.


	65. Chapter 65: Privilege

**Chapter Sixty Five  
>Privilege<strong>

~*Freddie*~

The sunlight streaming through the bedroom window was bright, too bright to keep laying in the spot where I was.

With a groan, I tried to roll over, but I realized I couldn't do that, because there was a weight pressing down on my chest keeping me from moving. I forced my eyes open, squinting through the bright sun. I was powerless to stop the smile on my face when it dawned on me that Sam was laying on my chest, her wild mane of tangled blonde hair covering her beautiful face.

We'd gone to sleep like that, and I realized we'd stayed like that all night. She had one leg thrown over me, her arms around me, and I reached down to brush the hair off her face. Even as she slept, she had this little half-smile on her face, so comfortable laying with me like this, like she didn't want to be anywhere else. And man, it felt good. We hadn't been able to lay like this in months. I never wanted it to end.

But geez, this sun in my face. Must go away. With a groan, I gently moved us so we were laying on our sides, one hand going to Sam's back and pulling her closer to me.

She let out a happy sigh, nuzzling her face against my chest. I was content to just lay there, watching her sleep, one hand traveling idly up and down her back.

"I love you," I whispered, leaning down to kiss the top of her head.

"I love you too," she whispered back.

"You're awake?" I asked softly, looking down at her, and she nodded, finally opening her eyes and lifting her head to look at me.

"I didn't want to move."

"Yeah?"

"You make a good pillow," she replied with a sweet smile. "And I missed this."

Ugh, she had no idea how much I missed this, holding her all night long, enjoying the feel of her, her scent. I loved that girl, more than life itself, and sometimes it surprised me how much missing out on little things like this could affect me.

I still felt like an ass for what happened last night. I don't know why I did it, other than feeling completely powerless, helpless, like I was losing her. Still, it wasn't an excuse. I deserved to have that girl hit me, or leave me. But she didn't do either. She was a saint. She was an angel. She...

...is nibbling on my earlobe, and we still have to wait three more weeks. Oh my god.

"Baby," I groaned as she kissed my neck, letting her fingertips dance across the other side of it. "You're killing me."

"Sorry," she whispered. "It's your fault."

"My fault?" I said with a laugh. "How is it my fault?"

"If you didn't want me to kiss your neck, you should've worn a turtleneck to bed."

"Oh, I see," I replied. "And...do you expect me to control myself, while you're wearing those shorts?"

"They're comfortable."

"And sexy."

She laughed, shaking her head, and her hair tickled my arms, sending another tingle through me. Geez, Benson. That turned on, just from the feel of her HAIR on your skin?

"They're not sexy. They're old. They're almost falling apart."

"And they show off these legs of yours..." I replied, letting my hand run up the soft expanse of bare skin, her calves, behind her knee, over her thigh, causing her to squirm against me.

"Freddie..."

"You started it," I replied with a chuckle, kissing her.

Her hand went to the back of my head to force me to kiss her longer, and I happily obliged, pulling her tighter against me. A groan escaped my lips as her tongue flicked across my bottom lip, and I halfheartedly pulled away, pressing my forehead against hers.

"This is getting harder and harder," she whispered, and I nodded.

"Yeah, I know."

"How much longer?"

"What time is it?" I replied, and she lifted her head to look at the clock.

"It's almost seven."

"Two weeks, five days, six hours, and thirty minutes. Give or take."

She laughed, shaking her head. "You're such a nerd."

I just shrugged, somewhat agreeing with her.

"I'm your nerd."

"Yeah, you are," she said with a smile, kissing me again. "My sweet, amazing, gorgeous nerd."

At that statement, I sighed, rolling onto my back and laying my head back, residual guilt from last night still sticking around. Sam rested her chin on my chest as she stared at me, a concerned expression on her face.

"What's wrong, baby?" she asked.

"I don't feel very amazing," I replied. "Baby, I'm really sorry about what happened last night..."

"Freddie, I told you. It's okay. I mean, it's not, but...you made a mistake. That's all."

"I'm just really bothered by it, okay?" I replied. "I don't know what I was thinking, if I was even thinking at all..."

"Look, if you keep talking about it, you'll just keep feeling guilty, and I don't want that, okay? It's not going to happen again, is it?"

"No! Of course not!"

"Well...there's not much else we can do, is there?" Sam replied, leaning forward and kissing me softly. "Baby, I love you. I know how much everything that was going on was getting to you, stressing you out. People do stupid things when they're stressed."

"And I did something really stupid," I groaned.

Sam rolled her eyes, laying down next to me and staring up at the ceiling as she grabbed my hand, interlacing our fingers.

"If I slam you into a wall, can we just call it even and forget about it?"

"Sam..."

"Baby, come on! Worse stuff has happened than that...remember...remember when we first got married...that one night things got really heated and we pushed each other's limits way too far?"

"And I felt guilty about that for days afterward," I grumbled.

"Well, don't! I'm just saying, stuff happens. You haven't done that again, have you? You learned. Just like you've learned again. Baby, I just want to forget about it, okay? We're fine."

I just nodded, unsure of what to say. "I'm sorry."

"Stop apologizing!"

"Ugh, sorry!" I groaned.

"Freddie!" she exclaimed with an agitated voice, poking me.

"Okay, okay, I'll stop," I laughed as she continued to poke me. "Stop poking me."

She finally stopped, laying back down and rolling onto her stomach, letting out a satisfied little moan, and I just smirked, turning to face her. I let my hand slip under the shirt she was wearing, and she sighed happily as I rubbed her back.

"Miss sleeping on your stomach, sweetheart?" I asked, and she nodded, closing her eyes.

"You have no idea," she grumbled. "Mmm, can you keep doing that? It feels really good."

"Sure," I replied, sitting up to massage her better. "Wanna take that shirt off? So I can get your whole back?"

I was testing her of course, trying to see whether or not she'd panic or if she finally felt comfortable enough to not care about how her body looked. I'd given up on pushing her, but I was still curious, to see where her head was at, how much more work I needed to put in to get my sweet girl back to normal.

I was surprised when she didn't even hesitate for a minute, reaching down to pull her shirt off and dropping it on the floor next to the bed. Surprised, and relieved. We were making progress. Thank god.

I went back to rubbing up and down her back, deftly unsnapping her bra to give me complete access to her back, and she appeared to not even notice, completely lost in the way my hands felt on her skin. I put a little more pressure on her muscles, and the noise she let out had full potential to drive me insane.

"Oh god..." she groaned. "Baby, that feels so good. Don't stop."

"I'm not, gorgeous," I replied, completely focused on trying to make her make those noises again. "Not unless the..."

"WAAAAHHHH!"

"...baby wakes up," I finished as I heard the sound of our infant son blaring over the baby monitor.

Sam let out a pitiful whine, pushing herself up to get out of bed, but I stopped her, my hand going to her lower back and pushing her back down.

"Stay," I replied. "I'll get him."

"Are you sure?" she asked. "He sounds like he needs to be fed."

"How can you tell from one little cry?" I asked in amazement as I stood up, and she just gave me a pointed look.

"I can tell what you need based on the noises you make," she replied tersely. "Is it any wonder I can do it with your son?"

"Okay, okay," I replied, my hands going up. "I'll go find out if you're right."

"He may need to be changed too," she replied, rolling over and pulling the sheet around her. "Freddie, are you sure..."

"Baby!" I replied. "I got this! He's my son too."

With that, I left her in bed as I walked out of our bedroom and down the hall to the baby's room, pushing the door all the way open, the sound of crying filling the room. I looked over the edge of the crib to find him peering up at me, still crying.

"Hey, buddy," I said, reaching into the crib to pick him up. "What's wrong?"

More crying.

"Yeah, yeah, I know. I'm not your mama," I said as I laid him on the changing table. "We'll have to get her to stop hogging you all the time so you can get used to me."

It certainly wouldn't hurt...it would maybe even help the situation, as far as my total helplessness and slight jealousy were concerned. Sam rarely asked me to do anything involving the baby, which had definitely lent itself to my feeling useless. And I had to be honest, it bothered me. He was my son too, maybe I wanted to spend a little time with him too!

I quickly finished changing him, carrying him into the kitchen with me so I could make his bottle. He'd seemed to calm down a little bit, but he continued to fuss as I held him against me, his little head resting on my shoulder. I guess Sam was right, he was hungry. It was amazing how she could tell exactly what he needed based on how he cried. I wanted to learn that stuff too!

I finished preparing his bottle and then headed into our bedroom with the baby to find Sam re-dressed, laying in bed flipping idly through the channels.

"Figured you'd fall back asleep," I stated as I sat down on the bed with Freddie Jr., sighing with relief as he stopped crying the minute I began feeding him. Sam sat up, looking down at him and then back up at me.

"You want me to do it?" she asked, reaching for the baby, and I shook my head.

"Back off, woman. I can do this stuff too, you know."

"Yeah, but I like taking care of him," she replied, biting her lip as she stared at our son.

"I know, baby, but did it ever occur to you that maybe I do too?" I replied. "No offense, honey, but you're hogging the baby."

"I am not!" she replied. "He's my son!"

"He's my son too!"

"Yeah, but..." she sighed, shaking her head. "Oh, alright."

We sat there in silence for a little while, looking at the TV but not really watching it, when I felt Sam's hand on my arm. I looked over at her wordlessly.

"Is that part of why you've been feeling the way you have lately?" she asked softly. "Because I don't ask you for help with the baby?"

"Well...well yeah," I replied. "It's like...I feel kinda useless. And I haven't felt like that for a long time, at least not with you."

"You're not useless," she replied softly. "I love you."

"I love you too, sweetheart."

"I'll try not to be so...stingy...with our little bundle of love."

"Good," I replied. "Because I don't mind. And...I don't like how you can make him stop crying just by touching him, and I can't do that."

"Well...we...we bonded. It's just the two of us while you're at school, baby."

"I know. And I know there's gonna be a huge bond there that can't be replaced, because you're his mother. But...maybe I want us to bond too, you know?"

"I know," she replied. "So...I'll let you have more time with him."

"Thank you," I responded, and she nodded, leaning forward to kiss me, and then bent down to kiss Freddie Jr. on the top of his head as he ate.

"He's getting bigger," she murmured. "More alert. And god, he's so sweet..."

"Yeah, he is," I replied, looking down at my son. Man, could Sam and I reproduce or what? This was one adorable baby! I looked back over at my wife, the way she just seemed to be mesmerized by him, and I couldn't help but smile. Despite the fact that it made me a little jealous, because she'd bonded with him more intensely than I had, I couldn't help but melt at the expression on her face. She was desperately in love with her baby, and it was an amazing thing to see.

"So," I said. "Still going dress shopping with Carly?"

"Yeah," Sam replied, reaching forward to stroke Freddie Jr's hair. "After twelve, when she picks Leah up from preschool."

"Ugh," I grunted. "I have class at twelve, otherwise I'd keep the baby."

"No, it's fine," she replied with a shake of her head. "I mean, we'll have Leah too, so..." She shrugged, running a hand through her hair. "Don't worry, you can spend time with him when I get back."

"Sounds good. Just don't go too crazy spending, okay?" I stated, giving her a Look.

"We're going to the bridal shop!"

"Oh, I know you two will go more places than that."

"Well...the baby could use a few more outfits..."

"Sam..." I replied. "You bought out the whole mall for him last week!"

"I did not!" she replied. "I just bought a bunch of onesies! He needs...real clothes. Especially for his webshow debut."

"Nervous about that?" I asked, and Sam shook her head.

"No! We have the most gorgeous baby on the planet, if anybody even thinks about judging him, I will personally hunt them down, and..."

"Baby!" I laughed. "Nobody's gonna judge anyone. You know that. But people are going to go absolutely insane over the Seddie Baby."

"I know," she replied with a laugh. "Have you looked at the message boards lately?"

"Yeah, it's insane," I grunted. I noticed then that the baby had drained most of his bottle, lifting him to my shoulder to burp him, and Sam just let out a happy sigh.

"Yeah, I'll definitely let you start taking more time with him," she said with a smile.

"Why is that?"

"Because, just watching you two together is making me MELT," she replied, laughing, and leaned forward to kiss me again. "I love you."

"I love you too."

"Are you hungry?"

"Yeah. I'm starving, actually."

"Okay. Well...I'll go make us some food," she replied. "Eggs?"

"Sure, baby."

She just gave me a sweet smile, getting off the bed and heading for the kitchen, leaving me alone with my son. I'd expected him to just drift off right after eating, but he didn't. I laid him on the bed, propping up on my elbow to look at him, and he just stared at me.

I couldn't look away. Next to Sam, he was the most beautiful thing in the world to me. Over the past few weeks, he'd been pretty sedentary, just sleeping, eating, and crying, but now he was becoming more alert, beginning to move his little arms and legs a lot more. I watched him stretch a little, then lift his arms up, and I ran a fingertip over his tiny little arm, up to his hand, surprised when I felt him grasp my finger firmly in his little fist.

"Whoa, buddy...you've got a pretty good grip there, huh?" I said, giving him a smile. "Yeah, I knew there had to be something in you that was like your mama."

He made a little noise then, which sounded like it was half-squawk and half-cry, but he didn't look upset, just continued to stare at me, and my eyebrows went up.

"And you backtalk like her too."

"I heard that!" Sam yelled from the kitchen, and I just laughed, pulling my son closer to me and watching the morning news.

Thank god, things were finally getting better.

Later, after I'd eaten, showered, and then laid around with Sam and the baby a little bit longer, I decided to go upstairs to talk to Brad before I left for class. Sam seemed genuinely disappointed that I had to leave her, which was definitely a pleasant surprise. We'd gotten so used to our routine of school over the past two and a half years, that we rarely complained, and it wasn't like a few classes each week kept us separated for that long anyway. But she followed me to the front door after she'd laid the baby down in his little bouncy seat, and then held onto my arm as we stood in the doorway.

"Have fun shopping with Carly," I told her, bending down to brush my lips over hers, my eyebrows lifting in surprise as her arms suddenly went around my neck and pressed against me.

"I love you," she whispered. "Hurry home, okay?"

"I will, baby," I responded. "And I love you too. I'll see you in a few hours."

"Okay," she replied, sounding somewhat wistful. "Have a good day, baby."

"You too,"I said. "Bye, sweetheart."

She gave me one last wave as I headed down the hall, shutting the door behind her, and man, you could have knocked me over with a feather, I was so caught off-guard, in the best way possible. She'd gone from being sullen and withdrawn to sweet and loving literally overnight! I loved it! I don't know what I did to cause it, but whatever it was, I needed to keep it up!

~*Carly*~

"I don't think I've ever been this overwhelmed in my entire life," I commented softly as I stared at row after row of white gowns, as far as the eye could see. "I mean...wow."

"Carls, chill, it's fine. You brought your notes with you, right?"

"Uh-huh," I said, biting my lip.

"And the pictures?"

"Yes."

"Okay, then we just need to find a salesgirl, and...uh-oh."

"Uh-oh?" I repeated, whirling around to look at Sam, my eyes widening when I realized we were down by one child. "Where's Leah?"

"I don't know...she was right here..."

"Lee-lee!" I yelled, starting to panic. "I said no hide and seek in the fancy dress store!" I was met with no answer, and I sighed in frustration. "Lee-lee!"

So far, the dress shopping was NOT off to a good start. Sam was getting distracted every time the baby so much as made a little sigh, I was completely overwhelmed by the sheer volume of dresses, and now we couldn't find Leah! Oh god!

"Oh my god, I'm gonna be known as that chick who had to call a Code Adam in the nicest bridal shop in town," I muttered, frantically pawing through the poofy skirts of the many dresses and hoping Leah was in one of them. Sam was doing the same, holding the baby with one arm and tearing through the racks like crazy with the other one.

"Oh god, what are we going to do if..."

"BOOO!"

"Aah!" Sam yelled, startled as Leah burst from between two dresses, which set off a firestorm of crying baby. "Aw, man...shhhh...it's okay. Shhh...mama's here." She rocked little Freddie back and forth, bouncing a little and rubbing his head, giving me a dirty look.

"You need to put mini-Brad on a leash."

"You were supposed to keep an eye on her!" I exclaimed. "And she's not mini-Brad!"

"She's flirty, she plays pranks, and she has an unquenchable appetite, how is she NOT mini-Brad?" Sam replied, and I gave her a Look.

"Sure she's not yours?" I responded pointedly. "Cuz it sounds like you just described mini-Sam."

"I am not flirty!"

"Good point," I quipped, ignoring her agitated glare and pulling a folder out of my gigantic purse that held all my notes, little sketches, and several photos I'd tore out of magazines of dresses I liked.

Oh man, I couldn't believe I was here, shopping for my wedding dress! I knew we still had a year, but I wanted to get a jump on the planning, and quick! I know I'd said I'd gone back on my shallow, fashion-conscious ways, but this was the one time I was taking it all back, because I wanted my wedding to be perfect!

I glanced over at Leah, who was currently running circles around Sam, and bit my lips to keep from laughing at the irritated look on Sam's face as she continued to try and calm the baby down.

"You know, in a few years, he'll be doing the same thing. Probably worse, because he's your child."

She shrugged, continuing to stroke little Freddie's head. "He's got Freddie's temperament. He's pretty calm for the most part unless something startles him."

"Or if he's away from you?" I replied, and she shrugged again.

I grabbed Leah's hand, pulling her toward me and holding onto one of her shoulders. "Calm down, Lee-lee. I'll get you a cookie after we're done here, okay?"

"A big cookie?" she asked hopefully, and I nodded.

"Yes, a big cookie. But only if you sit on that couch over there like a good girl. I brought your coloring book."

"Otay. Gimme," she said, reaching her little hands up to my pocketbook as I dug through it and fished out her coloring book and a little baggie of crayons. She took them from me, bounding over to the couch and flipping the book open, seeming satisfied for the time being.

"She can be such a handful sometimes," I muttered. "But she's adorable."

"Yeah, she's pretty cute," Sam agreed. "And she totally has you wrapped around her little finger."

"She does not!" I exclaimed. "I can be tough with her! I...oh, alright," I sighed. "She does. But look at her! She's so cute!"

Sam nodded, letting out a sigh of relief when baby Freddie's crying finally subsided to brief little whimpers and then faded off altogether.

"So..." I said as I started perusing through the dresses. "How did it go last night? With Freddie, I mean? He was really freaking out last night..."

"We're fine," Sam said with a wave of her free hand. My eyebrows went up, a little dubious.

"But...he was really...bad."

"He was just feeling a little insecure, lost his head, did something stupid and then felt really bad about it afterwards."

"What did he do?" I asked.

"He pushed me."

"What?" I exclaimed. "Sam! Oh my god! And you just...took it? That's not like you at all!"

"Carly, it wasn't that big of a deal...we've hit each other harder than that in the ring."

"Yeah, but that's different. If he pushed you because he was angry with you..."

"He wasn't angry, he was frustrated, there's a difference. And I mean...if he had tried to make any excuses whatsoever, or tried to justify it, then we would have had a different conversation entirely. But he just felt SO bad, like...immediately after it happened. It's not like him. It's not the norm. So I let it go."

"But..."

"If he does it again...which he won't...then it'll be a different story. But do you have any idea how many times I've lost my temper with that kid and pummeled him? And I'm not talking about when we were kids either. I mean...when we first got married...I probably slapped him on a weekly basis for a good two months."

"That doesn't make what he did okay," I replied, absolutely freaked out beyond belief. Freddie PUSHED Sam? It was completely unlike him...and completely unacceptable!

"I know that," Sam responded. "And he knows that. That's the important part, you know? People make mistakes, Carly. After everything we've been through, I'm not gonna call it quits over one little incident. Besides, I figured out the problem."

"What's the problem?"

"He thinks I don't need him. He doesn't feel important."

"Oh god," I groaned. Now I got it. I remembered what it felt like back when I thought Brad wasn't paying me any attention, that I didn't matter to him, and the things I'd done when that had been going on. I guess I got it, but I was still pretty upset with Freddie for pushing Sam. I narrowed my eyes, staring at her. "He didn't hurt you, did he?"

"No. I barely felt it. It just surprised me. But we're good now. The baby slept in his crib last night, and me and Freddie..." she let out a happy sigh. "I forgot how much I love being all snuggled up with him in bed. It was nice."

"I thought you guys weren't supposed to have sex for three more weeks," I pointed out, and she rolled her eyes.

"We didn't. But there was kissing. Lots of kissing. And then snuggles. Lots of snuggles."

"Aw," I said. "Well, that's good. But...the baby actually slept in his crib? That's...surprising."

"How?"

"Just didn't think you or the baby would be able to handle it, that's all..."

"Yeah, neither did I. But...it's all good. He did fine. Woke up every three hours, but my little man gets hungry. He's a growing boy, after all."

I just laughed, shaking my head.

"What?" she asked, carefully laying little Freddie back down in his stroller.

"Picture your twelve year old self right now...could you ever imagine things turning out this way? You married to Freddie...having a child together...and you going all uber-mom?"

"Well..." she bit her bottom lip, trying to hide her smile, and she nodded, blushing a little. "I mean...yeah. It's funny...my life was so shitty, and I turned out getting everything I wanted but I thought I'd never have. College. A family. A decent family, I mean. And Freddie."

"Your twelve year old self..." I reminded her, and she nodded again.

"I always wanted him. Just freaked me out, and I tried to cover it up. That's all," Sam replied. "But yeah. Everything I wanted, I got." She looked down at her son, a big smile across her face, and bent down to kiss him on the top of his head. "It's not perfect, but...at the same time, it is."

"I hope after Brad and I are married for three years, I'll say the same thing," I commented, and Sam squeezed my arm reassuringly.

"You will. You guys are perfect for each other too."

"Yeah, we kinda are..." I sighed happily.

"So...do you have a budget for this dress?" Sam asked, leafing through one of the racks.

"Well, Brad's exact words were 'fuck a budget', so...I'm gonna go with no," I laughed, and Sam laughed too.

"Sounds like Brad. He just wants to make sure you're happy."

"Well, I am," I replied. "I'm so excited. And I mean...I hope that phone call goes over well. I really want him to do something with this screenplay."

"Have you read it yet?"

"No," I sighed. "He's keeping it top secret until he garners some interest in it."

"Sounds like a certain guitar-playing webhost I know," Sam replied pointedly. "By the way, what's going on with your music?"

"Playing at The Beanery tonight," I replied with a shrug. "I hope Brad can handle the kids."

"Oh, they'll be fine. He handled them for years and years on his own."

"True," I said with a shrug. "Okay, we're wasting time...we gotta get down to business. Leah won't color forever."

"So, what parameters are we working with again?" Sam asked as she looked over the dresses, her eyes darting back over to the baby every now and then.

"Silk or satin, floor length, strapless or spaghetti straps. None of that poofy Cinderella dress stuff either. Just a clean, simple line."

"I'm guessing in ivory?" Sam said with a grin. "Since you can't really wear white and all..."

"Sam!"

"Oh come on, don't you think it's a little funny that out of the two of us, I'm the one that made it to marriage before doing the deed?"

"You were engaged for six hours!" I shot back. "And you were sixteen! It totally doesn't count!"

"Oh, alright. Besides, up until I ran away to Vegas, it's not like I wasn't trying...it was actually Freddie who was showing restraint."

"Things have definitely changed," I observed, and she made a face.

"Oh god. Three weeks needs to hurry up. He actually wouldn't let it go any further than kissing last night. No...happy endings, if you catch my drift."

"Lovely," I said with a roll of my eyes. "And very un-Freddie."

"Yeah, well...he figures, like...if we can make it the three weeks that it's gonna be explosive," she replied. "And he's definitely right about that. It will be."

"I'm sorry, but if you two actually last the three weeks, I'm going to die of shock."

"I'm actually still a little concerned," she replied, biting her lip, and I rolled my eyes.

"Still on that insecurity kick?"

"No! It's not that...I...I'm pretty damn sure the first time we sleep together again, it's gonna hurt like hell."

"I'm sure it won't be that bad, Sam. Might be a little uncomfortable, but...can't be any worse than the very first time, you know?"

"Ugh," Sam groaned. "Now that...that hurt."

"You're telling me," I grumbled. "But I figured the way you were always all over Freddie, it had to have gotten better."

"And did it?" Sam responded.

"Oh my god..." I moaned. "You have no idea...Brad is just...amazing."

"Ugh," Sam whined. "We have to stop talking about this. Now."

"Sorry," I said with a laugh, then stopped immediately as my eyes focused on a dress and I nearly snatched it off the rack. "Oh my god!"

"Find one you liked?"

That was an understatement. It was probably the most gorgeous thing I'd ever seen...yards of pristine white satin and a strapless, sweetheart neckline, just a tiny amount of beading on the bodice. It was, in a word, perfect.

"I have to try this on," I said, bouncing up and down excitedly.

"It is pretty...but I've heard you usually don't pick the first dress you try on, Carls. Maybe grab a few more."

"No! I need to be one with this dress, Sam! Right now!" I exclaimed.

"Alright, alright. Geez, Shay. Calm it down!"

But I couldn't calm down. I was way too excited about this dress. I was so excited that I was literally shaking as I put it on in the dressing room, gasping when I caught a glimpse of myself in the mirror.

Yeah, this was definitely THE dress. I didn't care what Sam said, this was it for me.

"Sam, I'm coming out!" I yelled. "Are you ready for this?"

"Yes! Come on, let's see it!"

Taking a deep breath, I pushed the curtain back and stepped out, doing a little spin. "So? What do you think?"

Sam was silent, her eyes wide, her hand over her mouth, and I began to get a little nervous.

"Sam?"

"If I was still pregnant I'd be curled into a ball sobbing right now," she muttered. "Oh my god, Carly! You look SO beautiful!"

"So...is this it? Is this the dress?"

"Yes!" she cried. "Oh my god, it's perfect!"

"I knew it!" I said happily, reaching for my phone. "I have to take a picture of it..."

"Nope!" Sam yelled, slapping my phone out of my hand and catching it before it hit the ground. "Not happening."

"What?" I cried. "Why?"

"Because you can't let Brad see it! It's bad luck!"

"Aw, I hadn't thought of that...but I really wanted him to see it."

"And he will. On your wedding day," Sam reminded me. "Look, I know you suck at keeping secrets, but this is one you're going to have to keep."

"Fine. Can I at least text him, let him know I found it?" I responded, and she just tossed the phone my way, distracted by a noise the baby was making.

"Aw...what's wrong pumpkin?" she cooed, reaching into the stroller and pulling little Freddie out.

Part of me wanted to roll my eyes, but on the flip side, it was so damned adorable, I wanted to fangirl at the same time. I was happy Sam was happy, and happy that I was happy too.

An awful lot of happy going around these days, and that's how it needed to be. We'd dealt with so much stuff over the last year...we all deserved a little bit of happy.

I was so excited to text Brad and let him know I found the dress. I knew he'd be happy, mostly because he wouldn't have to deal with me agonizing over the next few months about the perfect dress.

'Baby, I found the dress! It's perfect! XOXO ILU.'

Beep! I smiled when I realized Brad had texted me back immediately.

Brad: That quick? Awesome babe. Can't wait to c u in it. I love you.

'Did you call that agent back?' I texted him.

Brad: I did.

'And?'

Brad: She wants to come to Seattle, meet with me. She was really impressed with my screenplay and is really interested in representing me. Babe! This thing might actually have a shot!

'See. I told you. You just needed to have a little faith.'

Brad: I have you. That's all I need. XOXO.

I couldn't stop myself from doing my little happiness wiggle, and Sam laughed.

"You're about to burst with happiness, aren't you?"

"Uh-huh," I replied, biting my lip.

"Well, you need to talk to a salesgirl and get a fitting set up, because the baby's diaper is about to burst with something else."

"Lovely," I said, wrinkling my nose. "Fine, I'm gonna change, just wait until I get out so I can keep an eye on Leah while you go change the baby."

"Oh my god, hurry," Sam groaned. "Like...it's about to be bad. Like...a chemical spill."

"You know, I did want to eat lunch at some point!" I hollered as I walked back into the dressing room.

"Welcome to my life, Shay!" Sam yelled with a laugh. "And in a few weeks, you'll be dealing with the same thing!"

Gah! In all my excitement, I'd almost forgotten, we had another child coming that needed to be taken care of...a newborn! We needed to be preparing for that too! My excitement quickly began to be replaced by anxiety. I really hoped we could handle this. While taking care of three other kids, planning a wedding, and pursuing two very difficult careers.

Just had to have faith, and keep my head on straight.

Right?

~*Brad*~

"Brad, sit down," Carly told me as I continued to pace back and forth in front of the couch. I just grunted, so angry I almost couldn't see straight.

Leave it to Heather to ruin one of the best days I'd had in awhile.

The conversation with the agent from LA had gone better than I'd expected. She wanted to sign me, but first she was coming here, to Seattle, to meet me in person, and that HAD to be a good sign. I was hoping for the best, and I'd been on pins and needles all day. But right now, my mind wasn't on that.

I was absolutely furious with my sister.

I'd took pity on her, decided to bend just little bit at her desperate plea to hang out with her friends, and here it was, after eleven, and she still wasn't home! I was going to throttle that girl!

"I'm never letting her go out again, I swear to god..." I grumbled as I continued to pace, checking the time again. "And where the hell is Freddie?"

"I just texted him, he'll be up in a second, he's probably just dealing with Sam or the baby or something..." Carly replied. "Baby, you've gotta calm down!"

"I can't calm down!" I yelled. "What is wrong with her? I mean, she's probably off sneaking around with some older guy again...or at some party...or laying somewhere dead! Oh, god! If she's not hurt, I'm gonna kill her!"

At that moment, the front door flung open, revealing Freddie, who looked a little aggravated.

"What's going on?" he asked, and I glared at him.

"Took you long enough," I stated.

"Hey!" he yelled. "I was trying to take care of my son! Sue me!"

"Brad," Carly said flatly, giving me a pointed look. "We don't yell at friends when we need a favor."

"Sorry," I grumbled, glancing over at Freddie, who merely shrugged.

"It's cool," he replied. "So what's the problem?"

"Can you still track a GPS signal sent from a phone?" I asked.

"Uh, yeah," he replied with a roll of his eyes. "Come on, we're talking about me here."

"Ugh," Carly said with a roll of her eyes. "Freddie, this is serious!"

"Okay, geez," Freddie replied, looking over at me. "So what's going on? Whose phone do you need me to track?"

"Heather's."

"Heather's?" Freddie replied, his eyebrows going up. "Dude! You let her go out! I told you that was a bad idea!"

"I know that!" I growled. "She hit me with the damn puppy dog eyes! What was I supposed to do?"

"Not let her go out," Freddie said flatly, sitting down at the computer. "Okay, she is on your phone plan, right?"

"Yeah," I responded, hovering over him. "Dude, just find her! So I can kill her!"

"Calm down, calm down..." he replied, grabbing my phone off the counter and looking up Heather's phone number. He brought up the website for my cell service provider, and I gave him a dubious look.

"How are you going to track her using a standard cell carrier website?" I asked.

"Chill!" he barked, glaring at me. "I just need to find a backdoor really quick, and..."

"Wait a minute!" Carly said, standing up. "How illegal is what you're about to do? Like...on the grand scope of things?"

"Eh, prison time..." Freddie said with a shrug, and Carly glared at both of us.

"Your wife is rubbing off on you again," she muttered, flopping down on the couch and pouting. "You guys, I swear to god, if we get in trouble for this..."

"We won't," Freddie replied. "Anyway, I already found my loophole. I'm in."

"Damn, that was fast," I commented, and Freddie rolled his eyes again.

"Yeah, I know. Because..."

"...because we're talking about you, I know, dude! Just find her!"

"Chill, man!" Freddie yelled, inputting Heather's number into the system. "It takes a minute to calibrate, I should be able to nail down an exact location in just a minute..."

I was so anxious I couldn't stand still, and still angry. Heather was going to be in SO much trouble when I found her. I was going to ground her, take away her phone, make her wear ugly clothes, whatever I could do just to ensure she didn't do again!

"Alright, got it!" Freddie said excitedly.

"Where the hell is she?" I yelled.

"She's...oh. Uh-oh."

"Uh-oh?" I repeated. "What does uh-oh mean?"

"You know that parking lot a few blocks from Ridgeway...there used to be a gas station there, but they closed it down?"

"Oh my god," Carly groaned. "Not the lot..."

"The lot?" I replied worriedly, glancing back and forth between Carly and Freddie, who just looked at each other worriedly.

"Well, I guess we never went there because we preferred the lake," Carly began. "But..."

"Oh my god!" I yelled, unwilling to hear any more. "So you guys think she's there making out with some dude?"

"I mean, nobody ever really goes to The Lot for any other reason," Freddie said with a shrug. "Sam and I skipped a few classes to go make out there a few times, but..."

"Enough!" I yelled. "Dude, get up. Let's go."

"You're going to go get her?" Carly cried. "Brad! You'll embarrass her!"

"Maybe she needs a little embarrassment!" I replied. "And I'm not gonna let some dude feel up my baby sister!"

"And, here we go..." Carly sighed. "You've officially turned into Spencer!"

"You were seventeen," I growled. "And in a serious relationship! You weren't a freshman hooking up with random guys!"

"Well, when she was a freshman..."

"FREDDIE!" Carly yelled.

"Geez, I'm kidding!" he yelled back. "Damn!"

"We don't have time for this!" I growled. "Come on!"

Freddie sighed as he followed me to the door, pulling out his phone to text Sam. The elevator ride down was a blur, as was the walk through the lobby and into the parking garage.

"Maybe I should drive," Freddie said worriedly as I stormed to my car.

"Nah, I got this," I responded, flinging open the door and getting in.

"Oh man," Freddie replied to himself as he got in on the other side. "Look, just do me a favor, okay? Don't cause a scene."

"No promises," I replied as I backed out and sped out of the parking garage. Just wait until I get my hands on that girl, she was in major trouble!


	66. Chapter 66: Adolescents

**A/N: Hey guys! I know you probably all hate me for not updating, I'm sorry! Work has taken up a lot of time, plus the internet was down for a little while, this is the first I've been able to sit down and work on The Ballad in quite some time. Hopefully the next update will be quicker, I hope you guys enjoy!**

**Chapter Sixty Six:  
>Adolescents<strong>

~*Brad*~

"Turn left," Freddie told me as I sped down the road, not caring if I got pulled over or in a wreck or anything. I was THAT angry. "And calm the hell down," he added.

I whipped my head to face him, giving him a dirty look, and he just shrugged.

"You're not gonna get through to her if you're ranting and raving like a crazy person."

"The hell I am!" I barked. "She needs to know I'm pissed!"

"Yeah, cuz that mode worked fabulously for your dad," Freddie replied with a roll of his eyes. "Dude, think about it. I don't think anybody can control that girl."

"Well, I'm sure gonna try," I grunted, then pointed ahead to an old, decrepit parking lot that had five or six cars parked, all of them with windows fogged up. "Is that it?"

"Yep, that's it," he replied, and I rolled my eyes as I watched the smirk go across his face.

"Will you stop thinking about making out with Sam?"

"That's like asking me not to breathe," Freddie responded, and I just shook my head, pulling into the lot and putting the car in park. Without even waiting for me to turn the car off, Freddie got out, and I looked at him questioningly.

"I don't need your help on this. I got it."

Freddie just shook his head, arms crossed over his chest. "Nope. Somebody's gotta be able to pull you back when you go postal."

"Fine," I grumbled. "Just...start looking in cars."

"Ugh," Freddie groaned as he stalked across the parking lot. "I'm not supposed to be dealing with this for fourteen more years."

"You wouldn't drag your son out of a car for making out with a girl," I replied.

"That is true," he said with a laugh. "I'd probably just tell him good job."

"But if you ever have a daughter?"

"When," he replied with a shrug. "And she'll be in a convent until she's thirty."

I couldn't help but laugh at that, but that's the same way I felt about Heather right now. I was angry at her for staying out past curfew, angry at her for not answering my texts, and absolutely mortified that right now...some asshole had his hands all over my baby sister.

With that thought currently planted in my head, I began pressing my face against car windows, one more than one occasion being met with a startled scream from a random high school girl.

"Go home to your parents!" I yelled, before moving onto the next car.

Man, things had really changed. I was guilty of doing the same thing Heather was when I was her age. Sneaking out to go make out with Nicole. Then fast forward to moving to Seattle, and I'd been sneaking out to go be with Carly. But still, I felt like I'd had a pretty good handle on things at that age, whereas Heather...she'd already made some pretty bad decisions, she was too young, too vulnerable.

"Dude!" Freddie yelled as he backed away from a car. "Found her!"

"She is dead," I grumbled, picking up my pace and heading towards the car Freddie was pointing at. I wasted no time, not even bothering to look through the window, just opened the car door, reached in, and grabbed Heather by the back of her shirt and pulled her out.

"Ahh!" she screamed. "Let me go, I'll – Brad!"

"What the hell do you think you're doing?" I yelled, grabbing her arm. "You were supposed to be home two hours ago...and I find you making out with some guy in a parking lot? Have you lost your mind, Heather?"

"Let go of me!" she barked, jerking her arm away. "Oh my god! I can't believe this!"

The driver side door opened, and a guy got out that looked way too old to be chasing after my sister. He was at least sixteen, that part was obvious. But he could have been older.

"What the hell are you doing, man?" the guy yelled. "Get your hands off her!"

"Fuck you, junior!" I yelled.

"Who the hell do you think you are?" he yelled back.

"I'm her brother!" I hollered, forgetting about Heather and walking toward the guy. "And I'm the guy who's about to kick your ass!"

"Bring it, bitch!" the guy yelled, and my eyebrows went up.

"Oh, fuck this, you're dead, kid!"

"Brad!" Freddie yelled, stepping between us. "Back off dude...fighting with a minor equals jailtime!"

"I ain't no minor!" the guy shot back, causing me and Freddie to turn around and look at him in shock, then back at Heather.

"Another older guy?" I screamed at her. "Again? What the hell is the matter with you? Get your ass in the car!"

"Brad..."

"NOW!" I roared. Ugh, I didn't know what I wanted to do more, drag Heather to the car, or pummel this guy. I just looked back and forth between the two of them, so angry I couldn't even see straight.

"She's a big girl, she can take care of herself," the guy said, and I just growled at him.

Decision made. With that, I shoved past Freddie and dove on the guy, knocking him to the ground and punching him in the face.

"Oh, god..." I heard Freddie groan. "Brad! Dammit!"

But I wasn't paying attention. The only thing I was focused on was beating the shit out of this guy, this dude that couldn't be much younger than me, touching my LITTLE sister...my fourteen year old sister who'd just recently gone through hell because of her penchant for older guys. Would this girl never learn?

We were pretty well matched in size, but it didn't really matter, because I was so mad I was running off all kinds of adrenaline and rage, just straddling the guy and hitting him over and over. It wasn't until Freddie grabbed me and pulling me off of the guy that the bastard even got a break from my constant barrage of punches.

"Dude!" Freddie hissed, dragging me backwards. "Knock it off!"

"I'm gonna kill that guy!" I yelled, trying to squirm out of Freddie's grasp, only to have him smack me in the back of the head.

"I said knock it off! Get your ass in the car!" he yelled. "You too, Heather!"

"No! I'm not getting in the car with you two, I hate you both, I..."

"What part of get your skinny blonde ass in that car did you not understand?" Freddie yelled, and Heather just stared at him in shock, like she couldn't believe the guy she'd had a crush on for three years was actually yelling at her. "Do it!"

She jumped a little as he yelled at her again, and then her shoulders slumped in defeat, stalking off to the car and getting in, slamming the door so hard it could've broken a window. Freddie still hadn't let go of me, and it was a good thing, because the guy I'd just attacked was standing there yelling at me, and I wanted to go right back to pummeling him.

"Good thing your boy got you, bro!" he yelled, his arms going up. "I'll beat the shit out of you!"

"Shut your mouth, or I'll beat your ass!" Freddie roared, pointing at him. "Brad, car, NOW."

"Don't fucking boss me around, dude! I..."

"Seriously, man! I wanna go home! I'm tired!" Freddie yelled. "And we're not getting into another fight, you hear me? We're too old for this shit!"

"Dude, just because you've gotten all soft..." I grumbled as I headed towards the car.

"Fucking Harrisons..." I heard Freddie mutter under his breath.

"What is that supposed to mean?" I barked at him as he got in the passenger seat.

"Nothing," Freddie responded. "You guys just bring a whole new level of drama I'm not used to."

I shrugged at that. I could have been offended, but Freddie was right. My family was a dramatic bunch...stuff was always going on. I was getting a little tired of it myself, but what could I do?

As that thought crossed my mind, I looked into my rearview mirror at Heather, poised in the backseat with both arms crossed over her chest and looking out the window, scowling. I couldn't help but roll my eyes. Heather was becoming more and more difficult to control with every passing day. I knew she had issues that still had to be worked out, and I knew she was in a lot of emotional pain, but what she was doing now? I couldn't let it slide. She was headed down a spiral that would only serve to cause more emotional damage and problems. I had no choice in the matter; if I wanted Heather to straighten up, I was going to have to come down on her, and come down on her hard.

"You're grounded for a month," I said flatly as I backed out of the parking lot, heading for Bushwell.

"What?" Heather exploded, leaning forward sharply. "You can't ground me!"

"Uh, yeah, I can, and I just did."

"I don't have to listen to what you say!" she snapped, kicking the back of my seat. "You're not my father, Brad!"

SCREECH! I slammed on the brakes hard, the car coming to an abrupt stop in the middle of the road.

"Dude!" Freddie yelled as he slammed his hands down on the console, bracing himself. I ignored him, turning around in my seat to glare at Heather.

"You're damn right, I'm not your father," I growled. "But I'm responsible for you. You live in my house, you follow my rules. End of discussion."

Heather made an exaggerated groaning sound, rolling her eyes. "You suck, Brad," she hissed.

I merely shrugged. "I'm not gonna have you ruining what's left of your reputation and your life, Heather."

"You can't control me!"

"What'd I just say?" I yelled. "This isn't a democracy! You live in my house, you follow my rules!"

"Well maybe I just won't live in your house any more!" she yelled back.

I just shook my head, refusing to respond to that, and put the car back in drive, heading towards the apartment.

It certainly wasn't the first time Heather was angry with me, and I was sure it wouldn't be the last. Before, I would have been absolutely mortified with the idea of my sister hating me, but I couldn't let that get to me any longer. If I worried about temporary feelings that came from her not getting what she wanted, I'd end up driving myself nuts, and wind up with an extremely spoiled teenager living in my house. And I wasn't about to let that happen. Heather could hate me all she wanted to, but it wasn't going to put a stop to me straightening that girl out.

~*Sam*~

"So...uh...the whole Heather thing," I said as I smoothed out my ponytail. "Brad's pretty pissed, huh?"

Freddie's brow furrowed, and he frowned a bit, shrugging.

"Well...he..." he trailed off as we both turned to look over at Brad, who was on the other side of the gym, taking his frustration out on a punching bag. He wasn't showing the punching bag any mercy either, just haplessly wailing on it and throwing hits left and right.

"Raaah!" he yelled as he fired off a left hook.

I looked back over at Freddie, who rolled his eyes.

"Yeah, he's definitely pissed," he said flatly. He sat down next to me on the bench, nudging me with his shoulder.

"So...you ready to start sparring?" he asked, and I nodded.

"If you think you can handle me," I shot back, and he smirked.

"Mmm," he said in a low voice, staring at me like he wanted to eat me alive. "I love handling you."

Ugh, that voice. That look! Boy was driving me crazy! Before I could come back with anything clever, he swiftly rose to his feet, grabbing my hand and pulling me up.

"C'mon, sexy," he stated, pulling me toward the ring. "Let's do this."

I made a face as he tossed a pair of gloves my way and then ducked under one of the ropes, turning around to lean over them and look at me.

"Well? What are you waiting for?"

My man sure was being mouthy today! If he kept it up, I was going to have to check him, and probably while we were in the ring. I just rolled my eyes, ducking under the ropes and getting into the ring with him. He gave me another one of his smirks as I stood there, pulling my gloves on.

"I'm not going to take it easy on you today," I warned him, and one of his eyebrows went up.

"Oh? Why is that?"

"Because you've been picking on me all day," I responded. He laughed, his hands going to my arms and rubbing them up and down.

"Aww...did I hurt your feelings, baby?"

"Nope. I just need to keep you in check, that's all."

"Oh really?" he asked, and I nodded. "Well, okay. Thanks for the warning." With that, he took a step back, stretching, his shirt riding up so I could see his stomach, and I just glared at him.

"You are really trying to make this hard for me, aren't you?"

"Is it obvious?" he replied with a smirk, bending down to grab his gloves and pulling them on.

Bam!

"Hey!" he barked, blocking my next hit with his arm. "We didn't say go yet!"

"Go!" I replied, hitting him again. He took a step back to steady himself, laughing a little.

"Damn, you are stirred up, aren't you?"

"Is it obvious?" I quipped, swinging again. I was surprised when he dodged and I barely missed him, but more surprised when he suddenly grabbed my arm and yanked me toward him, pressing against me, his face inches away from mine. I watched a smirk spread across his face as he leaned in close to my ear, his warm breath sending a shiver down my spine. The good kind. The kind that made me want to molest him in the middle of the gym, in front of everyone.

"Keep your guard up," he said, his voice a low, breathy rumble, quickly releasing me. He took a step back and then caught me in the shoulder with a left hook, immediately snapping me out of the fog he'd just put me in. Irritation quickly replaced arousal, and as I narrowed my eyes at him in warning, his eyebrows went up in that challenging way that drove me nuts. He'd been doing it to me since we were kids, and it both exasperated and turned me on at the same time. Even worse, he knew that, and he just bit his lip as he stared at me, waiting for me to make a move. He had this hungry look in his eye, like he was ready for me to put up a fight, and he just lightly paced back and forth, before coming to a standstill in front of me.

"One sec," he said, pulling his shirt off and then throwing it behind him. I let out an exasperated noise and he ignored it, flashing me a smile. "Okay. I'm ready now."

Oh, god. Freddie could be such a tease sometimes, and this was definitely one of those times. Teasing could be fun, sure, but not when any sign of relief was still weeks away!

It was getting harder and harder to hold back with him. It was getting closer and closer to the day, but it seemed like the closer it got, the more difficult it became to deal with. I guess we were coping with the situation well. We were making due with making out, and only making out. But it was starting to drive me mad. Freddie had decided we should wait for everything, and I do mean EVERYTHING. I knew it would make it more intense, but I was quite an impatient girl when it came to that.

Especially when my muscly, incredibly sexy husband is strutting around in front of me, all sweaty and shirtless. He was enjoying teasing me like this, I could tell by the look on his face. Of course, I'd figure out a way to get back at him, later, but for now I needed to focus on getting him back in line the old fashioned way.

Without warning, I fired off, hitting him in the chest and sending him back a step. He frowned as he regained his balance, his brow furrowed.

"Keep your guard up, baby," I teased as I swung again. He blocked with his arm, taking a step toward me, and I pushed him away.

"Oh really?" he said, his eyebrow going up. "Sam, you can't push people."

"Well I just did," I quipped with a roll of my eyes, trying not to giggle as I heard him growl in frustration.

"Alright, go," he said as he stretched his arms over his head and quickly brought them down in front of him again as I swung.

I let out a yelp of alarm as his leg caught mine, and I felt his hand go to my back as I fell. And then I was staring up at the ceiling, feeling nothing but disbelief.

"Did you just flip me?" I asked as Freddie leaned over me.

"Yup," he said simply, offering his hand to pull me up.

"Thanks," I said, grabbing his hand, and then yanked him down to the ground with me, quickly sitting up and then straddling him. "...for making that easy for me."

"This is definitely not in the rules," Freddie growled, before grabbing my arms and flipping me onto my back again. "And you've got to be kidding me."

Oh my god...should I be getting this turned on from working out? My arms were pinned over my head, and Freddie had one thigh between my legs as I stared up at him. Oh god.

I know, I have absolutely no sense of decorum when it comes to PDA. But at that moment, it'd been so long since we'd been together, and I was so frustrated and turned on...if he'd wanted to take me in the middle of that gym on the boxing ring floor with everyone watching, I would have gone along with it.

"Oh my god, what are you guys doing now?" I heard an annoyed voice yell that was unmistakably Brad's. Guess he had finally gotten the anger out of his system.

The sudden noise distracted Freddie just for a second, long enough for me to slide out from under him, shove him onto his back, and straddle him again.

"Damn," he grunted as he tried to sit up, swearing again as I grabbed his arms and pushed him down.

He smirked up at me, rolling his eyes a little. "Come on, baby. You know better than that..."

To demonstrate what he was talking about, he easily lifted his arms, even though I was pinning them down, and a spark of annoyance went through me.

"Alright, that's it," I snapped, suddenly moving up his body and then pinning his shoulders down with my knees, again pushing his arms down. "Now get out of that!"

Freddie was quiet for a moment, and I looked down to see him staring very intently between my legs, before looking up at my face.

"I don't think I want to," he said with a smile, and I felt my cheeks flush crimson as a particularly hot visual went through my head. I was thinking all sorts of dirty things now, and it was pretty obvious he was too.

"Oh come on!" I heard Brad yell. "People know I hang out with you guys!"

Finally snapping out of my trance, I got off Freddie, rising to my feet and offering him my hand to help pull himself up.

"Well...that was interesting," he mused as he brushed a stray piece of hair off my face. I couldn't respond, just bit my lip and stared into his deep brown eyes. He smirked a little, a little laugh coming from his throat.

"Gonna have to try that out for real some time," he said softly, grinning victoriously when my face somehow got even redder.

"Can we go now?" Brad said flatly. "We're shooting tonight, remember? We have three hours until go time."

"Shit," Freddie grunted. "He's right." With that, he took my hand, leading me out of the ring and helping me down. "Go get dressed, sweetheart. I'll be out here."

"Okay," I replied, still trying to process the very intimate workout session that had just transpired between us. Only could the two of us could manage to get worked up while working out.

I tried to clear my head as I changed out of my sweaty gym clothes and back into normal ones. We weren't shooting just any iCarly tonight...it was my official return to the show, as well as the debut of sweet little Freddie Jr. I was anxious, excited, a little nervous. I wanted it to go perfectly, but you never could tell with a baby. Still, I was more excited than I was nervous. I was definitely ready to show off our beautiful son to all the iCarly fans. Since I'd given birth we'd been inundated with an endless stream of emails and message board posts about the Seddie baby, so the fans were ready as well.

I finished changing, and walked out of the locker room to find Freddie leaning against the wall waiting for me, texting.

"Who are you texting?" I asked as he took my gym bag and swung it over his shoulder.

"Carly," he replied, tucking his phone back into his jacket pocket. "Just sending her a word of warning."

"Brad?" I asked, and Freddie nodded.

"He stomped out of here in a huff," Freddie replied, making a face.

I couldn't help but roll my eyes. "Man...that girl's gonna end up driving Brad insane, you know that?"

"Oh, trust me, I know," Freddie stated as we walked out to the car. "But...speaking of all that."

I frowned, looking at him strangely. "What? I know that look, Freddie."

"Maybe you could talk to her?"

"Why would I talk to her?" I asked, confused, and Freddie shrugged.

"I just...seem to remember a certain fourteen year old girl who was quite a troublemaker herself."

"Yeah, but I got in fights and played pranks. I didn't hook up with random older dudes," I pointed out.

"Ugh, thank god for that, but you know what I mean, baby. I mean, come on, what could it hurt?" Freddie replied. "She's obviously dealing with a lot, with the whole screwed up parents thing...you guys do have some common ground."

"Well...I mean, I guess..." I mumbled. "But it's not really my place to..."

"...for Brad?" Freddie asked, and I let out a heavy sigh as I leaned back in my seat.

"Ugh. Fine. But if this whole thing blows up in my face, don't be surprised when one, I say I told you so, and two, when I tell everyone it was your bright idea!"

Freddie just gave me a smile, taking my hand in his. "Sure thing baby." He paused, focusing on driving down the road, then glanced over at me. "You know, sometimes you can be really..."

"Don't you dare say it."

"Sweet."

"Freddie!" I shouted, making a face. "I told you stop saying that!"

"What?" he asked with a grin. "You are."

"Yeah, well, I..." I gave up, content to grumble to myself with my arms crossed over my chest. I seriously doubted I'd ever get over trying to keep up my reputation, a hardened shell I'd managed to keep up for the last twelve years or so. The only person who'd ever been able to get past it had been Freddie. And I was fine with letting my husband see that side of me, the softer, sweeter, more vulnerable side, I didn't want other people to get a good look at it. I went to great lengths to avoid being perceived as "too soft".

Guess it wouldn't kill me to go ahead and talk to Heather though, especially if it made things a little easier on Brad. I didn't know exactly what I'd say to her, but I was sure I'd think of something.

~*Carly*~

"Oh man," I groaned to myself as I looked over my PearPad calendar for the month, laying my head down on the kitchen counter. "I cannot possibly get through all this."

"Something wrong, babe?" Brad asked as he perused a stack of index cards mapping out lighting and other technical specifications for tonight's show.

I sighed, slamming my hand down on the counter in frustration, prompting Brad to get up from his seat on the couch and walk over to me. I didn't lift my head, but I couldn't help but let out a small little sigh of relief when I felt his strong hands go to my shoulders, massaging the muscles there.

"Damn, you're tense, babydoll," Brad commented as he continued to rub my shoulders. "What's wrong?"

"Look," I said, pushing my PearPad in his direction. "I completely forgot I double booked. We have iCarly tonight, and then immediately after I have to go play at The Beanery."

"That's not really a double booking, babe," he replied with a laugh. "You can do both. You're freaking out about this?"

"And this! Look at the rest of the month...three more iCarlys, six more shows at The Beanery, Bryson's art show in two weeks, tests galore, and then...look at that!"

"Oh," Brad said softly as he looked over my shoulder. "The due date."

"Yeah," I said softly. "Brad..."

"Yeah?"

"Nothing," I said softly. "Never mind."

"No, tell me!" he pressed.

"No, it's just...it's not important. Just more gripes about tonight, I guess. I'm fine."

"Good," Brad replied, kissing me on the side of the neck. "I mean, I'm kinda freaking out right now, babe. I...I don't think I can keep both of our heads on straight right now."

"Well...don't worry about me, baby," I replied, spinning around in my seat to face him, my arms going around him. "I'm fine."

"You sure?" he asked, still a little uncertain, and I nodded.

"Positive."

"Well...okay," Brad replied slowly. "You'd tell me if something was bothering you?"

"Of course."

"Alright," he replied, giving me a soft kiss. "Love you."

"I love you too."

With that, he went back to his index cards, leaving me feeling worse than before. I've got to get out of this habit of lying to him! Even if it was about simple little things like me becoming more and more worried with each passing day.

Except it wasn't that simple, and it wasn't that little either. My anxiety over the way our lives were headed was growing. I definitely wasn't rethinking things. I loved Brad more than anything and wanted to spend my entire life with him. But school, the kids, my music, iCarly, a baby coming? Something was going to have to give, and Brad was living in denial if he thought we could handle it all.

But I was trying to keep it in, because Brad was having some issues of his own right now, dealing with Heather. They'd been arguing almost nonstop since last night, when Brad went and got her from the lot. Of course Brad had grounded her, but that didn't mean that Heather was going to take it lying down. She'd been pushing the issue as much as she could over the last twenty four hours, but now she was currently in her room sulking. I'd managed to convince Spencer to swing by and pick up Bryson and Leah, so he and Bryson could work on art and Leah could play with Maggie. I was hoping the whole Leah/Maggie playdate thing would become a recurring thing, just so we could make it through the show without being distracted.

As I picked up my own index cards and began rifling through them, another feeling went through me – exhaustion. It surprised me, because it wasn't an emotion I was used to dealing with. At least, not when it came to iCarly. But over the past few weeks, I'd been feeling it a lot. The show was a huge part of my life, arguably the biggest part of my life for the last seven years. It had taken me on some crazy journeys, made me more money than I ever thought possible, allowed me to meet some amazing people...I mean, if it wasn't for the show, there'd be a big possibility that I'd have never met Brad. And Sam and Freddie? Well, Sam and I would have stayed best friends, of course, but Freddie would have always been that nerdy boy across the hall, and Sam and Freddie would have never become...well, Sam and Freddie. I owed so much to the show, to be feeling this way seemed like some sort of betrayal.

But how long could the show go on? A year? Maybe two? We wouldn't be in college forever, and the four of us had interests outside of iCarly that we wanted to pursue. But still, I loved iCarly. That's what made it so hard. I didn't want to give up something I loved, especially not when it was such an epic part of my life, and especially not when it made me this much money. It was our sole source of income. It was Sam and Freddie's sole source of income. And now things had changed. All of us had lives we were responsible for now, lives other than our own. We couldn't stop.

Before I had a chance to think about it any further, I was interrupted by the front door swinging open.

"Hey party people!" Sam greeted me and Brad. "What's up?"

"Hey, blondie," Brad grunted, not looking up from his index cards.

"Hey," I said. "Where's Freddie?"

"Across the hall, getting the baby," Sam replied. "Are you excited about tonight? I'm SO excited!"

"Uh, yeah!" I replied. "You're finally back!"

"Not only that, but I mean...Seddie baby debut," Sam said. "My little man's first time on camera."

"Aww..." I said, smiling a little. "Well, everyone else is really excited too. And a bunch of advertisers that dropped have signed back on, I guess gearing up because they know our ratings are going to pick up again."

"It's a good thing, too," Sam replied. "Because Freddie and I spent a fortune at the baby store today. Kids are so friggin' expensive. I can't imagine how we'd be able to deal with this if we just had regular college student jobs."

"Yeah," I muttered, looking down at the ground.

Ugh, she was right. If we didn't make the money we made, nothing in our lives right now would be possible. We wouldn't be able to afford where we lived, pay for school without student loans, wear the clothes we wore, had the things we did. Or be able to raise children.

I couldn't stop doing iCarly, regardless of how much the show was starting to wear me down. It was more than just something to do, it was a job. It was my job, and it was something they couldn't do without me. Not without my studio...and what was iCarly without, well...Carly?

But like I said, something was going to have to give. If it couldn't be iCarly, or school, or the kids...then the choice was obvious.

Tonight, when I played at The Beanery, it'd be my last show.

Of course, I'd have to keep this information to myself, because Brad was likely to go postal when he found out. Brad was very adamant about me not having to make sacrifices because of "choices he had made" as far as the kids were concerned, so he pushed me pretty hard to not give up music. I didn't want him to feel bad, but I had no choice. If I wanted to maintain any bit of sanity whatsoever, I was going to have to give up something in my life.

I sat there reading over my index cards, but I wasn't absorbing the information, just staring at them, as Brad and Sam chatted about tonight's show. I could hear them talking, but I wasn't paying attention.

I did NOT want to give up music. I loved it. At this point, I loved it even more than iCarly, and I found myself dreaming about actually pursuing it as a career. But I could NOT give up iCarly. Too many people were depending on me. I knew it was going to make Brad feel bad, me giving up something I loved, but it wasn't his choice, it was mine.

The front door opened again, revealing Freddie, carrying his son in the little travel bassinet his mom kept for whenever she had him over. It was easier, lighter, and more comfortable than a car seat, but still kept the little guy safe, warm, and happy.

As bummed as I was, I felt my spirits lift a little bit when I saw Freddie walk in with the baby. Little Freddie was absolutely the cutest thing I'd ever seen. My smile got a little broader when I heard a little squeal come from Sam's direction.

"Aw, there's my little man!" she cooed, bending down to take the baby out of the bassinet. "Aww, mama missed you," she said as she kissed him on top of the head.

"Ahem," Freddie said, placing his hands on her waist as she held the baby against her. "Where's my kiss?"

"Aw," she said with a laugh as he bent down to kiss her. "Mama missed you too."

He just grinned at her, kissing her again, one hand going to her back as the kiss obviously intensified between them.

"My god, that poor child," Brad grumbled. "Guys! There's a baby between you! And I'm like...five inches away! Come on!"

I rolled my eyes as I tried to concentrate on my index cards. Obviously Sam and Freddie had gotten over their little issue, whatever it was, because they were back to being super affectionate and always looking at the other one like they wanted to eat them.

My concentration was broken when I heard Brad start yelling again.

"I meant stop kissing! Not put the baby down!"

"Ugh, you guys..." I groaned as I lifted my head to glare at them. "Not this again."

But they weren't listening, they were just standing in the middle of the living room kissing like there was nobody else around.

"We'd better go straighten up the studio really quick," I said with a sigh as I stood up, looking over at Brad.

"Yeah, because obviously CERTAIN PEOPLE AREN'T GOING TO HELP!" he yelled pointedly over at Sam and Freddie, who just waved him off.

"I'm gonna grab a soda really quick," Brad told me. "Meet you up there."

"Okay. In that case I'll change first," I replied. "Grab me one too."

With that, I ran upstairs, heading for the bedroom. I changed quickly, then refreshed my makeup and hair. As I sat at my vanity, my eyes drifted over to my guitar, leaning against the wall, and let out a miserable sigh.

"I wish I didn't have to give you up," I said sadly.

Songwriting and playing music was such an amazing outlet. You could pour your soul into it, feelings, pain, experiences, just...you can deal with anything through music. But I had to give it up.

I had to give it up for shaving stuffed animals, and random dancing, and silly movie spoofs. Those things used to make me so happy, but they didn't any more. I was growing up. But I was stuck.

"Carly!" I heard Brad yell. "I pulled Sam and Freddie apart! Come on!"

I looked over at my guitar one last time, brushing away a stray tear that I hadn't even noticed.

"Coming!" I yelled as I stood up, heading for the door.


	67. Chapter 67: Crowded Elevator

**A/N: Surprise, surprise! Another new chapter already! This one's long too, so enjoy!**

**Chapter Sixty Seven:  
>Crowded Elevator<strong>

~*Sam*~

"How much longer?" Brad asked Freddie as they both hovered over the laptop, trying to finalize all the technical issues for tonight's show.

"Uh, ten minutes, why?"

"Food," Brad replied as he headed for the door. "Be right back."

"Bring me a sandwich!" I yelled, then turned my attention back to the baby. I'd gotten him dressed in an adorable little outfit, a baby-sized pair of jeans and a little hoodie, and he looked so cute I didn't even want to put him down. I couldn't help but frown as I tried to push his hair back the way I had it before we'd dropped him off with Freddie's mom.

"Ugh, what did your mom do to his hair?" I grumbled to Freddie as I fussed over my son, trying to get him ready for his on-camera debut.

Freddie looked up from his laptop and shrugged. "I dunno. She says a baby doesn't need a mohawk."

"And it's not a mohawk! It's a faux-hawk!" I replied, trying desperately to smooth the baby's hair into the state it was before Marissa got ahold of him. "Besides, it looks adorable on him. Doesn't it?"

Freddie wrinkled his nose at me, shaking his head slightly. "I mean, it's just hair so I guess it's not a big deal, but I'm not crazy about it..."

"Your mom PARTED his hair! Are you saying that looks better?"

"Well, no, but..." Freddie walked around the desk and knelt on the ground next to me. "Maybe something like this?"

I gave Freddie a death glare as I watched him fluff the baby's hair, then smooth into a style that looked oddly familiar.

"You just made his hair look like yours."

Freddie shrugged. "Might as well, he does look exactly like me."

"Let's hope he doesn't turn out to get your nubby personality," I replied. I could feel Freddie's eyes boring a hole right through me, and I calmly turned my head to look at him. "What?"

"Nubby personality, huh?" he replied, and then without warning tackled me, sending me down flat on my back.

"Hey!"

"Nubby enough for you?" Freddie shot back as he pinned my arms down.

I just shook my head. "Don't start something you can't finish, Mr. Benson."

"I'm not."

With that, I just rolled my eyes. "Get off me!"

Freddie frowned, leaning back on his heels, and I could tell by the expression on his face that he was a little confused. His eyes clearly read, 'Why are you mad? I'm just playing around.'

He sighed as he stood up, probably worried that all the progress we'd made with my little "issue" and our reconnecting had suddenly been lost, but I wasn't budging. I just continued to stare at him with a steely, penetrating gaze.

"Move the baby," I said curtly. "On the desk."

Freddie sighed again. "Fine," he replied, picking up the travel bassinet and laying it on the desk. "So is this how it's gonna be tonight? We're gonna start off your return to iCarly like this? I don't get it, Sam. We were doing so good, and now..."

But he didn't have a chance to finish his sentence, because as soon as he turned around and moved away from the desk I dove on top of him, knocking him to the ground.

"You talk too much," I growled as I straddled him.

From disappointed to perplexed, and then finally to amused, I watched the emotions flicker across his face, Freddie's lips curling into a smirk.

"Proud of yourself for that?"

"Very," I replied with a sweet smile.

"Well, good for you," he replied as he looked up at me. "And I'm really sorry."

"About what?" I asked, my brow furrowed, and then let out a squeal of alarm as he suddenly flipped me onto my back.

"Because all that pride's gonna go out the window now."

"You sure about that?" I asked as I tried to squirm out of his grasp.

"Very."

"Well, game on then," I replied as I gave his shoulders a violent shove, hard enough to put some distance between us so I could slide out from under him, springing to my feet. He rose to his feet slowly as he shook his head, slight smirk upon his face.

"You shouldn't have done that, Sam."

"Oh?" I replied nonchalantly. "Why's that?"

Wham! Against the wall I went, my arms pinned over my head and Freddie's body pressed against mine. Oh man. I could feel his heartbeat thundering away inside his chest, our eyes locked on each other as he waited for my next move. Thing was, I would have been fine with staying just like this, trapped between a wall and my sexy husband. I wished he would just rip my clothes off and have his way with me, but we were having to show restraint these days.

Showing restraint on a sexual level had caused a very interesting dynamic to pop up between us, however. We were acting like we were kids again, always poking the other one or doing something to agitate the other one into starting a fight. It just didn't have all the intense anger and frustration infused into it like before. No, this was just a game, and a fun one at that. Despite how much I absolutely loved and adored Freddie, after all these years, I still genuinely enjoyed getting on his nerves, and he still liked teasing me.

After a little bit of squirming, I managed to get out of his grasp, and he let out an agitated growl as I pushed him back. Before I knew what was happening, he grabbed my shoulder and spun me around, pulling my arm behind me. Now I was pressed face first against the wall with my arm pinned back. Experimentally, I tried to move my arm, gritting my teeth when I felt slight pain.

"Hurt?" he asked as he pushed my hair off my shoulder with his free hand.

I shook my head. "Only if I try to move."

Behind me, I felt Freddie shrug. "So don't move."

"You gonna keep me pinned to the wall like this all night?"

"No," he replied softly, in that smooth, silky tone of voice that just drove me crazy. "But since you're here..."

I let out a soft moan as I felt his lips on my neck, gliding over the skin and occasionally flicking over my sensitive spots with his tongue. I couldn't help but lean my head back to allow him easier access. Oh god, that man and his mouth. My skin felt like it was on fire, sending little bursts of electricity to other parts of me. His grip on my arm relaxed, and his free arm went around my waist, pulling me tighter against him as he continued to kiss and lick on my neck.

I was moaning, panting, and squirming...but not the kind of squirming where I was trying to get away from him. It felt so good, what he was doing to me, that my nerves just wouldn't let me stay still.

"Oh my god!" I heard a familiar female voice shout. "What the hell?"

I turned my head to see Carly staring at us, her eyes looking straight at the arm Freddie had pinned behind me. She didn't have the annoyed 'Sam and Freddie are all over each other again' face, it was definitely a more startled, freaked out expression. After telling her about the whole pushing incident, I knew exactly what she was thinking.

"Get off of her!" Carly yelled. "What is the matter with you?"

"Carly, it's fine!" I yelled. "We're just goofing off."

"Doesn't that hurt?" she replied, gesturing to my arm.

"Only if I try to get out of it, which is the entire point."

"And you're not gonna get out of it, so do you give up?" Freddie asked.

"No chance," I growled, and I heard him laugh.

"Fine. I can stay like this all night," he replied, and then lowered his mouth close to my ear. "All night," he whispered huskily and suddenly ground his hips into me.

Okay, way too far! He was taking the teasing to the point of no return, and if that happened, I'd be one grumpy woman. As he pushed his hips against me again, I pushed back, enough to cause him to take a step back, and as soon as he did that I propped my foot on the wall, pushing back with all my strength and sending both of us crashing to the ground.

"Oof!" Freddie grunted as I fell on top of him. He recovered quickly though, and I was stuck in his grasp again. This time, it was much worse than pinning an arm behind my back. Way worse than teasing me.

He started to tickle me.

"Aaahhh!" I shouted, trying desperately to get free, but he wasn't having it, and continued to tickle me mercilessly.

I finally managed to get free though, after doing some weird maneuver where I put my feet on his knees and pushed off, a kind of backwards somersault and then quickly regaining my footing.

"Damn," Freddie said as he stood up. "Nice trick."

"Thanks," I said with a shrug as I brushed myself off and then reached up to brush the dust off Freddie's shoulder.

"Your hair's a mess," he said with a smile, lifting a hand to smooth my hair down.

"It's always a mess."

"A beautiful mess," Freddie replied, brushing his lips over mine. My hand went to the back of his head, forcing him to kiss me longer. I never wanted to stop. I just wanted to keep kissing him, forget about the rest of the world.

"Are you guys done yet?" Brad asked, obviously aggravated. "Three minutes to show."

"When you get back up here?" Freddie asked.

"And where's my sandwich?" I put in.

Brad ignored me, answering Freddie's question instead. "Sometime during Crouching Tiger Hidden Pervert."

Freddie glared at him. "Very cute. Just having some fun, man."

"First the gym, then the studio..." Brad stated. "Is there anywhere that's off limits with you guys? If you keep doing that in front of the kid, he's gonna start tackling little girls on the playground."

"Uh, he's half Sam, he's gonna do that anyway," Freddie cracked. "OW!" he hollered suddenly, glaring at me. "What'd I say about pinching me?"

"But it's fun," I replied with a shrug. "Okay, let's see...techie crap?"

"Done," Freddie replied.

"Props?"

"Ready to go," Carly put in.

"And...most important part...baby," I replied as I walked over to the desk, leaning down to kiss baby Freddie on the forehead. He was fast asleep, and I just wanted to stare at him forever. My beautiful son. My beautiful, perfect mini-Freddie.

"Is he sleeping?" Freddie asked as he wrapped his arms around me from behind, his chin resting on my shoulder.

I nodded. "Yeah, he's gone."

"Well, maybe he'll wake up before the show's over," Freddie replied, kissing my neck briefly. "If not, doesn't matter. Fans just wanna get a good look."

"One minute," Brad said.

"You nervous?" Freddie asked me as he gave me a quick kiss and headed for his camera.

"A little," I admitted. "I mean, it's been awhile..."

"You'll be fine, baby," he replied, giving me an encouraging smile. "You got this."

I nodded, turning to Carly. "You ready?"

"Oh yeah," she replied breezily. Easy for her to say, she hadn't taken off four months from shooting! I'd been so excited up until this point, and I still was. But now the nerves were getting to me. Deep down, I knew I'd be fine, but coming back after all this time? Yeah, I was definitely nervous. But we had some pretty funny stuff planned, so I was sure it would go just fine.

"Okay ladies," Freddie said. "In five, four, three, two..."

"What's up! I'm Carly!"

"And I'm back again!" I yelled, doing a little dance.

Carly gave a little laugh, hugging me. "I don't know who's more excited you're back, me, the fans, or Brad."

With that, Freddie pointed the camera at Brad, who just frowned.

"Brad does not like being on camera," Brad muttered.

"Sam does not like it when Brad talks in third person," I shot back.

"Everyone hates when Brad talks in third person," Freddie added, panning back over to us. "But I think the fans have to be the happiest. You're more fun to look at."

"Hey!" Brad yelled. "I happen to be very good-looking!"

"Okay..." Carly said with a roll of her eyes. "Moving on. So the other day, Sam and I had a craving for fish."

"So we got a bucket, and filled it with them," I stated, holding up the bucket to the camera.

"But we didn't have anything to get the scales off," Carly said with a frown. "But now we've got this fancy rotary tool that Sam...borrowed...from the friendly neighborhood nail salon."

"Let's de-scale some fish!" I yelled, pressing the 'audience cheer' button on my remote.

This was probably one of the grossest things we'd ever done on iCarly. Carly was not comfortable weilding a rotary at a dead fish, which left me to do it, and it was pretty nasty. Fish scales going everywhere, in our hair, all over our clothes and skin. Not our most glamorous moment.

The rest of the show went off like a hitch, even though we were covered in fish scales, and I was happy to be back, but a lot more tired than I'd expected. I'd been tired before, but I was pregnant back then. Still, I guess taking care of the baby at all hours of the day and night took more out of me than I'd realized. But it wasn't like I was going to quit or anything, just because I was a little tired. What would we do for money without the show? No way in hell could we survive working menial jobs with grueling hours and little pay, while trying to finish school and raise our son. We were going to keep going, as long as possible.

"Well, that about wraps up this iCarly," Carly said as she picked yet another fish scale out of her hair, grimacing as she did. "Except for one more thing."

With that, Freddie quickly handed the camera over to Brad and then scooped up little Freddie Jr., walking over to where I was standing and giving me a sweet smile. He was excited to show off our sweet baby boy too, possibly more excited than me.

"After months and months of waiting," he said with a smile. "Sam and I are happy to present our son."

I refrained from pushing the audience cheer button again. Aside from the initial burst of noisemaking at the beginning, I was trying not to overload my son's poor nerves with a bunch of jarring sounds. The last thing we needed was for him to start crying on camera.

"This is Fredward Karl Benson, Jr.," I said, bending down to kiss my baby on his tiny forehead. "And he's the sweetest baby ever."

"Yeah, he is pretty sweet," Freddie said with a smile, looking down at him.

"Brad, zoom in," I said, gesturing for Brad to get a tighter shot. "Best of all, he looks exactly like his father. Who's the most sweetest, perfect guy ever."

I looked up at Freddie after I said this, and he just stared right back, our eyes locked. God, I loved this man so much. Everything he did for me, to save me, the way he took care of me and loved me. And giving me my son. Words could not express how much I loved him.

I guess he could tell what I was thinking, as always, because he bent down to brush his lips across mine, causing Carly and Brad to both let out an annoyed groan.

"Don't mind them," Carly said as she turned the camera toward her. "They've been in this...state...for a few days now." We ignored Carly, still kissing, and she made another frustrated noise. Normally, Freddie and I went to great lengths not to be super affectionate with each other on the show, as we liked to keep our private life private, but we just couldn't help it this time! Things had been going so well over the last few days, it was like we were in love more now than ever!

"Well, on that note," Brad stated as he turned the camera on himself. "I guess this just about wraps things up, since we can't pull Freddie and Sam apart...yet again. Carly, c'mere."

Carly walked over to his side and he pulled the camera back so both of them were in frame. "Okay, so, I'm Carly, this is Brad, and Freddie and Sam are...busy. And this has been iCarly! Night everyone!"

"Aaaaand we're clear," Brad said, setting the camera down. He turned to look at us, his arms crossed over his chest. "Nice work with the whole throwing off the ending."

"What?" I exclaimed. "We did not! We..."

"Probably caused an explosion in the hearts and minds of every Seddie shipper on the planet," Carly filled in. "I don't even think you guys have even kissed on camera before!"

"Sorry, couldn't help it," I said with a shrug.

Brad and Carly just rolled their eyes again, and with that, Carly headed for the door. "And now I have to get ready for my second performance of the night," she said, looking a bit haggard.

"Are you tired or something?" I asked, and she shrugged.

"I'm exhausted," she whined. "Leah was up and down all last night, school is still killing me...the sh-" Carly stopped suddenly, biting her lip. "Maybe I should just go to bed right when I get home. I'm probably just tired."

"Are you sure you're not just on your..."

"Brad!"

"What?" he exclaimed. "Just saying! You've been a little out of sorts the last few days, that's all."

"Sorry," she replied with a sigh. "But no, it's not that. I'm just tired." She gave us a smile that I could tell was forced, prompting Brad and I to exchange worried expressions.

Carly left, heading to go get ready, and I hopped up on the desk. My focus kept darting from Brad to Freddie and the baby, who was currently fussing away as Freddie tried to get him to stop. Shaking my head, I forced my attention back to Brad.

"Something's up with her," I pointed out, and he nodded.

"Yeah, I know," he replied. "She's...having trouble coping with just how busy our life is right now."

"And it's only going to get busier," I replied.

"I know," he said with a shrug. "But I'm used to tons of kids running around and always having to be on top of things, Carly's not. She'll get the hang of it, I know she will. I mean, she's actually been handling herself really well, don't you think?"

"Maybe," I said with a shrug. "I don't know, I just think there might be something else bothering her."

"Well, I'll see how she is when she gets home tonight. The music thing always puts her in a better mood."

He was right about that. Carly could be having a crappy day, go play a set, and then it was like nothing had ever happened. Maybe all she needed was a little bit of stress relief.

I noticed that the baby had stopped making noise, and I looked over to see Freddie rocking him back and forth, staring at him intently. He must have felt my eyes on him, because he looked up at me, his expression a mixture of relief, pride, and just sheer happiness.

"Look, Sam!" he said happily. "He stopped crying."

"I see that," I said with a smile, getting off the desk. "Guess he's used to you now..."

"Mmhmm," Freddie replied, looking down at his son.

"See? You got this. You are a good father. And you are needed," I stated as I rubbed up and down his arms. "I don't know what we would do without you."

"Okay, it's getting a little too sappy in here for me," Brad said as he closed the laptop. "I'm going downstairs, gonna go check on Heather."

"Well, we should probably go back to the apartment," I said. "Put this little guy to bed, have some 'us' time..."

"Yeah," Freddie replied. "Sounds good. You hungry?"

"A little," I said. Actually, truth was, I was starving, but I'd been trying really hard not to go overboard with the whole eating thing. I'd gotten a voracious appetite when I was really little, from a lack of money or food, but that had been over a long time ago. The appetite had stuck around though, and half the time I wasn't sure if I was actually hungry or just repeating my old ways.

"Liar," Freddie replied with a roll of his eyes. "I know you must be famished."

"You know me too well," I said with a sigh.

"Well, come on, I'll make us some dinner," he replied as he placed little Freddie in his bassinet, picking it up by the handles. "Hey man, good luck tomorrow!"

"Thanks," Brad said with a sigh. "I have a feeling I'll need it."

The boys were, of course, talking about Brad's meeting with the agent tomorrow morning. She was flying in from LA to see him, which was a good sign, but Brad was still understandably nervous. I elbowed him lightly in the ribs, prompting him to look at me.

"You'll do fine, dude. You're a good writer, and all your projects I've seen were amazing."

"Thanks, blondie," he replied. "You guys have a good night."

"You too," Freddie replied. "Gym tomorrow night?"

"Sure thing," Brad replied. "Sam, you coming?"

I shook my head. "Nah. Saturdays are my days off from all that chizz. I mean, it's fun, but...it's still work. Besides, thought I'd let you guys get back to your bromance..."

"We do not have a bromance," Freddie said flatly.

"I'm offended by that," Brad replied flatly. "But I'll let it slide for now."

"Okay," Freddie said with a laugh.

"I mean it. One day you'll come clean about our love!" Brad yelled as he headed out the door.

Freddie just shook his head, laughing, before turning back to me.

"C'mon, baby. Let's go home."

He took my hand in his free one, directing me to the elevator. As we stood in the elevator, I leaned against Freddie, who put an arm around me.

"Tired, baby?" he asked as he placed a gentle kiss on my temple. I nodded against his shoulder, an unintentional yawn slipping out.

"I don't know why," I replied. "Usually the show doesn't take that much out of me..."

"Well, you've been away for awhile, sweetheart," he replied. "And we did go to the gym today, and the baby was being fussy last night. Of course you're tired."

"It's eight forty five on a Friday night, and already I'm ready for bed," I complained. "I feel like an old lady."

"You're not an old lady," Freddie said. "But you do need to get some rest. So I'll make dinner, we'll watch a movie, if you want I can rub your back..."

"Don't you think that's a little dangerous?" I asked, and Freddie instantly got what I meant by that. Us, alone in bed, him rubbing all over me, me not wearing a shirt? With the sex ban still two weeks away from being lifted?

"I think I can control myself a little bit longer," he said with a wink, and I just shrugged.

"Yeah, but...you've gotta be getting a little..."

"A little what, sweetheart?"

"I don't want your...plumbing...to get messed up," I replied, and he laughed.

"Sam!" he exclaimed. "Come on. My 'plumbing' isn't going to get messed up. I'm good."

"I'm just saying, if you really feel...torqued up, I can still take care of you."

"Mmm," Freddie said, kissing me. "I would love that, but no."

"Why not?"

"Because we're waiting. Yes, I'm horny as hell, and yes, it's driving me crazy. But I'd rather deal with that just a little bit longer and then have an amazing night that just gets rid of all of it."

"So...you haven't been..."

"Nope. I have not. Have you?"

"No," I replied. "But I mean...if you wanted me to...for you..."

"Sam, don't tease me right now," he said flatly. "Because the idea of seeing that right now...well...yeah. Don't tease me."

"All or nothing, huh?" I taunted, and he shrugged, kissing me.

"Haven't we always done things that way?"

~*Carly*~

Well, this was fun while it lasted, I thought to myself as I finished my last song. Of my last set. Ever.

If people realized what was going on in my head. I could just imagine what they'd say.

'There's Carly, whining again and being over dramatic.'

But to be honest, I didn't think I was.

I had a decision to make, I'd made it, and I was sticking with it. It wasn't about dramatics, or me lambasting the unfairness of life, it just was. I already had so much going on right now, with school, the show, and everything going on at home, and I'd be even busier after the baby came. I was already exhausted dealing with everything, and I didn't want to always be this tired. Never able to enjoy anything.

Plus, what if I kept pursuing music, and it turned out the same way iCarly had – a chore. Work. I didn't want that for my music. I was already a little upset at the realization that I could possibly be outgrowing the show, I refused to outgrow music. I'd still play at home, when I had the time, and maybe even in a few years when things calmed down, I could go back to it. After all, I was only twenty years old.

But knowing all of that, why was this so hard? Was it the thundering applause from the audience that made me second guess myself? Or the fact that here, in this coffeehouse, I felt like a different person than I did anywhere else? Or was it just the feeling I got in general from music, like I was totally free?

I didn't know, and I didn't want to think about it any longer. I finally forced a smile for my audience, did my little signature bow, and hopped off the barstool, down the stairs offstage. I headed straight for the coffee bar. I'd decided earlier in the year, when Brad was still in the worst part of his drinking problem, that I wasn't going to drink any more. It wasn't fair to Brad, with all the problems he had with it, for me to continue doing it. So, if I couldn't have alcohol right now, I'd get jacked up on caffeinated, sugary beverages!

I leaned against the counter, brushing my hair off my face, as the barista, Tyler, headed over in my direction. I'd known Tyler ever since I started coming to The Beanery on the regular, and considered him a good friend, but that was it. Even if I wasn't engaged and in love, Tyler was a little too pierced and tattooed for my tastes. But he was smart, and fun to talk to, and usually gave good advice.

"Good set tonight, Carly," he said.

"Thanks," I said with a smile, then leaned forward to examine him more closely. "You gauged your ears again?"

"Yup," he said proudly, showing them off. "They're still not where I want them to be, but I'm just gonna keep stretching them."

"They'll hang down to your shoulders when you're sixty," I pointed out, and Tyler shrugged.

"Maybe, but I'm not too worried about the future. I just wanna have fun now."

"Wish I could say the same," I grunted, and Tyler gave me a sympathetic look.

"Alright, what's up with you tonight? Are you still all jacked up over dealing with the kiddos?"

"Well, I mean, they can be a handful sometimes, but no..."

"The fiance giving you problems?"

"No, he's amazing," I responded. "We're not having any problems at all. I'm just having a...schedule issue."

"Schedule issue?" Tyler replied, his brow furrowed. "What do you mean?"

"Like, too many things, not enough time. I gotta give something up."

"Your show?" Tyler asked, and I shook my head fervently.

"No way. Way too many people are depending on me. There is no iCarly without Carly. I mean, or Sam, or Freddie, or Brad, but...it takes all of us to make it work, and it's everyone's sole source of income. I can't quit."

Tyler stared at me for a second, a horrified look in his eye.

"You're gonna stop playing music, aren't you?" he exclaimed, and I practically dove across the bar to cover his mouth.

"Will you hush?" I hissed. "I don't want anybody overhearing that! If Walter finds out I'm quitting without giving him any notice..."

"Hey! There's my golden girl!"

I froze in place as I heard a familiar voice, letting out a deep sigh. That was unmistakably Walter, the booking agent for all the musical acts that played at The Beanery. He was a big iCarly fan, and a big fan of my music as well...and a big fan of the crowds I tended to draw in whenever I played there. It started as just sheer curiousity, the people showing up. Could the silly girl from iCarly actually play serious music? Well, I'd proved them wrong, won them over, and now I had a legitimate following. That I was going to disappoint. And Walter, and Tyler, and everyone else at The Beanery who I now considered friends. This sucked.

I turned around slowly, a fake plastic smile plastered across my face as I looked at Walter.

"Hey," I said. "What's up?"

"Got somebody I want to introduce you to," Walter replied. "This is Chris. Chris, this is Carly."

"Hey, Carly," Chris greeted me as he extended his hand. "Caught your set tonight. You're really good."

"Thanks," I replied, feeling an overwhelming sense of deja vu. This guy looked really familiar, but I couldn't place him. Where did I know this guy from?

"Do you...hmmm." I stated, toying with my hair.

Chris looked at me strangely. "Do I what?"

"I...I feel like I've seen you before," I replied. "Were you at webicon?"

"No," he laughed. "I work in the music business."

"The music business?" I repeated. "But I don't really...oh my god!"

Realization had just hit me in the face of who I was talking to right now. I had just shaken the hand of, and been complimented on my set by none other than the manager for my favorite band in the entire world!

"You're the manager for Cuttlefish!" I screeched. "Oh my god, they're my favorite band ever!"

"Yeah," he said with a laugh. "Been working with those guys for years. But Walter and I go way back, and I was in town for a few days, so I popped in. Just in time to catch your set. Impressive. How long have you been playing guitar?"

"Since December," I replied.

"Like this past December?" Chris replied, obviously impressed. "Wow. That's...you're good, Carly. Great voice too. I'm in the market for another act to manage."

I was dumbfounded, just blinking a few times in disbelief as I watched Chris pull his wallet out, handing me his business card.

"Call me," he said. "I can set you up with a really good producer, get a demo going. Ever been to Los Angeles?"

"Uh..." I stammered. Oh shit. Come on! Just when you think you've got it all figured out, the Universe throws something in your gears that can only be read as a sick karmic joke. Why was this happening now?

"See, Chris...the thing is, I'm gonna have to put the whole music thing on hold for a little while. My fiance and I, we're raising his three siblings, there's about to be another baby thrown in the mix, and we have school, and work, and...I'm afraid I can't fit music in right now."

Chris shrugged, like he didn't care one way or the other. I'm sure he could find another solo chick with a guitar, so he probably didn't care one way or another. Oh my god! What was I doing? I am absolutely crazy!

"Well, I'm very sorry to hear that, but I think you should reconsider."

"Well, it's just that, with everything that's going on..."

"Just think about it, Carly. Save my card." With that, he turned back to Walter, slapping him on the back. "Gotta go man, early morning tomorrow, but we'll do dinner before I go back to LA."

"Sounds good, Chris," Walter replied. "I'll see ya." As soon as Chris had given us a little wave and walked off, Walter gave me an expression that looked like he wanted to beat me with a stick.

"Walter..." I said slowly. "Don't freak out..."

"You're quitting?" he cried. "Do you have any idea how many people come out to see you play, Carly? You gained a massive following in only a few months! That is not an easy feat!"

Ugh, and him pointing that out was not making my decision easy either. I just had to keep my mind focused on what was important. Brad. The kids. School. Work. Do not cave, Carly. Do not cave.

"I'm sorry!" I cried. "But come on, Walter, you know how busy I am! I just can't any more!"

"That leaves me with two spots a week to fill, Carly!" Walter exclaimed. "Do you want more money? Is that it? Because if it's more money..."

"Walter! It's not about the money! It doesn't matter how much you pay me, I can't buy extra hours in the day! I'm falling behind on school, the house is a disaster...and we stay busy all day long! Every day! A little down time would be nice! And I could be getting that down time right now, but instead I'm here! And it's becoming more and more draining every day!" I shot back. "Look, I gotta go. Brad's got that meeting with that screenwriting agent tomorrow, I need to make sure his head is in the right place."

"But, Carly..."

"I'll see you around, Walter." With that, I picked up my guitar case, gave a little wave to Tyler, and headed for the door.

"Carly! We are not done talking about this!"

"I gotta go, Walt! Bye!"

"Carly!"

But I just continued to walk out, onto the sidewalk, which was filling up with people. It was a Friday night, after all. A few of them recognized me from the coffeehouse as I headed down the sidewalk, and I found myself just waving and saying hi to random people I didn't really know.

I was used to notoriety at places like webicon and the like, but for the most part, iCarly had left me pretty much an underground celebrity, confined solely to the internet. But in the Seattle music scene, people really knew me. I got recognized just buying groceries sometimes, and that was awesome.

But it would have to be put on hold right now. I'd revisit the issue in a few years, but for right now, I had way more important things to focus on.

It was a short walk back to Bushwell, only about ten minutes, and before I knew it I was unlocking my front door. I was so exhausted, ready to get into bed and snuggle up to my wonderful fiance.

I pushed the door open, a smile spreading across my face as my eyes landed on Brad, sound asleep on the couch with one of his textbooks laying open on his chest. He'd been waiting for me to get back. God, he was sweet.

I walked over to where he lay, bending down to kiss him on the forehead, and his eyes fluttered open.

"Hey, babe," he croaked, voice still thick and groggy from sleep. "How'd it go tonight?"

"It was good," I replied. "Kids all asleep?"

"Uh-huh."

"Wanna go upstairs? Lay down? I can give you a 'please don't freak out just because your meeting is tomorrow massage' if you want..."

Brad shook his head. "You do too much for me already," he responded, taking my hand in his and squeezing a little. "I love you, babe."

"Aw, did you miss me?" I teased, and he shrugged.

"Maybe just a little," he replied, sitting up. "Come on, let's go upstairs."

I couldn't help but notice after we got upstairs and I began getting ready to lay down that boys had it so easy sometimes. I had to take off my makeup, wash my face and moisturize it, brush my hair, and change into pajamas before I could even think about sleep. Brad simply stripped down to his boxers and just sort of fell into bed. He was quiet for the most part, but he kept making these little sighs and huffs that made me sure he was thinking hard about something.

"Something on your mind, baby?" I asked as I finally got finished getting ready for bed.

Brad gave me a half-hearted shrug. "Just a little nervous I guess."

"About tomorrow?" I replied, laying down next to him. "Baby. Don't be nervous."

"I can't help it, Carly!" he said, letting out another sigh. "I've wanted this my entire life, to be a serious filmmaker. The first step is representation. What if she decides she doesn't want to sign me?"

"She loved the script, and she's flying here from LA on her own dime with almost zero notice just to meet you, Brad! I don't think she'll change her mind."

"I hope not," he responded. We were quiet for a little while, me content to just lay my head on Brad's chest and run my hand up and down his stomach, while he lightly rubbed my back.

"Hey," he said suddenly. "You know what?"

"What?"

"If I do get signed, and my screenplay sells, I'm totally gonna put your music on the soundtrack."

I let out a nervous laugh. "Uh, Brad, about my music..."

"I think it would work pretty good. And you're definitely good enough to go pro..."

"But, Brad..."

"And we'd be like the super awesome power couple, the promotion would be insane..."

"BRAD!"

"What?" he asked, lifting his head to look at me. "What's wrong?"

"I'm taking a break. From music."

"What?" Brad asked, sitting up. "Why? Is this because of the kids?"

"No, baby, it's not because of the kids," I responded. "I'm just tired all the time."

"I could pick up some of the slack..."

"Baby, you always busy taking care of those kids, and setting up all the tech stuff for the show...you already do so much," I replied gently. "Look, there's just not enough time for me to do everything..."

"But I don't want you to give up something you love, just because I complicated your life!" Brad shot back. "Dammit...Carly...baby, I'm sorry..."

"Brad...it's not your fault! And you didn't complicate my life! I love you. I don't regret anything."

"Still, it was my decision to take the kids, and..."

"And you think I have some sort of resentment toward you because of that?" I asked, surprised. "Baby, no. If anything, it makes me love you more."

"How does moving a bunch of kids into our zero responsibility college kid lives make you love me more?"

"Because you made a huge sacrifice! Not many twenty year old guys would do all this just to help his brother and sisters. Brad, you're amazing," I said softly.

Brad stared at me for a moment, silent, and I reached for his hand, holding it tightly.

"I've been in love with you for a very long time, you know that? Since we were in high school. But...everything you've done this year...you've changed so much, and it was for the better, and that doesn't happen a lot. But...you did. And you're so amazing, and I love you so much," I stated. "I can't imagine being without you, no matter what happens. You made sacrifices to take care of your siblings, and now I am too. Because I don't want to put all the weight on your shoulders. Because I love you too much."

"Babe..." Brad muttered. "You're doing that thing again..."

"Making you cry?"

"I am not crying! My eyes are leaking," he grumbled, and I just laughed.

"C'mere, silly man," I teased, kissing him.

"I don't like this you quitting music business," he said after we laid back down. "I don't like it at all."

"Well, it's not your decision to make, baby."

"Yeah, but still! I feel like this is my fault!"

"It's not. I made the decision, not you."

"You're giving up something you love because of me. I'm not down with it."

"I'm not quitting...I'm still gonna play at home, write songs, all that...but...I'm just not going to play, like...for an audience. At least not for awhile."

"Carly..."

"Brad, just accept it, okay? I'm tired. And I don't mean just right now, but like in general. I'm always so exhausted. Something had to give. And it couldn't be school, or the kids, or the show..."

"No, I guess not," Brad said with a sigh. "I just wish you didn't have to, babe. I know how much you love it."

"I'll be okay," I replied. "We should probably get some sleep though. Leah will be up early and probably wanting to go to the park, and you have your brunch meeting."

"Ugh," Brad groaned. "Do I strike you as the type of person who eats brunch?"

"No, but you'd better work on it, because the industry you wanna work in, they do brunch."

"Yeah, I know," he replied, and then gave me a sweet kiss. "I love you, babe," he said. "I really don't deserve you."

"No, you don't," I teased. "Lucky you, you've got those eyes and that cute butt."

"Your butt's pretty cute too," he replied, kissing me again. My eyebrows went up as he intensified the kiss, pulling away again.

"Early morning, remember?" I pushed, and he shook his head.

"Don't care."

"But, baby..." I whined as he began kissing my neck, his arm going around my waist and pulling me to him.

"I need me some Carly," he replied in a husky whisper against my skin, his hot breath sending shivers up my spine. I was almost done for...if he pushed just a little bit more...

Oh, god. I'm done. His tongue just flickered across that spot on my neck that makes my knees weak.

Ugh, screw sleep. If I was giving up my music to have more downtime, I was going to enjoy my downtime!

Brad let out a soft laugh as a moan escaped my lips, continuing to kiss over my neck as he began inching my tank top up. "Guess you've given up on talking me out of it..."

"Uh-huh," I said in a breathy voice. Talking him out of it? Forget it...I was too gone now, and his mouth and hands on my skin just felt too good.

Brad just lifted his head to grin at me, reaching for the light and turning it off.

"Now, let's see about getting you out of those pesky clothes..." he said.

~*Freddie*~

"Are you almost done in there?" Sam yelled at me from the bedroom as I hustled and bustled around the kitchen.

I rolled my eyes. "Patience is a virtue, baby!"

"One I don't have!"

"Will you just calm your pretty ass down?" I yelled. "I'm almost done, just give me a few more minutes."

"I'm starving!" she whined. "And I wanna snuggle!"

I had to laugh at that. Guess I didn't mind her being so impatient if she was impatient over laying in bed with me. In fact, it was kinda nice. One of those little things that someone who didn't know Sam would take as being bratty. But me? I thought it was sweet, and it didn't bother me.

"Freddie! Come here, quick!"

Well, not that much.

I rolled my eyes again, heading for the bedroom.

"Sam, I told you, wait just a second, and I'll -"

"Look!" she yelled, cutting me off.

She was leaning over Freddie Jr., laying on his back looking up at her. He had woken up after we got into the apartment, needing to be fed, and I guess Sam was done with that. But I didn't know what she was wanting me to look at it. He was adorable, sure, but he was always adorable.

"So what am I looking at?" I asked, and she waved me over, waiting for me to sit on the bed next to her.

"Watch," she replied, then slowly leaned closer toward him, so close their faces were almost touching. And then...

"Boo," she said in a soft, high-pitched voice, and out of nowhere, my son's face took on a whole new expression I'd never seen before.

He was smiling!

"Oh, wow..." I said. "Baby! That is so cool!"

"Isn't it?" she replied giddily, bouncing a little. "Baby! Our son just smiled for the first time!" She bent down to kiss him. "Aw, my sweet little man...you got your daddy's smile, don't you?"

Baby talk from Sam. Another thing that made me melt. Because she tried so hard to be tough all the time, and this little guy had totally changed that. It was such an amazing thing to see, watching my beautiful wife as a mother. If anything, it just made me love her more.

I couldn't stop myself from leaning in to slide the strap of her tank top aside and kiss her bare shoulder, noting the way it made her shiver.

"I love you," I said, kissing her on the cheek. "And our son."

"Isn't it so cool?" she said softly. "He smiled. And pretty soon he'll laugh, and roll over, and crawl, and..."

"Crawl?" I repeated flatly. "Oh crap. I forgot to baby-proof!"

"Chill, honey," Sam replied. "Still got a few more months on that. But our little boy's growing up already..."

"Our little boy needs to go to bed," I reminded her, and she nodded.

"Yeah. Guess you're right. I'll go put him down. Are you almost done with dinner?"

"Mmhmm. Chicken parm, one of your faves."

"I knew there was a reason I married you..." she teased, giving me a kiss.

"Cute," I replied. "Food'll be ready by time you get back."

"K," she replied over her shoulder as she carried Freddie Jr. to the nursery, and I headed back into the kitchen.

I could definitely get used to things being like this every night. We were happy, our little boy was changing more and more each day, school was going great...life was good.

The only thing that would make it better would be being able to make love to my wife again. It wasn't even about sexual frustration, or needing a release. I just needed to be close to her, as close as physically possible. I wanted to make her feel amazing, adored, beautiful, sexy, everything she was.

The day was getting closer and closer, and I was determined to make it really special. For both of us, but mostly for her. Just had to think up a few ideas first...

I finished making dinner, preparing two plates and carrying them to the bedroom and then putting in the DVD Sam had picked out. She came back a few minutes later and flopped onto the bed, face inches away from her plate.

"If you don't use silverware, Sam...I will not kiss you for a week."

"Ugh, fascist," she grumbled, picking up her fork and diving in. "Damn, baby!"

"Good?"

"Amazing," she replied. We sat in silence for awhile, just eating. Both of us were obviously famished and I was feeling a little woozy from not eating. Sam cleared her plate pretty quickly, setting it on the bedside table and then laying back and stretching, lifting her legs into the air. She was wearing only one of my t-shirts, so as she did that it just rose higher, exposing more of her thighs.

Damn. Girl was so sexy, it almost wasn't fair.

"You're distracting me," I pointed out as she continued to flex and stretch out her legs.

"How? Doing this?" she asked flirtily, lifting one leg even higher. Oh, and now I can see her underwear. Greatttt. Guess they were right when they said payback's a bitch.

"Sam..." I warned.

"What?" she shot back. "You're not wearing a shirt! At not least I'm not walking around shirtless!"

"If you did that I'd probably get a permanent injury from walking into a wall," I mused. "But come on, honey. Any little thing right now could get me going..."

"Sorry," she replied, not sounding all that sorry. "But...won't be that much longer, you know."

"I know," I replied, putting my plate down so I could pull her to me. "I'm really looking forward to it."

"Bet you are," she teased, and I shrugged.

"I miss it. Being that close to you."

"I do too," she said softly.

"But...you know, I gotta say, I expected it to be a whole lot worse. I mean, back in the day, after you got out of the hospital and we couldn't have sex..."

"...we almost killed each other," she finished, laughing. "I know. But we were horny teenagers, what can I say?"

"We're still horny teenagers," I pointed out, and she laughed again.

"Yeah, I keep forgetting that part," she replied. "But you know what I mean. We were still kinda...like...you know...wowed by the whole sex thing, and then it just got taken away..."

"So you don't like the sex as much as you used to?"

"Uh, hell no!" Sam replied with a roll of her eyes. "But...it's like when I first discovered sushi, and I ate it every single day for like three months. I still love sushi, but I'm not going to have a freak attack if I don't get it."

"Thank you for comparing my dick to raw fish, Sam," I said sarcastically, wincing as she thumped me in the ear.

"You are not understanding my allegory," she snapped. "I'm just saying, maybe...maybe we've gotten our hormones under control better, and...our relationship is a lot...deeper now. I loved you then, so so much...and I always have I guess, but...the way I love you now..." she kissed me softly, sweetly. "Nothing can compare."

"You're right about that," I replied. "Nothing can compare." I kissed her again, unable to stop myself from deepening the kiss, and soon she was on her back and I was on top of her, the two of us kissing passionately, running our hands over each other. I took a deep breath to steady myself, to pull myself back before I got too frustrated, and planted a soft kiss on her forehead.

"I can't wait to make love to you again," I whispered in her ear, kissing her neck.

"Neither can I," she replied breathily.

"It's gonna be perfect," I told her. "Promise."

"It's already perfect," she reminded me, and I nodded. With that, she gave me a gentle shove to the side, turning around in my arms so her back was against my chest. "Hold me?"

"Forever, baby," I told her as I pulled her closer.


	68. Chapter 68: Light Grenades

**A/N: Hey everyone! Just wanted to say thanks so much to everyone who wished me a happy birthday on here, tumblr, and twitter! You guys are awesome! Also, I know I don't usually include a character's POV more than once in a chapter, but it was done for a reason, hope you guys enjoy!**

**Chapter Sixty Eight:  
>Light Grenades<strong>

~*Brad*~

"Babe, are you sure you're gonna be okay with me going?" I asked Carly as she sat cross legged on the bed, watching me stuff a change of clothes and my laptop into my carry-on bag.

Carly nodded, leaning over to unplug my PearPod from the wall and then handed it to me. "Here, it's charged up. I even loaded the new White Stripes album on there for you," she said. "And you'll only be gone for eight hours."

"Yeah, but I'll be in a different state," I pointed out, and she shrugged.

"As long as you come back," she replied with a smile, and I leaned across the bed to kiss her.

"Of course I'm coming back," I replied.

"I know," Carly said. "But yeah, I think I can handle all the day-to-day around here."

"I know you can, babe," I told her, letting out a deep breath. "Damn, I can't believe how nervous I am."

"Well, this is a really important day for you, so I understand. But you'll do fine, baby."

"I hope you're right," I replied.

It was so random, me going to Los Angeles for less than a day, but it was necessary if I wanted to get the ball rolling on this whole representation business. I'd had no idea what a lengthy process this whole thing had turned out to be, and it wasn't even over yet! I'd been under the impression that when I had met with the agent, Michelle, two weeks ago, that she'd either offer me a management contract or she wouldn't, and that would be the end of it. But it was only the beginning. The meeting had gone really well, and she'd expressed a lot of interest in representing my screenplay, but apparently she had to get approval from the higher ups at the company.

And that was exactly how I'd found myself with a plane ticket to Los Angeles, to meet the staff at United Artists Management. Today was just going to be a series of meetings, and after it was over, I'd go straight back to Seattle. Then, hopefully I'd have a contract.

I felt kind of bad for leaving Carly behind though, even though I'd be gone for only about eight hours or so. If anything went wrong today, I'd be in another state and wouldn't be able to help her until my next flight. I just had to cross my fingers and hope everything went smoothly, on her end and mine.

"I can still take you to the airport," Carly said, and I shook my head.

"You'd be late for class," I replied. "It's fine, baby. I can drive myself."

"This is so weird," Carly commented. "You going on a plane for a day trip."

"I know, right?" I said with a wrinkle of my nose. "But that's how these Hollywood people do it, man."

"Do you think if they sign you and you end up selling your screenplay you'll have to do it a lot?" she asked, and I shrugged.

"We'll cross that bridge when we come to it, I guess," I replied, zipping up my bag. "Alright, all packed."

With that, I picked up my bag, along with my phone and keys, heading downstairs with Carly close behind me.

"Well," I said as we stood by the front door and I took her hands in mine. "I'll call you before I get on the plane, and when I land, okay babe?"

She nodded. "Be careful, okay?"

"Always," I replied. "You know me."

"Yeah. Too well. That's why I'm telling you to be careful," Carly teased with a raise of her eyebrows.

"Very funny," I grumbled. "C'mere, babydoll." I pulled her into my arms, giving her a soft kiss. "Love you."

"Love you too," she replied. "Say hi to Gibby for me!"

"I will," I said with a laugh. "Have a good day, babe. I'll see you in about ten hours or so."

"Okay," she replied as she pulled the front door open. "Good luck!"

I gave her one last wave, closing the door behind me, and as I turned around I spied Freddie heading down the hallway toward me.

"Hey man!" I greeted him, my eyebrows going up. "You look...weird."

Freddie just grinned at me. "Dude, I am fucking awesome!"

"Oh no," I groaned. "Did you take too much Xanax again?"

"No!" he replied with a roll of his eyes. "I'm just in a very, very good mood, that's all."

"Why?" I asked. "What's going on? Are you...wait a minute," I grumbled. "What am I saying? It's D-Day, isn't it?"

"Oh yeah!" Freddie yelled, his arms going up. "Free at last, free at last!"

"But you guys haven't been to the doctor yet, right?" I asked, looking down at my watch.

"Nah, not til ten, but...I mean...it should be fine."

"What if it's not?" I replied.

"Brad," Freddie warned me. "What did I tell you about poking holes in my sex logic?"

"Sorry," I said with a laugh.

"Yeah, so I'm just about to beg my mom to keep the baby overnight..."

"You're just gonna lock yourselves in your room and have sex for the next twenty four hours, aren't you?"

"No!" Freddie replied curtly. "Gimme some credit, man. I gotta romance the girl a little bit, you know that."

"Well, good luck with that. I gotta go," I replied.

"Oh, that reminds me, Sam told me to tell you right before you leave to come back to Seattle, to pick up something called a Pink's Hotdog...with everything. And bring it to her."

"I'll do my best," I said with a laugh.

"Nervous?" he asked, and I shrugged.

"A little. But...no turning back, right?"

"Right," Freddie agreed with a nod. "Well, you'd better get going. Tells Gibs I said hey."

"Will do," I said with a nod. "Good luck with your...mission."

"Thanks," he said with a laugh. "You too, man. And don't get lost in LA or anything."

"No promises," I replied, shrugging. "Peace, man."

"Later."

With that, Freddie and I went our separate ways, him to his mom's apartment and me to the elevator. I had to pick up my pace a little bit. I wasn't late, but I definitely needed to get a move on. I headed for the parking garage, getting in my car and heading for the airport.

On the way, I pulled my phone out to call Gibby. That was another perk of going to LA for the day. I hadn't seen Gibby since summer, and since he lived there, he'd agreed to pick me up from the airport as well as drop me off. He answered on the second ring.

"B-Rad! What up, man?"

"Not much, just heading to the airport. Still gonna pick me up?"

"Yeah, man, it's cool."

"Alright, cool," I replied. I paused for a second. "Hey, do you know anything about a pink hot dog?"

"What?" Gibby exclaimed. "I don't really understand what you're asking me right now, and to be honest it's freaking me out a little."

"Dude!" I yelled. "No! Sam apparently wanted me to get her a pink hot dog. I don't know."

"Ohhh!" Gibby replied. "I get it. Pink's hot dogs. They're like the best in LA. We definitely should swing by there if you have time."

"Well, a few meetings I guess, but they said we'd be done by five-ish, and my flight to go back to Seattle doesn't even leave until eight, so I'll have a few hours to kill."

"Sweet!" Gibby replied. "You wanna get a drink or something? My roommate's a bartender, so we wouldn't get carded."

"Can't, Gibs."

"Why not?"

"Dude, didn't you notice the last time you were here? I've been sober since before last Christmas!"

"Wow, really?" Gibby asked. "You?"

"Gee thanks, man, but yeah. Aside from a little slip up right when I tried to quit, haven't touched the stuff in almost a year."

"Well, that's good!" Gibby replied. "That's really good, man."

"Thanks," I replied. "So yeah, anything that DOESN'T involve drinking, got it?"

"Alright, I'm sure we'll figure something out."

"And a pink hot dog."

"PINK'S hot dogs!" Gibby corrected me.

"Whatever, dude. I'll see you in a few hours."

"Gibb-ay," Gibby replied, and with that, hung up.

Oh geez, please let these meetings go okay, and please don't let Gibby do anything stupid while I'm there...

~*Freddie*~

"Mom, please!" I said, my voice quickly reaching a pitch that could be considered a whine. Wasn't very manly of me, especially considering the subject matter, but desperate times, desperate measures.

"Freddiebear, I just don't know," my mom replied. "Overnight?"

"We'll be downstairs! If there's a problem, just bring him back!" I shot back. "Mom, COME ON. I am begging you."

"Are you in that much of a rush to have intercourse?" she snipped, and I couldn't stop myself from grimacing. Ugh. My mother just said the word 'intercourse'. Gross.

"Mom..." I grunted, feeling my cheeks heat up. "Please. I would just like to have a little...reconnecting time...with my wife, that's all. And it'd be super awesome if you could help me out."

"I'm supposed to have breakfast with your Aunt Jennifer tomorrow," she replied, and I sighed.

"Mom, come on! You can bring him back at 6 AM if you want, I don't care. Just...please. I thought you liked spending time with your grandson."

"Of course I do, sweetheart," my mom replied, and I just glared at her.

"I don't understand what the problem is then, mom!" I stated. "Come on, when was the last time I really needed a favor from you?"

"Freddie, relax. Of course I'll take little Freddie Jr. for the evening."

"You will?" I asked, perplexed that she'd given in so easily. "But why did you...hey!" I exclaimed. "You were messing with me, weren't you?"

My mom laughed. "I'm sorry, I couldn't help it. That little disappointed look on your face when you thought you wouldn't get any alone time with Sam..."

"That is not funny, mom," I grunted.

"Well, I thought it was funny," she replied with a shrug. "So, what time tonight?"

"Probably around six thirty, seven?"

"You two are going to get started that early?" my mom asked, raising an eyebrow, and I gave her an exasperated look.

"I am taking her out to dinner first," I said flatly. "Give me some credit, mom."

"All I'm saying is, you are your father's son..."

"Mom!" I exclaimed. "Come on! I don't want or need to hear about that right now."

I could tell by the look on my mother's face that she was definitely enjoying this, first making me beg her to take the baby overnight, the little digs about me and Sam's "personal" life, now making vague references to my father's libido? Gross! I narrowed my eyes at her.

"You're really having fun with this, aren't you?"

"Does it show?" she replied with a smile, and I just shook my head.

"So seven's okay?" I asked, and she nodded.

"Sure, that's fine. Just make sure you have all of his things. An entire can of formula, at least six diapers, two changes of clothes, socks, a hat, the pack-and-play crib, his bouncy seat..."

"Yeah, I know. And Tickly."

My mom looked at me strangely. "Tickly?"

"Yeah," I said with a laugh. "Interesting story behind Tickly. It's this really worn out, thin little yellow blanket...and it's one of the only things that Sam actually managed to hold onto from her childhood. And thus, Tickly was passed on, and now the baby sleeps with it too."

"Well that's adorable," my mom replied. "Alright, well then I'll see you back here later tonight, okay?"

"Yeah," I replied, hugging her. "Thanks mom."

"No problem. Are you off to take Sam to the doctor?"

"Yep," I replied. "I'll see you later. Love you."

She caught me off-guard when she suddenly grabbed my face and planted a kiss on my cheek, and I made a face as I realized I now had lipstick on my face.

"Mom!" I grunted, frantically wiping my face. She just laughed as I walked out the door, poised to shut it behind me.

"Bye Freddiebear!" she said, and I just waved her off as I walked down the hall.

As I did, I couldn't help but think about how different my mom had been acting since she got married last Spring. She was much happier, more laid back, one could even say carefree. Almost to the point where she reminded me of her old self. Before we lost my dad. Nobody could ever replace my father, but if Robert made my mom happy, then that made me happy too.

As long as she didn't make any more sex jokes, I thought with a shudder as I pressed the button for the elevator.

As I got off the elevator and headed down the hallway to mine and Sam's apartment, I tried to think of what I could possibly do to distract her long enough to get everything I had planned done. Brad was in LA for the day, so I couldn't get him to help, and Carly would probably have her hands full today with her classes. What could I do?

I was still thinking about it when I walked into our apartment, only to find Sam perched on top of the countertop, playing with her phone.

"Hey baby," she said absentmindedly, her eyes still glued to her phone. "Did Marissa give us the okay?"

"Yep. We're good," I replied, walking over to the counter and resting my hands on either side of her. "Hmm."

"What?" she asked as she continued texting.

"I leave and come back and this is all I get?" I teased, prompting her to look up at me.

"You were gone for fifteen minutes, nub," she replied with a smirk. "But okay. C'mere." Her legs went around my waist suddenly, pulling me closer.

OH. MY. GOD.

Ugh, I was so glad the waiting period was finally over, because if she had done this to me a week ago, I wouldn't have been able to handle it. Any sort of relief would have been too far away. As it were, feeling her legs wrapped around me like that, her hips pressed tight against mine, even though the wait was over, it was still almost too much.

Quickly, the situation escalated from almost too much, to a definite overload, as her legs tightened around my waist and she moved her mouth to my neck, sliding her tongue up my skin and then capturing my earlobe between her teeth. I almost fell over.

"Damn, baby!" I growled, kissing her fiercely. "Quit getting me all riled up. Still got a few more hours to wait."

"I know," she replied. "Just having a little fun, that's all."

"Well, I'm gonna give you more fun than you can handle tonight, sexy," I responded, and she just grinned at me.

"Is that a promise?"

"Mmhmm," I replied, kissing her. "Is the baby asleep?"

"Yep. He's only been out for like ten minutes though."

"Alright, well, I'll put him in his carseat. You about ready to head out?"

"Definitely," she replied, hopping off the counter. "After this, no more doctor visits for awhile, at least not for me."

"And...you've been taking the pill again, right?"

"Right."

"You haven't missed any?" I asked, and she shook her head. "Okay," I said, kissing her. "Then we're good."

With that, I headed towards the nursery to grab little Freddie Jr. out of his crib and strap him into his carseat, careful not to wake him, and then carried him back out to the kitchen, where Sam was finishing up with his diaper bag.

"Ready?" I asked.

"Mmhmm. Let's go."

A short elevator ride, quick trip through the lobby, and to the parking garage, and we were off. I glanced over at Sam and frowned when I noticed she was acting a little antsy, her legs bouncing up and down.

"You seem a little nervous, baby," I commented, and she shrugged. "Worried Dr. Boyd's not gonna give us the okay?"

"No..." she replied, shifting in her seat a little, and my eyes narrowed a little bit.

"This better not be about...you know, body issues. I thought we'd dealt with that."

Sam glared at me, shaking her head. "No. I am not dealing with body issues." She let out an agitated growl.

"Then what, baby?"

"Never mind," she sighed.

"No, tell me!" I replied, grabbing her leg and shaking it.

"I just..." she trailed off, toying with her hair, and I continued to rub her leg as I drove down the road, occasionally checking my rearview mirror to make sure the baby was still safe and sound.

"Thought you could talk to me about anything," I commented, and she shrugged.

"What if it doesn't feel the same?" she replied softly. "For you?"

It was a question she'd asked before, and just like before, I didn't really know how to answer that, because I didn't know for sure. But I was pretty confident that nothing would change, that we'd have the same old spark. I guess I got that she was a little nervous about that, but I'd just have to do whatever I could to take it off her mind.

"Baby, everything will be fine, I promise you," I replied, taking her hand and lifting it to my lips.

"And if it's not?"

"Uh, I haven't made love to you in almost six months. It will be. It'll be amazing. How could it not be?"

"Sorry," Sam said softly. "Just nerves getting the better of me, I guess."

"Don't be sorry, baby," I replied, squeezing her leg. "Just trust me. It'll be perfect."

"Okay," she said slowly, and then paused for a second. "So...what are we doing tonight?"

"You know that new steakhouse that just opened up? The Brazilian one?" I responded, quick to turn my head so I could watch her eyes light up.

"Tasca Brava?" Sam screeched, grabbing my arm so hard it almost hurt and bouncing up and down in her seat excitedly. "Really?"

"Yup. Surprise."

"Aw, baby!" Sam exclaimed. "I love you so much, do you know that?"

"Yeah, I know," I said with a grin. "So after we get done at the doctor and then get back to the apartment, will you do me a favor?"

"What do you want me to do?" she asked, and I let go of her hand as I tried to fish my wallet out of my back pocket while I was driving, flipping it open and pulling out my credit card, then handed it to her.

"What's this for?" she asked quizzically, and I shrugged.

"Go shopping," I replied. "Buy something for tonight."

"Really?" Sam replied, looking at me like I'd lost my mind. "You're going to let me go to the mall with the credit card and no supervision?"

"Well, don't bankrupt us or anything, but just pick out something nice. Whatever you want."

Sam just shook her head, giving me a sweet smile. "I love you so much. You're so good to me."

"I do what I can," I replied as I turned into the parking lot of the doctor's office. "And we're here. Ready for this?"

"Ready to get it over with," she grumbled as she got out of the car. "I am so over being poked and prodded. After this I want everyone to just stay away from my vagina!"

"Everyone?" I said with a raise of my eyebrows as I got the baby out, and she just rolled her eyes.

"Don't be cute, Benson."

"Can't help it," I cracked. "I am what I am."

She just shook her head, laughing, as she grabbed my free hand and led me into the doctor's office.

~*Brad*~

I sighed as I leaned against the wall next to the baggage claim, checking my watch.

I don't know what I was thinking, asking Gibby to pick me up from the airport. I should've known that dingbat was going to be late, and today was not the day for me to be late for anything! What if the people at United Artists thought I wasn't serious? If Gibby cost me a management contract, I was going to kill him!

I was just about to give up and call a taxi when I felt a tap on my shoulder. I turned around, and my brow furrowed.

"Can I help you?" I asked the tall, muscular guy staring at me.

"Dude, it's me!"

My jaw dropped. "Holy shit! Gibby?"

"Gibb-ay!"

I couldn't believe it! When exactly had Gibby gone from an awkward, slightly chubby boy to...well, this? He looked like he could kick MY ass!

"Dude, what happened to you?" I asked. "You look...well..."

"Awesome?" Gibby replied with a laugh. "Hey, check this out." He rolled his sleeves up and then made an exaggerated show of flexing his biceps. I just shook my head. He looked great, but I wasn't about to point out that his arms were now bigger than mine, possibly Freddie's too.

"Gibs, that's awesome, but...what'd you do? Are you on 'roids or something?"

"Nah," Gibby said with a wave of his hand. "Just...LA, man. People are all about looks here. I just kept working out, dieted like crazy, and...well, look at me now! I'm a walking before and after!"

"I'll say..." I said with a shake of my head. "That's awesome though, man. Good on ya."

"Yeah, I've been cleaning up out here...with the ladies. And got a killer job too."

"Doing what?" I asked with a raise of my eyebrows.

"Just...promotional stuff," he replied quickly. "Sorry about being late, traffic. So...where you headed?"

"Burbank," I responded as we walked out of the airport. "That's where their office is, so...yeah."

"Nervous?" Gibby asked, and I shrugged.

"Yeah...a lot of shit's riding on this, you know?" I asked, and Gibby nodded as we headed for his car.

"I know. I mean, you guys can't do iCarly forever..."

"Tell that to Carly and Sam and Freddie," I replied with a roll of my eyes. "They seem like they'd be content to do it until they're eighty."

"And you're not?" Gibby responded.

"No," I said. "I'd like to focus on some more serious work, not just a well-executed series of random comedy." I paused. "But I came into it late. They did iCarly before me, so..."

"So if you get this management thingy you're going to quit?" Gibby responded, and I shook my head.

"No," I said hastily. "But...the time's gonna come, you know? Eventually..."

"Yeah, I understand. Just like the time came I got tired of taking off my shirt on camera and making an ass out of myself. I got really tired, really quick of the whole 'let's pick on the fat kid' business."

"Why didn't you ever say anything?" I asked, and Gibby shrugged.

"Because Sam would've killed me," he replied. "But it's whatever, I'm over it. I mean...if I ever go on the show again, maybe I'll take my shirt off, but just to show everyone they were wrong about me."

"Duly noted," I remarked. "Okay, so, Burbank. You know how to get there, right?"

"Yeah, man. Don't worry about it, I got this," Gibby replied.

"Just don't kill us, okay?" I stated, and he shrugged.

"No promises," he replied as he backed out of his parking spot, putting the car in drive and speeding through the lot so fast I almost got whiplash.

Once again, as we sped down the freeway, I was beginning to question this whole Gibby picking me up thing. I wasn't going to be able to sign a management contract if I was dead! But he wasn't even listening to me, just kept driving faster, and all I could do was grip the seat in fear.

"Damn you, Gibby!" I yelled. "Slow down!"

Gibby just laughed, shaking his head. "Look around at all the other cars, dude."

I did just that, frowning when I realized all the other cars were going just as fast as Gibby was.

"It's like the damn autobahn."

"Welcome to LA," Gibby said with a shrug.

~*Sam*~

I was all smiles as Freddie and I drove back to our apartment after my doctor's appointment, relieved Dr. Boyd had given us the okay to finally be together again. I was all healed up and back to normal!

I'd been sure, back when I got put on bedrest, that the no sex thing was totally going to break us. We'd never been able to keep our hands off each other, and after we'd gotten married things really heated up. Sex was a huge part of our relationship. And then it got taken away. Of course, I had to ask myself, could we survive without it? If it wasn't the physical aspect of our relationship keeping us together, then what was it?

Over the last few months, I'd figured it out. It was NOT sex that held us together. We loved each other more than anything. Freddie loved me for more than my body, and he had definitely proved that to me, standing by me every step of the way, even when I was being a brat, even when I was acting insecure. He never left. He took care of me. He loved me.

As much as I had missed the sex, I couldn't help but wonder. Maybe it was a test from the universe, or god, or whatever, or a lesson we had to learn. That the two of us would survive without sex. That our relationship was deep enough to last without it. I had worried the no sex would diminish our relationship, but it had only ended up making it stronger.

But still. Lesson learned. I was so, so ready to just pick up where we left off. I loved him so much, and I missed feeling him, as close as he could possibly be. True, we could survive without sex, but it was SO MUCH more than sex to us. It wasn't the glue that held us together, but it was something else. A physical manifestation of just how crazy we were about each other.

I noticed Freddie was silent, lost deep in thought, and I scooted over in my seat a little, my hand going to the back of his neck and rubbing.

"You're being quiet," I stated. "What are you thinking about?"

He looked over at me, and that's when I noticed that dark, smoldering look in his eyes as he stared at me, biting his lip. The look gave me chills.

So that's what he was thinking about.

"Never mind," I said with a laugh, and he shrugged.

"Can't help it, baby," he replied. "I just...I've been wanting you for so long, and..."

"I know, baby," I stated, continuing to rub his neck. "It's all over now. You'll have me. All night."

"I can't wait," he said quietly, and I nodded.

"Me either."

It wasn't a long drive to our apartment, just a few minutes, and then we headed upstairs to our apartment. As we stood in the elevator, little Freddie chose that moment to wake up, crying loudly, and I didn't waste him any time unstrapping him from his carseat and picking him up, trying to calm him down.

"He's hungry," I said, and Freddie nodded.

"You want me to take care of him? That way you can just go to the mall already?" he asked as we walked down the hallway.

I shook my head. "No, I'll do it."

"Okay," he replied, unlocking the door.

I carried the baby inside, heading straight for the kitchen to make up his bottle, while Freddie sat on the couch.

"Hey, baby, while you're doing that, I gotta take care of activating these new affiliates. If I don't get it done now, you know it's not going to get done at all."

"Why's that?" I teased from the kitchen. "You got other plans?"

"That's an understatement," Freddie said flatly, and I laughed.

I finished making up the baby's bottle, carrying him into the living room and sitting down next to Freddie as I fed him, glancing over at Freddie's new laptop.

"How many new affiliate requests?" I asked.

"Hold on, I just opened my email. Let me...whoa." Freddie's eyebrows went up, and I leaned over to take a closer look.

"Shit," I said. "That's a lot."

"Yeah," Freddie replied. "See? I told you. You were missed. On the show."

I just shook my head. "Still, that's crazy. All those affiliates signed up because I'm back?"

"You're really important to the show, Sam. It wasn't the same without you," Freddie responded. "Besides, it wasn't just affiliates. Take a look at this."

I did a double take. "That's sponsors! That's...that's FIVE new sponsors!"

"Yep.''

"After you raised the rates...we get five new ones?"

"Guess Brad'll finally get to trade in the 'stang," Freddie replied with a shrug.

The baby drained his bottle quickly, proof he'd been absolutely starving, and after I burped him, he'd drifted off to sleep. I stood up to go take him to the nursery, gently laying him down in his crib and covering him up with a blanket and then heading back to the living room, flopping down next to Freddie, who was lost in the magical world of webshow sponsors. I sat there for a moment quietly, waiting to see if he'd noticed I'd walked back in the room.

He didn't.

With a roll of my eyes, I quickly reached forward and grabbed his inner thigh, just mere centimeters from something else, and gave him a squeeze. He let out a yelp, jumping, and looked over at me.

"What'd I tell you about that?" he growled, leaning forward and capturing my mouth with his, moving so fast he knocked me off balance and I fell back onto the couch, with Freddie not close behind, kissing me passionately. I couldn't do anything except moan against his mouth, my arms going around his neck.

He kissed me deeply, his tongue moving in and out of my mouth in an imitation of other things to come as he ground his hips into me. I let out a whimper as his mouth trailed across my jaw, over my neck.

"God, Freddie..." I whispered.

He stopped suddenly, sitting up.

"Baby," he breathed. "You better get going."

"Why?" I barked, and he shook his head.

"Because I am determined to not cave until later tonight, after we've gone out, and I am a weak, weak man right now."

"Aw," I laughed, kissing him again. "Poor baby. No self control."

"Not when it comes to you," he replied. "Just...hurry back, okay? But not too quick!"

"Why?" I asked, my eyes narrowing, and he just shrugged.

"Because I have to...do stuff."

"Like?"

"It's a surprise," he quipped, standing up and pulling me to my feet. "Now go on, get out of here."

"But, Freddie..." I started as he grabbed my purse and ushered me toward the door.

"Come on, out you go," he replied, kissing me. "I love you. Have fun."

"I love you too," I said. "I'll see you soon. Want me to bring you back anything?"

"Just you," he replied. "In something sexy."

"I think I can do that just fine," I said with a grin. "Bye, baby."

"Bye sweetheart. Be careful, okay?" he replied, holding onto me like he didn't want to let me go.

"I will." With that, I disentangled myself from his arms, gave him one last wave, and headed down the hallway. I couldn't help but wonder what kind of tricks Freddie had up his sleeve for tonight, but whatever it was, I was sure it would be good. He was always catching me off-guard with surprises that would end up taking my breath away.

Like giving me the credit card and telling me to buy whatever I wanted. Freddie Benson. Penny pincher. It was definitely surprising, and now it was on me to find something that would wow him.

First stop, lingerie store!

It was about a twenty minute drive to the mall, and it was weird because I wasn't used to shopping by myself. Or even being by myself these days. But it was kind of nice, to be able to just walk down through the mall, gathering my thoughts about everything.

I looked down and frowned as my stomach started to gurgle at me. I was starving! Freddie and I had reservations at that really nice new steakhouse, but a little something before then wouldn't hurt, would it?

I decided to stop off at the pretzel place, and while I waited in line, I amused myself by texting Carly, occasionally taking a step forward as the line moved, my eyes glued to my phone the entire time.

"Can I help you?"

As I stared down at my phone, I froze. That voice. Where did I know that voice from? All I knew was it gave me chills. I lifted my head, and my jaw dropped.

Eyes that looked like mine, but older. Older, and more broken, with lines and crow's feet around them. Hair similar to mine, but topped with a paper hat. The same nose, but oh my god. The last time I'd gotten a good look at that nose, it had remnants of cocaine around it.

We just stared at each other for a second, both of us in shock. I was surprised I was able to find my voice.

"Mom?"


	69. Chapter 69: Surface to Air

**Chapter Sixty Nine:**  
><strong>Surface to Air<strong>

~*Sam*~

I was staring straight ahead, absolutely dumbfounded.

Why the hell was my mother NOT in prison, and why was she standing behind the counter at the pretzel place in the mall?

"Hello, Sam," my mom said quietly, and I just glared at her.

"They let you out?"

"Yes."

"When?"

"A few months ago."

"And what, you're working in the mall now? They let you around other human beings?" I snapped.

"Sam, things have changed. I'm not the same person I was before."

"Yeah, right," I laughed. "Why do I not believe that?"

"I'm sober, Sam!" my mom replied. "I've been off all that stuff for three years!"

"Yeah, because it's hard to get it in prison," I shot back, giving her the most evil look I could muster.

"Could we...talk?" my mom asked. "Like, over dinner?"

"No," I responded quickly. "Just give me an unsalted pretzel, with cheddar sauce."

"Sam, please..."

"Unsalted pretzel, cheddar sauce! Do your job, Pam," I snapped.

She sighed in resignation, and punched the order into, before looking back up at me.

"Three seventy three," she stated softly. "Sam, please..."

"Keep the change," I chirped as I thrust a five dollar bill into her hand. "You probably need it. For drugs. By the way, nice hat."

I yanked my food away from her, pushing my way through the people who were standing in line and ignoring the dirty looks they gave me as I high tailed it out of there. I was in so much shock I could barely stand up straight, and I had to sit down on a bench to collect myself.

My mother was out of prison.

My mother was walking around free.

She knew where I lived.

The woman who's job it was to protect me, and she'd turned her back on me.

The woman who let me get abused.

The woman who let my sister get raped.

The woman who introduced the person into my life who almost killed me.

She was out now, and there was nothing I could do about it.

Okay, Sam. Calm down. Snap out of it. Do not let that bitch ruin your entire night. You've got shopping to do, you are going out to a very nice restaurant, and then you are going to spend the rest of the night making love to your husband.

Nope. After months of waiting, I refused to let her ruin my entire night. I'd just put it out of my mind until later. I'd have to deal with it eventually, but tonight? No way.

But I did need to call Freddie, clue him in. I pulled my phone out of my purse, hitting speed dial for his number. As I did that, I wondered briefly if he'd ever care that he was number two in my speed dial and Carly was number one, but before I could ponder the matter any further, he answered.

"Don't tell me you maxed out the card already," he said, and I could hear the humor in his voice.

"No," I said softly, and the line got quiet.

"Baby, is everything okay?" Freddie asked. "You sound like something's wrong..."

"My mom got out," I replied. "I saw her, Freddie. She's working at the mall here!"

"What?" Freddie exclaimed.

"Apparently she got out a few months ago. Says she's sober, all that."

"Bullshit," Freddie grumbled. "Baby, do you want me to come get you?"

"No," I replied, my chin rising up a proud notch, even though Freddie couldn't see me. "I am not going to let her ruin my entire day. Especially not this day."

"But, baby...are you sure you're alright?"

"I'm fine," I replied. "I just wanted you to know. I'll be home soon."

"Okayyyy..." he said slowly, sounding uncertain. "You're not going to go talk to her?"

"Hell no," I replied. "I don't have the time for that. I just want to get my shopping done, then I'll be back."

"Sweetheart, please be careful..." Freddie said. "Please. If you need me to come get you, I will."

"I'm fine, Freddie. I just...look, I don't want to get into this today, you know? I'll have an emotional breakdown tomorrow or something."

"But, baby..."

"I love you," I cut him off. "I'll see you in about an hour."

Freddie sighed. "Baby, please don't do anything stupid."

"I won't. I promise. Take care of our little boy for me."

"Always. I love you."

"I love you too."

"Call me if you need to."

"Okay. Bye, honey."

"Bye sweetheart."

I hung up, leaning my head back against the bench and sighing.

Do not let that bitch ruin your day.

Do not let that bitch ruin your day.

Do not let that bitch ruin your day.

I tried to recollect my thoughts, on better topics, as I rose to my feet and walked through the mall, trying my best to act like nothing was wrong with me.

I always was a pretty good actor.

~*Brad*~

"Thanks Gibs," I said as I got out of the car.

"No problem, man. So, you just wanna send me a text after you get done, or..."

"Yeah, definitely," I replied. "And then we'll do something until I have to go to the airport."

"Good luck!" he called, and I gave him a nod.

"Thanks man. See you later," I replied as I slammed the car door shut. He gave me one last wave as he drove off, leaving me by myself. I turned around to look up at the intimidating looking building in front of me, drawing in a deep breath.

"This is the big leagues, Brad," I muttered to myself as I began walking inside. "Do not fuck this up."

As I walked in, I came to a front desk with a receptionist sitting behind it. She looked totally over-trendy, and very LA, and she looked up at me with a bored expression on her face.

"Can I help you?"

"Yeah, my name's Brad Harrison, I have an appointment with..."

But she didn't even let me finish before picking up her phone and pressing a button. "Ms. Sommers, he's here."

Uh-oh. What the hell did that mean?

"She'll be right down," the receptionist said, giving me a smile. Oh, I see, now that I'm important, I'm worth smiling at? Man, these LA people...

As I waited in the lobby, I looked around at all the photos of the wall of celebrities that were signed with this management company. Actors, directors, models, musicians...I could only hope that one day it'd be my photo up on the wall like that. After I'd made it.

I was interrupted out of my thoughts by the sound of someone calling my name, and I turned around to find the agent I'd met with, Michelle, giving me a wave.

"Brad!" she said as she walked over to me, doing that weird LA kiss-on-the-cheek thing. Man, I had a lot to get used to...

"Hey, Michelle," I said with a smile as I shook her hand. "Nice to see you again."

"You too, glad you made it over here...you know we would have sent a car for you," she stated, and I shrugged.

"I had a friend pick me up I haven't seen in awhile," I replied.

"So your friends are more important than your future career?" she asked with a raise of her eyebrow, and I shrugged again.

"They're important, what can I say? They make me who I am," I replied.

Michelle turned to the woman standing next to her, a much older woman with shoulder length white hair and large frame glasses in a fashionable business suit. She looked downright intimidating. "He cares more about his friends than being famous."

"That is adorable," the woman gushed. "Write that down, that's a total marketing ploy."

Marketing ploy?

"Brad, I'd like you to meet Bernice Sommers," Michelle said, gesturing to the woman. "The owner."

"Oh!" I exclaimed, extending my hand. "It's nice to meet you, Ms. Sommers."

"Very nice to meet you too, Brad," she replied. "We were really impressed with your screenplay!"

"You were?" I asked, trying to hide my excitement, but failing miserably, and she laughed.

"He's so unrefined. Unhollywood. It's refreshing."

"Uh..." I stammered, trying to decide whether or not I was offended by that.

"Well, let's head to my office, outline the contract..."

"Outline the contract?" I repeated. "I thought this was just a meeting."

Bernice shook her head, laughing. "We don't fly people out for just a meeting, Brad. You had to have known why you were coming."

"Well, I..."

"I LOVE how naïve he is," Bernice said as she looked over at Michelle. "It's adorable."

I gave Michelle a Look, and she just shook her head.

"Welcome to the big leagues, kid," she replied. "Come on."

~*Freddie*~

I continued to bang on Carly's door frantically for an entire minute, at the same time trying to keep the baby calm, as he was bothered by all the noise.

"Shhh, buddy, chill. Just a second, let me go talk to Aunt Carly."

The door opened, revealing Heather with an annoyed expression on her face.

"Geez, what's the deal? Is there a fire or something?"

I just walked past her, shutting the door behind me. "Where's Carly?"

"Upstairs in her room," Heather replied. "What's going on?"

"Nothing," I replied, heading for the stairs.

"You're sure all in a tizzy for nothing to be going on," she commented breezily. "Problems with you and Sam?"

"Heather," I warned, continuing up the stairs. "Don't start that with me right now."

"What?" she asked. "I'm just saying..."

I whirled around to look at her, putting a hand on her shoulder. It wasn't lost on me that she had a giddy expression on her face when I did that. "Heather, you know, you're really pretty."

"I am?" she squeaked, and I nodded.

"You really are. You're gorgeous," I replied. "And what you need is someone your own age who's going to appreciate that and not take advantage of you. Not an older guy, not a married man, but a nice fourteen year old BOY."

"Wha-" she stammered, turning a little red, but I just shook my head.

"Trust me, date somebody your own age. You'll be better off."

"Thanks for the...advice?" she said quizzically, and I shrugged.

"Just saying. I mean, I'm flattered, but...married man. Happily married," I said. "To a woman who is going to kill me," I added under my breath as I headed up the stairs to Carly's room, flinging the door open.

"Carly..."

"FREDDIE!" Carly yelled, pulling her robe around her. "KNOCK!"

"Shit, sorry," I grumbled, turning around.

"Alright, I'm good," she responded. "Now what's going on? Why do you look all freaked out?"

I sighed, laying the baby down on the bed and crossing my arms over my chest.

"Sam knows."

"Sam knows?" Carly repeated. "What does Sam...oh no," she sighed.

"Yeah," I grumbled. "Apparently the parolee outreach program extends to places in the mall. Sam just called me, saw her mom. We're in so much trouble, Carly. She is going to absolutely kill me for not telling her."

"And me and Brad too," Carly sighed. "We all knew, and we didn't tell her."

"I never should have hid that letter from her," I sighed. "But...you know, it was right after she got put on bedrest, I didn't want her freaking out during all that, and worrying while I wasn't home..."

"Yeah, but...we should've done something after that!" Carly exclaimed. "We've known for almost six months...oh god...why didn't we SAY anything? Why didn't you give her the letter?"

"I don't know!" I cried. "Carly, what do I do? She's going to be so angry with me..."

Carly took a deep breath, thinking it over carefully. "Okay, obviously this is your fault..."

"CARLY!"

"But," she said, giving me a Look. "Brad or I could have told her, and we chose not to. All of us knew, so we're all to blame in this."

"So what are you saying?" I asked, and Carly sighed.

"Let's wait until tomorrow. Brad will be back from LA, and...it'll lessen the anger being directed at you."

"She's going to be pissed at all of us, but especially me," I sighed. "So what am I supposed to do, Carly? Act like everything's fine tonight? I mean, if I just continue on with tonight like nothing's wrong, she's going to be even madder..."

"Well, what other choice do you have?" Carly shot back. "If you don't, she's going to know something's up!"

"Maybe I should just tell her, suck it up and deal with the ruined night, because it's my fault anyway, I kinda deserve it," I said glumly, and Carly shook her head.

"No way."

"Why?"

"Because," she replied, shaking her head. "This is going to be bad, Freddie. This is going to send Sam into a rage we haven't seen from her in years. Best that there's three of us to calm her down. We need Brad on this to identify with the whole fucked up mother situation, we need me, the best friend, and you, the husband, to make this work. Otherwise..."

"Otherwise?"

"She will probably break her promise about not hitting you," Carly muttered. "Besides, don't you think Sam deserves one good night? Before all this stuff blows up?"

"Yeah, but..."

"Then give it to her, Freddie! Take her out. Romance her. Make love to her. Remind her of how much you love her. And maybe it'll lessen the sting. I mean, we did it because we care about Sam, and that's the only reason, right?"

"Right," I replied.

"Maybe she'll understand."

Ha. That had to be a joke. When Sam found out that Carly, Brad, and I had hid the parole notice from Sam, she was going to lose it. Sam hated being left out of the loop, and over something THIS big? She was not going to be happy, that was for sure.

At the time, I hadn't known what to do. Sam had been out of the hospital for only one day when the letter came in the mail, and she was dealing with the bed rest and all of that CG stuff began to happen...there was already so much stress going on at that time, that I didn't want to add more to it.

Before I'd made the decision though, I'd talked to Carly and Brad about it, and we had all agreed it was for the best. Wait a little while, until Sam had gotten her head back on straight, before telling her that her abusive mother had been released from prison. Otherwise, she could've gotten herself so worked up...

Except we hadn't ever gotten around to telling her. Maybe it was because stuff kept happening, and we'd forgotten, or because we just didn't want, but we didn't tell her. And now it had blown up in our faces.

We were going to be in so much trouble, me especially. I started to panic when I thought about how mad she might actually get. She was definitely going to yell at me. Like Carly said, there was a good possibility she'd hit me. But what if she left me? Married couples weren't supposed to keep secrets from her, and this was a big one.

Plus, I just didn't feel right about going forward with the night, knowing what was happening. I didn't want it to come off as 'oh, I wanted to have sex with you first, because I figured you wouldn't want to have sex with me once I told you the truth.' And it wasn't like that! It was literally an out of sight, out of mind thing, but there was no way in hell she'd believe me.

Plus, if I didn't go through with tonight, she'd know something was up. And then we'd have to talk about it, or she would think I was cancelling because of something to do with her, or the way she looked.

No matter how I played it, I was screwed.

"I am so screwed," I said mournfully. "She could divorce me over this, Carly!"

"She's not going to divorce you, Freddie," Carly replied as she picked up my son. "Sam loves you. She'll be angry, with all of us, but...I'm sure she'll understand why we did it."

"I hope you're right, Carly."

"I usually am," she replied with a smirk, trying to make me feel better, but it wasn't working. She realized this and gave up, letting out a sigh.

"Okay, look, just...relax. Keep your head on straight. Stay the course."

"Stay the course," I muttered. "Right."

"Hey, since you're here, can you come upstairs with me really quick? One of the lights is acting funny."

"I should really be getting back downstairs," I replied. "Still got some stuff to do."

"It'll just take a second," she replied. "I don't want to take lights apart with kids running around, and Bryson's supposed to be playing with some new friend of his that moved in downstairs. I think the kid's name is Riley or something."

"Yeah, I guess, but just for a second," I replied. "Just keep the baby back when I'm taking it down."

"No problem," she replied as she followed me up the stairs. She didn't miss the fact that I kept turning around to look at her, making sure she was holding my son the right way. "Freddie, I've got him!" she snipped. "He's fine!"

"Just be careful," I replied. "I don't want my boy getting hurt."

"Awww..." Carly said. "You said your boy. That's so cute, Freddie."

"Yeah, yeah," I grumbled. "Let's just do this, I have to be getting back, and...whoa!" I yelled as I opened the door to the studio.

"Oh my god!" Carly screeched, setting off a firestorm of wailing baby. I glared at her as I took him out of her arms, but she wasn't paying attention.

Of course, I knew why, because it had caught me off-guard as well. Yep, it was definitely jarring to walk into your studio and see two ten year olds kissing in it.

"Bryson!" Carly exclaimed. "What are you doing?"

Bryson looked absolutely mortified, turning three or four shades of red. "Carly! Uh...I...we...we were just..."

"I KNOW what you were doing Bryson!" Carly replied with a roll of her eyes. "You told me you were going to play with your friend Riley!"

"Well...this is Riley," Bryson replied, gesturing to the little girl who sat next to him, a cute but skinny little thing with big blue eyes and bright red hair.

"Wait, Riley's a girl?" Carly asked, and Bryson shrugged.

"Duh."

"Uh...well...I...uh..." Carly stuttered, before finally giving up. "Whatever, I'll just...we'll just...go."

With that, both of us hurried out of the studio, shutting the door behind us.

"Oh my god," Carly stated as she leaned against the wall, looking shocked. "Bryson kissed a girl! He has a little girlfriend, Freddie!"

"Can't say that I'm not surprised myself," I said with a shrug, and Carly rolled her eyes.

"By the way, you owe Brad twenty bucks. You and Sam both. That's solid proof right there."

"Look, I never said he was! Sam did!"

"Well, obviously he's not, because he just kissed a girl. In our studio," Carly replied, looking bewildered. "I gotta text Brad and tell him, this is...interesting."

"I'll say," I replied. "But can we please focus on our impending doom?"

Carly rolled her eyes. "Look, I told you, stay the course. We'll all tell her tomorrow."

"Fine," I grumbled. "Make sure you make up the couch for me, because I have a feeling I'll be kicked out of the apartment."

"I think you're overreacting."

"Well, I think you're underreacting," I replied. "You know Sam. You know this is a big issue for her."

"And Sam loves you. She's not going to throw away your marriage just because you kept a secret from her."

"This is a BIG secret, Carly!" I cried. "I screwed up! I screwed up bad!"

"Just relax, okay?" she replied, putting a hand on my shoulder. "It'll be okay. Just focus on tonight, get through tonight, we'll deal with it tomorrow."

"Man, I really hope this goes the way you want it to," I replied as I headed for the door with my son. "Otherwise..."

"It will," Carly cut me off. "Now...go back downstairs, do whatever you were doing to get ready for tonight, and above all, don't act suspicious!"

"Right," I said, still feeling incredibly guilty over the whole thing. "Wish me luck."

"Good luck," she replied as I walked out, and gave me an encouraging smile. "Bye."

"Later," I replied, and as the door shut I heard Carly yelling.

"Bryson! Open that door! And you two better be SITTING UP!"

I rolled my eyes, heading back downstairs.

~*Brad*~

"So there it is, all laid out for you," Bernice said as she slid the contract across the desk toward me. "Go ahead and sign, and it'll be official."

Guaranteed two years management, with only a fifteen percent cut to the agency? It sounded pretty good, but I probably was just caught off-guard about the whole thing, stars in my eyes and all that. Part of me wanted to grab the pen and sign my whole life away, but another part of me knew that I'd better get a second opinion.

"Do you...do you mind if I make a phone call first?" I asked, and Bernice gave me a smile.

"Calling your fiance?" she asked, and I shook my head.

"Nah, I'll call her later...I need to discuss the contract with my...legal counsel."

Bernice and Michelle's eyebrows went up, as if to say, you have legal counsel? They probably didn't expect that from somebody who was as green in the industry as I was. And yeah, maybe it was kind of a white lie. It wasn't exactly legitimate legal counsel, but it was close.

"Sure," Michelle said slowly. "Go right ahead."

With a nod, I pulled my phone out of my pocket, dialing Sam's number.

"Hello?"

"Hey, dude, whatever you're doing right now, stop real quick."

"Why, what's going on?"

"Can I give you the cliff's notes version of this contract and you tell me whether or not it sounds good?"

On the other end of the phone, I heard Sam let out a sigh, something that surprised me, because normally the girl loved giving legal advice.

"Brad, I'm not really in the mood..."

"Did I interrupt you and Freddie or something?" I asked. "Sorry, Sam, it's just..."

"My mom got out."

"What?" I exclaimed. "Oh. Oh shit. Are you okay?"

"Yeah, I'm fine, it's just...it caught me off-guard, that's all. I thought I was supposed to get a notice or something when she got out."

"Yeah, that's what I thought too," I replied, lying through my teeth and immediately feeling bad about it. Shit. Shit. Def-con five! Def-con five! We are all doomed!

"But I'm putting it out of my mind, at least for tonight. I refuse to let that evil bitch ruin me and Freddie's night."

"Well, that's...good," I remarked, still panicking on the inside. "Well, I'm sorry, Sam. I hope your night goes okay."

It was quiet on her end for a second.

"Sam?"

"Real quick, just hit me with some numbers," she said flatly.

"Two years, fifteen percent of screenplay sales, five percent from any film-related sales."

"Sign!" Sam yelled. "Sign sign sign! I gotta go, I'll see you when you get back."

"Okay, I..."

"Do NOT forget my hot dog," she replied, and with that hung up. I sighed, leaning my head back.

"Everything alright?" Michelle asked, looking concerned, and I nodded.

"Everything's good. Just a little drama brewing back in Seattle, that's all."

"So..."

"So, let's sign a contract, shall we?" I quipped, taking the cap off my pen and flipping to the first page.

~*Carly*~

I didn't know in what direction I was supposed to be freaking out right now.

On the one hand, I'd just caught Bryson upstairs with a girl, kissing, while Brad was out of town and everyone was on MY watch.

And on the other? Sam knows her mom is out, and she's about to find out we all kept it from her. We are all dead!

I was so wrapped up in my own panic that I let out a startled squeal at the sound of my phone ringing, and snatched it up.

"Hello?" I asked breathlessly.

"Everything alright, babe?"

"Brad!" I exclaimed. "Baby, uhh..."

"What's wrong, Carly?"

"Well...I don't really know where to start."

Brad was quiet on his end for a second. "This sounds bad."

"Well, I caught Bryson in the studio kissing his new friend Riley."

"What?" Brad exclaimed. "Man! I...ugh. Alright. I guess, I'm supposed to be accepting...I mean, at least he figured it out young..."

"Brad?"

"Yeah?"

"Riley is a girl."

"Wait a minute," Brad replied. "You're telling me my lil bro was hooking up?" I could hear the smile in his voice, and wanted to smack him.

"Brad! He's ten!"

"So? My first kiss was when I was nine! He's all good. Which reminds me, Sam and Freddie BOTH owe me twenty bucks. But uh...speaking of all that, we got a problem, Carly."

"What?" I asked, trying to prepare myself for more bad news. "Something went wrong with your meeting?"

"No, everything's great. But I called Sam to help me with the contract, and..."

"Wait," I cut him off. "Contract? So...so you're..."

"Hold please. I'll get to that, okay? Sam knows about her mom, Carly. We're fucked."

"Yeah, I know," I said with a sigh. "Freddie stopped by freaking out."

"What are we going to do?"

"Tell her the truth, tomorrow."

"Ugh," Brad moaned. "Fine, just warn me before we do it, so I can make sure I'm wearing a cup."

"You really think it's going to be that bad?" I asked worriedly.

"If I know Sam, I'd say so," Brad replied. "Can't Freddie just do it?"

"Brad! All three of us had an equal hand in this. We're the ones who told Freddie to hide the letter!"

"Yeah, but..."

"No. No way. We're not leaving him hanging over this," I replied firmly. "But...we'll deal with that later. So what's the deal?"

"Well," Brad replied. "You are speaking with the newest client for United Artists Management. They signed me, Carly!"

"Oh my god!" I exclaimed, my hand covering my mouth. "Baby! That is so great! I'm so proud of you!"

"Can you believe this?" he asked, sounding excited, and I just laughed.

"Of course, I knew you could do it. So what now?"

"Now they start shopping my screenplay to the studios, trying to sell it. Oh man. I can't believe it..."

"Baby, that's amazing," I said softly. "I love you. I knew you could do it."

"Thanks, babe."

"So what are you doing now?"

"Gonna go grab some dinner with Gibby before my flight leaves. Hey, by the way, Gibs is all beefy now."

"What?" I cried. "Gibby? Like...he's in shape?"

"That's putting it lightly. He's super pumped up now..."

"Well, I guess that's good..."

"Yeah, he seems pretty pleased with himself," Brad replied. "I gotta go, babe. I love you. I just wanted to fill you in on everything that's happening."

"Okay. Congratulations, Brad. I'll see you in a few hours?"

"Of course. Then we can celebrate."

"How do you want to celebrate?"

"Hmm. Just be naked and in bed when I get there, okay?"

I had to laugh at that. "I'll see what I can do, baby. I love you."

"Love you too. Bye babydoll."

With that, Brad hung up, and I let out a deep breath. Hearing that Brad had gotten the management contract made me feel a lot better, but I was still nervous about the whole issue with Sam...

~*Sam*~

I opened the door to our apartment with a heavy sigh, practically dragging my bags behind me.

I was trying to be excited about tonight, and I still was, but the whole thing with my mother was really bothering me.

I'd tried like hell to not let it get to me, but it had. How could they have let her out? And why hadn't I had the balls to say something else to her, instead of a string of insults? Like how bad she screwed me up? How I almost died because of her shitty taste in men? That she was a horrible parent?

"Hi," I said softly as I caught sight of Freddie sitting on the couch. He rose to his feet immediately, walking over to me.

"Baby," he said, his arms going around me. "Are you okay?"

I nodded, looking at the ground. "I'm fine."

"Sam," he said in a soft but pointed voice, implying he didn't believe me. "Are you okay? For real?"

"It just caught me off-guard, Freddie. I mean...I thought I was supposed to be notified if she got out."

"Well..." Freddie trailed off, frowning. "I...I don't know, sweetheart. Did she say anything bad to you?"

"No," I replied. "I didn't give her the chance."

He nodded, brushing a stray piece of hair off my face. "I'm sorry, sweetheart."

I shrugged. "Well, whatever. Besides, I'm the one that makes tons of money at a job I love, and I'm the one who's happily married and actually takes care of my child. You should feel sorry for her. Worthless piece of shit she is."

"Sam..."

"I mean, fuck her!" I yelled, dropping my bags to the floor. "I don't give a shit about her!"

"Baby," Freddie started, rubbing my arms up and down, but I ignored him, walking away and continuing to rant.

"She never gave a shit about me, so why should I? She never made sure I was fed, and...I...I was always dirty, and...all her stupid boyfriends...I...fuck her!" I cried. "I had to learn how to brush my own teeth, and do my own laundry, and she could never come to any parent-teacher conferences because she was always fucked up, and..."

"Baby, calm down..."

"I AM CALM!" I yelled. "She doesn't control me! She can't get to me! She can't make me happy, and she can't make me upset, she can't...she doesn't..." I bit my lip, trying to hold back tears, but failing miserably.

"Sam," Freddie whispered, putting his arms around me. "Sweetheart, it's okay. Come here."

"I hate her, Freddie!" I cried as I buried my face in his shoulder, gripping his arms tightly. "I absolutely hate her...what she did to me. What she turned me into..."

"I know, honey," he said softly. "I know. Just let it out."

"And now she's trying to pretend like she's changed...she can't change!" I cried. "Just like...just like I never changed...it's an act...it's...fuck..."

"Sam, baby, no," Freddie replied soothingly, rubbing my back. "You changed. You did. You're such a good person. My sweet girl."

I just shook my head. "I hate her. And now the whole day's just...ruined."

"No, it's not," he replied. "Not at all. Did you finish your shopping?"

"Yes," I said, wiping my face and sniffling.

"Do you still want to go out tonight?" Freddie asked. "If you don't want to, it's okay. We can stay in. We don't even have to do anything, we..."

"No," I said firmly. "I'm not changing our plans just because that bitch surprised me." I pulled away from him, heading for the bedroom. "So I'm going to go get ready, and..."

"NO!" Freddie shouted, practically diving in front of me and blocking the door. I looked at him like he was a crazy person.

"Uh..."

"Can you get ready in the other bathroom?" he asked. "Please? I don't want you to see the bedroom. Not yet."

"What did you do?" I asked, and he shrugged.

"Stuff. Please, Sam? Whatever you need from in there, I'll get it for you."

I shook my head, unable to stop a smile from forming on my face. "Okay. If it's that important to you."

"I just want it to be perfect," he replied. "Especially now, with everything considered..."

I nodded, my arms going around his neck, and I kissed him softly.

"I love you so much," I said. "You're too good to me."

He nodded, giving me a small smile, but the nub forgets sometimes I can read his eyes, and something was a little off. I narrowed my eyes suspiciously.

"Is everything okay?"

"Yeah, honey. Everything's fine. Go get ready, okay?"

"In the other bathroom?" I asked, and he nodded, taking my hand and leading me towards our second bathroom, pushing open the door.

I couldn't help but let out a gasp of surprise as I took in the state of the bathroom, with the lights off, and candles everywhere, a bubble bath already drawn and waiting.

"Freddie!" I exclaimed, kissing him. "Baby...this is so sweet."

"Take your time," he said with a kiss on my cheek. "I'll be out here."

With that, he shut the door behind him, leaving me alone to look around the bathroom at everything he'd done. I was blown away by the gesture and how sweet it was, but it definitely wasn't outside the realm of the kind of thing my sweet husband would do for me. I lucked out so much when I'd gotten ahold of this guy. For one night, I could let all my problems go, just to let him know that I knew how lucky he was, and to make him feel lucky too.

I'd been in the tub for about twenty minutes when Freddie entered with a gentle tap on the door.

"I'm about to take the baby to my mom's," he said. "Okay? I'll be right back."

I bit my lip, trying to remember back to a few years ago. Did my mom know where Freddie used to live? Was the baby going to be safe?

"Sam?"

"Huh?" I asked, snapping out of my thoughts. "Okay...okay."

"Alright, I'll be back..."

"Wait!" I yelled, and Freddie stopped in his tracks, turning around to look at me. "Does your mom have a gun?"

"What?" he asked, making a face. "Why would you ask that?"

"I just...never mind."

Freddie sighed, sitting on the edge of the tub. "Baby, nobody's gonna come after the baby, but since you ask, yes, my mother DOES have a handgun in the apartment. She got it after...the incident."

I knew exactly what "incident" Freddie was talking about, the Bill incident, and I nodded. Knowing there was some kind of weapon in that apartment, just in case, made me feel a little bit better.

"He'll be safe," Freddie continued. "I..." he trailed off, biting his lip. "I hope we have a good night, Sam. I'm not gonna tell you not to think about it, I know it's hard, but..."

"No. I'm gonna put it out of my mind for the night," I replied, leaning forward. "Starting now. Kiss me."

"I can do that," Freddie said with a smile, his lips coming over mine as he kissed me passionately.

Oh god, this felt good. Just keep doing that, and this whole situation will be out of my mind in no time. I was so wrapped up in our kiss that I didn't even notice one of Freddie's hands go into the water, rubbing me between my legs, and I let out a gasp, accidentally biting his lip in surprise.

"Damn," he said as his hand went to his lip, but still gave me a mischievous smile.

"You surprised me," I said, running my fingertips over the spot I'd bitten. "Sorry."

"It's okay," he said with a laugh. "I actually kinda missed the biting a little bit."

"Yeah?"

"Mmhmm," he replied. "You know it gets me riled up. Alright, so, let me get out of here, before...things happen."

"Wait!"

"What?"

"Before you take him to your mom's, I need to give my little man a kiss goodbye."

"Oh!" he replied with a smile, standing up. "Sure thing. Be right back."

First time being away from my baby overnight? Sam the sexually frustrated wife was excited about tonight, but Sam the extremely protective mother bear was not. This was going to be hard. But I knew he was in good hands.

Freddie walked back in, carrying the baby, and knelt down beside the tub. "Tell mommy bye bye for the night, buddy."

I leaned over, giving little Freddie a kiss on his forehead. "Bye, my sweet little man. Mama loves you."

"Say bye," Freddie said, holding up the baby's little arm and waving it back and forth. "Bye bye."

"Ugh, this is heartbreaking," I groaned, and Freddie gave me a reassuring smile.

"We'll get him back in the morning," he replied. "Unless you've changed your mind..."

"No, you're right," I responded. "We need this."

"Okay," Freddie replied. "I'll be right back." He paused suddenly. "Sam, do NOT, I repeat, do NOT go in the bedroom."

"I know!" I replied, slightly exasperated. "I'll probably still be in here by the time you get back."

He nodded, giving me another smile, and with that he was gone, leaving me by myself again. I laid my head back, closing my eyes, and tried to put all the stuff about my mother out of my head.

~*Freddie*~

"Hey, baby?" I called as I looked at my watch. "We should really be going! We have reservations at eight, and..."

"I'm almost ready!" she called back from the bathroom, and I let out a sigh, trying to calm myself down as I paced back and forth.

Please let this night go okay. Please let it be everything she wants it to be. And for the love of god, please don't let me spill about the whole Pam thing!

My guilt was growing heavier and heavier, but it was too late to take it back. And she needed tonight more than ever now, what with everything that happened. Still, when she finds out I hid this from her, I'm going to be in major trouble.

The door creaked open, and my jaw nearly hit the floor when Sam walked out in one of the shortest dresses I had ever seen, bright red with no straps, and a pair of sky-high red heels. To make matters worse, her hair looked amazing, down, all thick and curly, and I just wanted to run my hands through it as I kissed her on those full, pouty lips, which were incidentally bright red, the same shade as her dress, and the rest of her makeup looked just as good. She was dressed to kill, and this girl was definitely going to kill me.

"Well?" she asked, but I just stared at her, unable to find my voice.

"I...uh...uh..."

She giggled, walking over to me and wrapping her arms around my neck. "Is that your way of telling me I look nice?"

"You look gorgeous," I finally managed to get out. "Baby...oh my god..."

"You look pretty amazing yourself," she replied, running her hands up my arms and down my chest. "I like this shirt on you."

"Thanks, I..."

"But I can't wait to see it on the floor," she quipped, kissing me. I groaned against her mouth, feeling her tongue dance over my bottom lip. All thoughts of guilt immediately left my mind, the only clear thought in it being,'Sam. Naked. Now.'

Must control myself. Must control myself. Must...

All control gone! I felt her hand travel down lower, over my stomach, and then grabbed me through my pants, making me hiss.

"Baby..." I moaned helplessly. "You're killing me..."

"Sorry," she replied softly, kissing my neck. "Just having trouble keeping my hands off you."

I took a deep breath, trying not to drag her off to the bedroom, and pulled away from her.

"Let's just go, or we'll never make it out of here," I replied as I took her hand. "Besides, you need to eat. You need the energy."

"Ooh," she said deviously. "Is that so?"

"Mmhmm. You'll need lots of it."

"And so will you," she reminded me. "Like, a whole night's worth of energy. Because I'm gonna wear you out."

"Not if I wear you out first."

"Game on?"

"Oh yeah," I replied, kissing her. "Game way on. Now let's go."


	70. Chapter 70: Favorite Things

**A/N: Alright, so this chapter is going to be exclusively from Sam and Freddie's POV. This is a Seddie super chapter! Return of the lemon! Warning!**

**Chapter Seventy:  
>Favorite Things<strong>

~*Sam*~

I looked across the table at my sweet husband, completely aware of the way he was staring at me.

"What?" I asked, spearing another piece of steak with my fork.

"Sorry," Freddie said, shaking his head. "You just look amazing."

"Thanks," I said with a shy smile, and Freddie reached across the table to take my hand in his.

"I mean it, baby. You're beautiful."

I gave him another smile. He understood that I was still a little bit apprehensive about my body, despite all the work I'd put into getting it back to normal, and I was pleased that he didn't chide me about it, or get on my case. He simply accepted the fact that I was feeling a little insecure, and I suspected he'd try a different route tonight, to make me feel better about my body.

Of course, it was a welcome route, and I couldn't wait to go back home and make love to my sexy, amazing husband. But for now, I was enjoying just being out with him, the two of us alone, having 'adult time'. The issue with my mother was officially off the table for tonight, no way in hell was I going to talk about it tonight. Of course, I'd probably bawl my eyes out tomorrow and spend the day moping, but whatever, that was tomorrow. Right now, the only thing I wanted to focus on was me and Freddie.

"So, what do you think?" Freddie asked. "Do you like this place?"

"I do," I replied with a smile. "The food's great, and it's really nice. You did a good job picking it out, baby."

Freddie shrugged, letting go of my hand as his hand drifted under the table. He sat up a little, and I could tell he was reaching into his pocket.

"I got you something," he said, and my eyebrows went up.

"Baby, you didn't have to..."

"I know I didn't have to," he replied. "I wanted to. I want to give you everything."

"Aw, Freddie..." I trailed off, taking his hand again as he pushed a small velvet box toward me.

"I'm serious," he replied. "Sam, I love you so much. More than anything."

"I know," I replied. "I love you too."

"And you know that...I'd never purposely hurt you, right? That everything I do is just to keep you safe. Keep you happy."

I nodded, a little confused. What was he talking about? Keeping me safe? Of course, he'd definitely done a good job of that over the years, but...what was he getting at?

"And I'll never stop protecting you," he added. "Just...okay. I'm gonna stop talking now. Just open it."

I gave him another strange look before I finally conceded, opening the box and letting out a gasp.

"Baby, this is so beautiful," I said as I stared down at the bracelet he'd just given me, white gold with black and green gemstones all over it.

"The black ones are opal," he said. "That's our birthstone." I smiled, I'd always thought it was pretty cool that Freddie and I were born in the same month. Like soulmates, one couldn't have existed for very long on this planet before the other one came along.

"The green one is peridot. That's the baby's birthstone."

"I love it," I said with a smile. "When did you pick this up?"

"A few weeks ago," he said with a shrug. "I just wanted to wait until the right time."

"Well, it's perfect," I replied. "Just like you."

He nodded, but didn't seem convinced, and I raised an eyebrow.

"Alright, what's going on? You seem a little...off."

He shook his head. "Nope. I'm good."

"Freddie," I said tersely. "I can tell when something's wrong with you."

"I...didn't take my Xanax today. You know how I get."

"Freddie!" I exclaimed, smacking his arm. "Why didn't you take it?"

"I just wanted to be level-headed for tonight," he replied.

"You take the Xanax so you can be level-headed, remember?" I shot back. "Please, for the love of god, tell me you remembered your insulin."

"Oh yeah, of course," he replied. "Sorry, honey, I won't do it again, if it upsets you."

"It's alright," I replied, rubbing his arm in the place where I'd smacked it. "Just don't do it again, okay? You're on that for a reason."

"I know," Freddie said. He paused. "I hate it when you're upset with me."

"Then take your meds like you're supposed to, honey," I replied with a shrug. "Whatever though, it's not the worst thing that could happen, just don't do it again."

"I won't," he replied.

I gave him a smile, taking his hand again. "But yeah, if that's the worst thing I ever have to worry about...I'll be okay. I'm so lucky I have you."

"Yeah?"

"Yeah! I mean, there's plenty of women out there that have shitty husbands. At least you don't cheat on me. Or lie to me."

Freddie sighed, and shook his head. "No. I'd never cheat on you."

"Or lie to me?"

"Or that," he replied, looking a little uncomfortable, standing up suddenly. "I'll be right back. Bathroom break. If the server comes back, can you ask him to bring me another iced tea?"

"Sure," I replied, looking at him with concern. "You alright, baby?"

"Yeah, I'm good," he replied. "I love you."

With that, he was gone, leaving me to ponder over why he was acting so strangely. Maybe he was nervous. It'd been a long time for us, and now it was only a few hours away. Why else would he be acting this way?

Of course, I couldn't think about it for too long, I was starving, there was a bangin' Brazilian steak sitting in front of me, and Freddie did tell me I'd need the energy, so...

With that, I picked my fork back up and dove in, letting out a happy little moan as I did. Oh my god. Mama loves steak...

"I'm back," Freddie said, sliding into his seat, and I looked up at him.

"Baby, are you sure you're okay?" I asked, and he nodded.

"Sorry I'm being weird, I just..."

"If I didn't know any better, I'd say you were a little nervous too," I commented, and he shrugged.

"Maybe a little."

"Well, it'll be great, right?" I asked, and he nodded. "By the way, you look really hot. I really want to dive across the table and do dirty things to you, in front of everyone."

He laughed, and I was relieved. I didn't know why my man was acting so uptight! Of course, what I had said WASN'T a joke, he looked absolutely gorgeous in a black button up with white pinstripes on it that made his arms look even more pumped up than usual and a pair of black pants that hugged certain areas I liked pretty well. He always looked gorgeous, of course, but tonight? I was having trouble controlling myself. It didn't help that the cologne he was wearing made him smell absolutely amazing. Ugh, I just wanted to molest him, now!

For a little while, the awkwardness seemed to fade, and it was just us again, talking about the future, things we wanted for us, things we wanted for our son. It was nice. He'd really pulled out all the stops tonight, and I was eager to show him exactly how much I appreciated it.

I noticed Freddie was staring off somewhere else, and I looked behind me and noticed he was looking toward the center of the room. With it being a Brazilian steakhouse and all, of course they had to have a dancefloor, but it was still a little early in the evening, so just slow music was playing. Freddie looked back over at me, a smirk forming on his perfect lips, and pushed his chair back suddenly.

"Come on," he said, grabbing my hand and pulling me to my feet. Uh, pressed up against sexy husband with romantic Brazilian music playing in the background? Yes, please!

He led me to the dance floor, his hands going to my waist, and I put my arms around him, laying my head on his shoulder as we swayed softly to the music.

"This is nice," I said softly. I closed my eyes, feeling so happy, so content, so safe. I was in the only place on earth I wanted to be...his arms.

"Yeah, it is," he replied. "I love you so much, Samantha."

My eyes popped open at that, because he rarely called me by my full name. Only under certain circumstances did he call me that, and it was usually when Freddie was pretty emotional. I lifted my head to look at him, studying his eyes carefully.

Slightly red, glossy, and looking like they were misting over a little. Yep, Freddie's feeling emotional.

"I love you too, Fredward," I replied, kissing him.

"Nothing's ever gonna split us apart?" he asked. "Ever?"

"No!" I replied. "Of course not!" God, what was wrong with him?

I kissed him again, this time a little more intently, with more heat and passion than before, and I heard Freddie suck in a sharp breath as I pressed closer against him, continuing to kiss him with all the passion I could muster.

In no time at all, one of his hands left my waist and went into my hair, curling it around his fingers as he kissed me back, pulling me tight against him. I could feel his heartbeat through his chest speeding up, as well as other parts of him beginning to wake up as well. Almost had him right where I wanted him...

He growled as I nipped lightly at his bottom lip, and I pulled away, giving him a smile.

"Ready to get out of here?" I asked, and he nodded.

"Oh yeah," he said with a nod. "But did you get enough to eat?"

"Not yet," I replied as I kissed his neck. "But..." I sank my teeth in, making him sigh. "Soon."

"Mmm," he purred like a big cat. "Baby..."

"I'm a very, very hungry girl," I whispered in his ear. "Better take me home and satisfy me."

"I can do that," he replied with a smirk as he led me back to the table so we could grab our stuff, and then threw a wad of twenties down on the table without bothering to look at the bill. "Come on, gorgeous. Let me take you home and make love to you."

Oh, god. After MONTHS of waiting, the time had finally come. So many things were going through my head, the entire way home, in the elevator, and while I was in the bathroom changing. I was anxious, nervous, excited, happy, turned on...all at the same time.

I looked at my reflection nervously after I'd changed clothes, smoothing down the black lace slip over my hips. It fit like a glove, and I knew Freddie would think I looked great, but I was still nervous. I'd worked so hard to get my body back to the way it was before I'd had the baby, and I'd done a good job, but still. I was nervous.

I wanted things to be the same as before. The same fire, the same passion. For both of us. I was afraid the first time after having the baby it would hurt, and also that it wouldn't feel the same for him. It wasn't just about me, it was about him too. I wanted to make him feel amazing, make him feel in a physical way how much I loved him. I leaned over the counter to fix my makeup, taking another deep breath.

"Sam?" Freddie called. "Everything okay?"

"Yeah, everything's fine," I called back. "I'll be right out."

Taking one more deep breath and another glance in the mirror, I mentally prepared myself. It's go time, Sam. What you've been fantasizing about for months is out there waiting for you. Go get it.

Finally I pulled open the door, walking into the bedroom, and let out a gasp as I took stock of the room. Geez, no wonder he didn't want me in here before. Boy had been busy.

Every surface of the bedroom except the bed was COVERED in candles, and there were rose petals strewn everywhere, all over the floor, on the bed, which was all made up and ready for us. Freddie sat on the edge of the bed, and with that deer in headlights look he was giving me, I knew he wasn't too concerned with the room.

"So, what do you think?" I asked, trying to strike a sexy pose, and he shook his head.

"You're gorgeous," he breathed. "Sam...I love you so much...come here." He held an arm out to me, and I approached him with a shyness that surprised me.

He pulled me to him, slowly but firmly, and one hand glided up my sie before finally settling in my hair. As I pressed against him, my arms going around his neck, he brought my head down, capturing my mouth with his. I couldn't help but moan against Freddie's mouth as I felt his tongue slide over mine, letting out a little gasp as his hand suddenly gripped my hip and brought me against him more firmly. Freddie pulled away for only a moment, long enough to rise to his feet, then brought me against him again, his lips crashing down on mine. Again his hand tangled through my hair, as if to ensure I didn't pull away.

I couldn't stop myself from gripping his shoulders tightly as he kissed me, pleasantly surprised with the intensity of his mouth dominating mine. I was sure he'd never kissed me so deeply before, and the feeling nearly brought me to my knees. He seemed to sense it, my inability to stay vertical at that moment and swept me up, gently depositing me in the center of the bed. For the moment, I recovered and rose to my knees, grabbing him by the back of the head and planting a fiery kiss on his mouth that took him aback for just a second, groaning against my mouth. My hand went to his tie, loosening the knot and then pulling it off. I kissed him again, and as my mouth kept his occupied, my fingers busied themselves with flicking open the buttons on his shirt, sighing against his mouth as I undid the last button and then spread the shirt apart, not even pausing for a second to run my hands over his chest and then gripping his rock-hard biceps. Freddie let out a moan at the feel of my hands on him, and he let go of me long enough to shake the shirt from his shoulders, then brought me against him again.

Pressed against one another tightly, I could feel his heartbeat thundering away in his chest, and I was sure he could feel mine. He overwhelmed me, his delicious, passionate kisses, the warmth of his smooth skin, the way his breath tickled my lower lip as we pulled away and gazed at each other. Oh god, those eyes...could there be a more beautiful thing in existence? I seriously doubted it as he stared at me with those intense chocolate eyes of his. He lifted one hand to my cheek as he stared at me, and I turned my head to kiss his palm before looking back at him.

"I love you," he murmured, his voice a low, breathy rumble.

"I love you too," I whispered back.

He kissed me again, his tongue quickly flicking across my bottom lip, and then he pulled away.

"You're beautiful."

The way he said it, the sincerity in his voice and the way that he stared at me as he said it, that convinced me. It was impossible to doubt it. To Freddie, my husband, I was beautiful. And that was enough for me. At that moment, no one else's opinion mattered, not even my own.

What had I been so concerned about? The way my sweet husband looked at me, the intensity with which he kissed me, and how he held me like he never wanted to let me go, it was obvious. He loved me, and to him, I was beautiful. To him, I was perfect. I couldn't ask for anything better.

I was brought out of my thoughts by him suddenly pulling away and turning me around, my back against his chest. My gasp of surprise quickly transformed into a soft moan as he swept my hair aside to kiss my neck. His mouth felt hot against my skin, sending a burst of electricity through my body. God, we had barely started, and already I never wanted it to stop! I leaned my head back to him better access, and he lower down my neck, to the spot where it met my shoulder. As his tongue slid over a spot that was extremely sensitive, I let out a moan and jerked a little, unintentionally grinding against him, and he let out a growl, his mouth sliding more purposely over my flesh. I could feel short, sudden bursts of his hot breath on my neck as his took time kissing me there, an occasional moan escaping his lips. His hand went to my shoulder, catching my strap with his fingertips and pulling it aside, leaving the area free for his mouth to roam across. I don't know what turned me on more, the way his mouth felt, or the sounds that accompanied it. It was as if the simple act of kissing my bare neck and shoulders was getting him riled up, and man, did that give me an ego boost.

He lifted my hair up, planting soft kisses on the back of my neck that caused little goosebumps to pop up all over my skin as he slid my other strap off my shoulders. I leaned my head back, gazing up at him, and he gave me this smoldering, sexy look before kissing me passionately, sliding my straps further down until they were off my arms.

I was so lost in the feeling of his mouth on mine that I barely noticed him inching the top of my slip down further and further. Until I felt his warm, smooth hands cover my bare breasts. The electrifying feeling of hands on my sensitive breasts sent a shockwave coursing through me, something I hadn't felt in weeks. I was so surprised I let out a loud gasp, nipping at his bottom lip. The sudden bite didn't seem deter him on bit however, he merely growled in that turned on way of his, pulling away to kiss my neck again.

"God, Freddie, you feel so good...oh my god," I whimpered as he took his time with me, rubbing, kneading, and toying with my breasts, occasionally letting the pads of his thumbs graze over my nipples. He kept making all these turned on noises, like he was enjoying this as much as I was. Of course, he was probably was. That was just another thing to add to the list of reasons why Freddie was so amazing. He genuinely enjoyed making me feel good, as I did for him. Come to think of it, why wasn't I groping him right now? Shirtless husband, must grope!

With that thought firmly entrenched in my mind, I turned around, claiming his lips in a searing kiss as one arm went around his neck, letting my other hand trail lightly over his chest. He groaned as I let my hand travel lower, my fingers tracing over each and every bit of solid, well-defined muscle. His body was exquisite, years of hard work in the gym culminating into the most attractive man I'd ever laid eyes on. And he was mine, all mine. I gripped the hair at the back of his head lightly, tilting it back so my mouth could make contact with his neck. He let out a moan as my tongue trailed up his hot flesh, enjoying the feel and taste of him. I could feel his pulse through his neck, pounding out an urgent rhythm against my lips. As I took my time exploring his skin with my mouth, I felt him inching my slip lower and lower, over my hips, until it hit the bed, still around my legs. He broke contact, pulling away, and I frowned. Skin! Mouth! Now!

His eyes traveled over my body, staring at me so intently I could almost feel his eyes on me. I began to get a little uncomfortable, my stupid insecurities getting the better of me, until our eyes locked. And then, it vanished. I had been so stupid, thinking this amazing man would judge me on such a superficial level. I would never see myself the way Freddie saw me, but I wished I could. He stared at me with such longing, a sheer reverence that only comes with being totally devoted to a person. The same way I looked at him.

He smirked a little, shaking his head before letting out a little laugh.

"What?" I asked softly, and he just gave me a sweet smile.

"I'm a lucky man," he replied quietly, and then he kissed me, pressing against me and sighing happily at the feel of our bare chests pressed against each other. I knew what he was thinking. This felt amazing. This felt like heaven.

He pressed against me more firmly, leaning his weight into me a little bit more. I got the message, laying back, and followed suit, hovering over me as he kissed me passionately. His lips left my mouth, trailing over my jaw, down my neck, and then his tongue slid across my collarbone, offering a teasing little flick that made me arch my back and grip the sheets. He laughed against my skin, raising his head to look at me as his eyebrows lifted in that mischievous, flirty way of his.

"Easy, baby. I'll get you there," he said in a low voice, lowering his head back down to continue lavishing my collarbone with that talented mouth of his.

A kiss, then a soft drag of his mouth across my skin. A gentle little flutter of his tongue here, a teasing scrape of his teeth there. I was moaning, squirming helplessly, amazed at how sensitive one little unassuming part of skin could be after weeks of not being touched.

He kissed lower, and I could feel my heartbeat speed up in anticipation. He'd driven me crazy with just that little bit of attention to my collarbone, imagine how he would make me feel when...

"Oh!" I cried out as his mouth closed over my breast, my hand instantly going to the back of his head as his tongue found my nipple, tracing slow circles around it. He moaned as he did this, continuing to subject my skin to his sweet torment. He had missed this too, I was sure of it. It had never been much of a secret that Freddie was a big fan of my breasts.

Yes, he had definitely missed this. I could tell, the way he took his time letting his mouth explore my chest, grinding against me in a slow but urgent manner.

"Miss my boobs?" I taunted, and he lifted his head again.

"You have no idea," he responded stoically, going back to toying with them.

"Freddie..." I whined, my hands rubbing up and down his bare back. "Take your pants off."

"Nope."

"What?"

"Not yet," he murmured. "I haven't even started with you yet."

"Oh, god..." I moaned breathlessly as he lowered his head again.

~*Freddie*~

Aside from the guilt over the Pam issue, which I was desperately trying to get out of my head, only two things had been on my mind my entire night with Sam.

'Damn, she's beautiful.' was the first one.

'Oh my god, I've gotta get my mouth on this girl NOW.' was the other.

I wanted to taste her soft, sweet skin, hear her breathy moans, feel her arch into me as my mouth glided over her. Oh man. I'd been wanting this for weeks. Of course, there was something else I wanted, something I'd been missing for months, but I was trying not to think about that. The last thing I wanted was to lose my head and rush into things. Sam deserved so much more. I wanted to stretch it out, take my time, for her sake and for mine.

God, this body. How I adored this body, and the woman it belonged to. She had an amazing figure, that was obvious, but it was the little things that got me the most. That curve that started at her waist and went down over her hips. That random little freckle on her inner thigh. How she had all these little sensitive places on her body that were hidden, unless you knew where to look.

I let my tongue trace over one of those hidden places, the underside of her breast, and she jerked a little, letting out a sweet little moan that just egged me on. I brought my mouth lower, skating over her ribs until I came to her scar, plating a gentle kiss on it. It was something I did a lot, I guess a protective gesture of sorts. Neither of us would ever forget how she got it, nor would we forget the aftermath and what I'd done. Kissing that spot, it was my way of reminding Sam that I'd always protect her.

Which was why I'd hid the letter from her. When she had to go the hospital and be put on bed rest, Carly, Brad, and I had all been pulled aside and told in no uncertain terms that Sam had come very close to losing the baby, possibly even her life, and that any little bit of stress would only serve to finish the job. I'd found the letter waiting in the mail the next day and panicked, and so had Carly. In the midst of that panic, the three of us decided it wouldn't be good for her to know, not at that time. I just wished I would have told her at some point. She was going to be furious with me. I sighed, kissing her scar again.

The scar itself had never bothered me. I wish she hadn't gotten it, hadn't suffered through that ordeal. But I wasn't bothered by the actual scar. Or the ones that had come after, a handful of tiny, pale little marks after having the baby that Sam bemoaned on a daily basis. I barely noticed the scars, but what I did notice was how beautiful she looked right now.

I kissed over her stomach and it wasn't lost on me how she trembled a little, squirming uncomfortably. I couldn't help but sigh. It was obvious we weren't completely out of the woodwork yet when it came to her body issues. Part of me wanted to roll my eyes, or chastise her. That silly girl, she'd never truly understand how beautiful she was. But instead of fussing at her, I just planted a soft kiss in the middle of her stomach and looked up at her.

"I love your skin," I told her, kissing her stomach again.

She looked at me somewhat unsure, shaking her head a little.

"It's..."

"...perfect," I finished, kissing down lower, over her hip bone and dragging my teeth across it for a split second, smirking victoriously when she let out a soft gasp and arched into me.

"It's soft," I said, kissing her hipbone, lazily dragging my mouth across her skin. "Sweet. Sensitive..." I nibbled on her hipbone again, ad she let out a moan.

"Mmm, very sensitive," I said with a smile, kissing my way across her body to her other hipbone and repeating everything I'd done so she'd make those sweet little noises again. I couldn't help but laugh against her skin as I felt her hand go into my hair, trying to make my mouth go where she really wanted it.

"Someone's impatient," I teased, moving up her body to kiss her. "Relax, baby. We've got all night."

"I can't help it," she whined. "I want you so bad."

That was the thing, I did too. Desperately. But I wanted to draw it out. I'd missed spending all this time, just worshipping that sweet little body of hers. I wasn't about to miss out on it now!

"You wanna know what I want?" I replied, kissing her again, then moving up to her ear, nibbling on the lobe. Oh my god, these sexy little moans she kept making were going to be the death of me!

"What?" she gasped out, and I just gave her a smile.

"I want my mouth all over you," I whispered huskily in her ear.

"Oh, god..." she whimpered, arching into me.

"Mmm, I love it when you do that..."

With that, I went back to what I wanted to do, what I needed to do. Must have my mouth all over this beautiful woman. I spent more than my fair share of time on her breasts, to the point she was actually shaking, beginning to perspire a little bit, grabbing my shoulders and digging her nails in, making me hiss in slight pain but enjoying it all the while. Deciding to give her a break before she lost it completely, I kissed down lower, her moans driving me on.

Man, I'd give this girl anything she wanted, as long as she kept making those noises! And she was. She was making a lot of noise, and it was escalating from sweet and soft to uncontrolled, frantic, like I was beginning to tease her.

I didn't want that. Not tonight. Tonight I just wanted to please her. I didn't just want to make love to her, I wanted to MAKE HER FEEL LOVED. And beautiful. And perfect. Everything she was.

I kissed lower and lower, hearing her breath begin to come in short little gasps, anticipating my next move.

"Is this what you wanted?" I asked as I pushed her legs apart and brought them over my shoulders, and without giving her a second to respond, I dragged my tongue against her. I was rewarded with a sweet, satisfied sounding moan that told me this was exactly what she wanted.

Call me crazy, but sometimes I enjoyed this as much as I enjoyed being inside of her. I loved the feel of her, the way she tasted, how she moved against me. I hooked one arm under her to pull her closer to me, and she let out a gasp as I felt her grab my free hand and squeeze it tightly.

"Oh, god...Freddie...please don't stop. Please."

Hell no, I wasn't going to stop! She was like a drug to me, and I was coming off one hell of withdrawal right now. I gripped her hips tightly as I took my time licking slow circles over her, grinding her against my mouth, and I groaned as I felt her body take over and grind against me all on her own.

My god, this was turning me on. Just having my mouth on my wife and her moans echoing through the room had me positively throbbing. She was going to drive me insane, and she hadn't even touched me yet!

"Freddie..." Sam gasped, shaking against me. "Oh god, Freddie..."

She was getting close, I could feel it. Damn, could I feel it. Her back arched, thighs trembled, and her hands were scrambling, searching for something to grab onto and settling for fistfuls of sheets. Then she tensed up suddenly, and I knew it was game over for her.

"Freddie...baby...Freddie...oh my god. Oh my god. Oh...FREDDIE!" she cried out as she felt an unbearable wave of pleasure crash over her. I couldn't stop myself from moaning as I felt her shaking against me.

Oh god, yes. I missed that, feeling my beautiful wife lose control because of me. She finally came back down to earth, gasping for breath as she laid there trying to regain her composure.

"Mmm, did you like that baby?" I asked, kissing her.

"Yes..." she gasped out. "Yes..."

"You're so fucking sexy when you do that..."

She laid there for a moment with her eyes closed as she came back down to earth, a blissful expression on her beautiful face, and I laid next to her, one hand running up and down her side as I patiently waited for her to regain her bearings.

She slowly opened her eyes and gave me a sweet smile, sitting up.

"Your turn?" she asked, reaching for the zipper on my pants, and I shook my head. I could tell she was confused, so I just kissed her again.

"Two reasons," I replied. "First reason, you do that, and we won't make it to everything else. I'm way too turned on right now."

"So what's the other reason?" Sam asked, and I just gave her a smile.

"Tonight's all about you, my sweet, sweet baby."

"But..."

"Don't worry about me," I replied, gently pushing her back down onto her back. "I'm good. I promise."

"But..." she started again, and I kissed her to cut her off.

"Baby, you know turning you on turns me on," I replied. "Now just relax, and let me love you."

She nodded, pulling me down to her and kissed me again.

"No more teasing, Freddie," she said softly. "I need you now." With that, she pushed at my chest, prompting me to sit up, her hands going for the button on my pants and then my zipper. "Get these off..."

Well, I wasn't going to sit there and do nothing while the sexiest woman on earth begged me to get naked! Quickly I got rid of my pants, and she gave me a Look.

"Boxers too," she said. No problem there, I took those off too, but before I could do anything else, she caught me off guard, shoving me onto my back.

"Sam, what are you...Sam!" I moaned as I felt her mouth on me suddenly, no lead up or warning at all. Just my wife's mouth on the most sensitive part of my body. Oh god, I couldn't handle this. I was going to lose it.

"Baby..." I warned as she bobbed her head up and down. "Slow down, please..."

After a few seconds she pulled away, giving me a grin. "Six weeks, and you're telling me I can't have my mouth on you? Yeah, right."

I shook my head, laughing a little, as I sat back up.

"Well, that'll have to do it for now," I replied. "Later, you can spend all the time down there you want."

"You're so generous," she teased. "Come here. Make love to me."

I came over her, kissing her softly, noticing the way she drew in a deep breath.

"Are you okay?"

"Yeah," she replied. "Just...go slow at first, okay?"

"I will," I told her, kissing her again. "You'll tell me if it hurts?"

"Yeah," she replied. "Come on, baby. I need you."

As I kissed her softly, lining up our bodies the right way, I became aware that I was nervous too! After months, I hoped I hadn't lost my touch, that I still got to Sam the same way she got to me. And after months, I worried my stamina wouldn't be what it used to be. Christ, I would probably only last a few minutes, and I did not want to disappoint Sam in any way, shape or form.

I kissed her again, and kept kissing her, trying to keep her relaxed as I slowly entered her. Then I lost sight of everything, letting out a groan and burying my face in her neck as I held her against me tightly. Oh god, that feeling. I'd missed it so much. There was nothing that could compare, the feeling I got when I first entered her. She was so wet and warm and tight. Nothing had changed.

Except for I could barely contain myself, sucking in gasps of breath as I tried to maintain my composure.

"Baby," I warned, "Don't move. Be still. I...oh god."

She didn't move, just ran her hands up and down my back as she waited for me to regain control. I was sweating already, just from trying to keep myself from going over the edge.

"Does it feel different?" she whispered as I lifted my head to look at her, sounding almost afraid. I shook my head, giving her a smile.

"Feels like you," I replied, kissing her. "Feels like home."

She let out a happy sigh, her arms going around my neck. "Make love to me."

I moved against her, slowly at first, both of us letting out soft moans. The moans began to grow in both frequency and volume, the further we got. My god, she felt incredible. There were chills going down my spine, my entire being felt like it was one fire. I loved her so much, she felt so incredible...I'd missed this so much.

I came to a stop when I realized she was crying, and I pulled away to look at her.

"Sam? Am I hurting you?" I asked, slightly horrified, and she shook her head.

"No."

"Then what..."

"I missed you," she sniffled, forcing a smile as tears streamed down her face. "I missed us."

"Aw, baby..." I replied, kissing her. "We never went anywhere."

"I know, it's just..." she trailed off, wiping her face. "I missed you."

"I missed you too, baby," I responded. I understood what she meant by that, she missed the physical closeness. I did too, and it was a relief to know she missed it as much as I did. "I love you so much."

"I love you too," she whispered, whimpering as I continued to move in and out of her. "Oh, god...baby..."

I was doing better than expected, but I knew it wasn't going to last as long as it had in the past. Had to build my stamina back up. Assuming, of course, when we all came clean about the parole issue, she didn't leave me. Ugh, I so did not want to think about that right now. All I wanted to focus on was how good she felt, and on making her feel good too.

"Sam..." I groaned. "You feel amazing. God I missed this..."

"I did too!" she gasped. "Oh, god! Don't stop..."

"Already?" I asked, a little shocked.

"Yes!" Sam moaned, gripping my arms tightly, her legs going around my waist and making me feel even more light-headed and dizzy than I was before. "Please...please...don't stop..."

"Never..." I panted, moving in and out of her with a fluid motion, making sure to lift my hips to hit all her sensitive spots. It may have been months, but I hadn't forgotten a single thing. I knew exactly where she liked to be touched, how she liked me to move, and it was obvious everything I was doing was working, because she began to grind against me frantically.

"Oh my god... oh my god... Freddie... baby... oh... Freddie... fuck...I love you so much... I...oh, god!" she cried out, panting, and then her back arched against her will, her eyes rolling into the back of her head. "FREDDIE!"

The feeling of her losing it, her walls clenching around me repeatedly...nothing on earth could compare. But after months of going without it, I was convinced that nothing in heaven could compare either. But now I had a problem. I was really, really having trouble holding back now. It was becoming impossible.

Especially considering she was still lost in the feeling of her orgasm, nails digging into my back, moaning over and over. Her face and neck was flushed, a slight sheen of sweat on her beautiful body as she felt that familiar explosion.

"Sam..." I warned, trying to catch my breath. "I...god, baby...I can't...I..." Oh, man! Damn it, I knew this was going to happen. Less than ten minutes and I was about to explode. I had lasted longer than this on our wedding night! I sucked!

"It's okay," she gasped, still grinding against me. "It's okay. Let go, baby."

I shook my head. "Not yet...not yet...not...damn, baby..."

"You know you want to," she replied, kissing me, and then kissing on my neck. I groaned helplessly; she was not making this easy on me.

"Baby..." I sighed. "We..."

"We have all night," she reminded me. "Let go..."

Damn it, Sam! I was trying to make it last longer for your sake! You're killing me! I was fighting hard to hold onto every bit of composure I had in me, quickly losing the battle, and she was making it even harder, running her nails up and down my back, kissing my neck.

"I love you," she whispered in my ear. "Let go. I wanna feel it."

Game. Over.

I felt like my entire world was spinning out of control as I was hit with the heady rush of finally reaching my peak inside my wife, after months and months without it. I couldn't think. I couldn't move. I couldn't breathe. All I could do was hold onto her as I shook uncontrollably, moaning.

"Shit..." I hissed, unable to stop the overwhelming feelings from overtaking me. "Baby...Sam...Sam...oh god..."

"You feel so good," she whispered in my ear. "So fucking good. I missed you, baby."

I finally caught my breath, and the room finally stopped spinning, as I lifted my head, kissing her, as I withdrew and then laid my head on her chest, completely spent and totally exhausted. I was so overwhelmed by it, I was shaking.

She rubbed up and down my back softly, trying to get me to calm down, whispering in my ear the entire time.

"I love you so much, baby. So much. I missed this so, so much."

I nodded, finally finding the strength to lift my head.

"Sorry."

"For?"

"Not long enough."

"Doesn't matter," she replied, kissing me. "Good?"

"Oh yeah."

"Happy?"

"Yeah."

"Again?"

I gaped at her, and she just gave me a mischievous smile.

"I said, again?"

"Uh-huh."

That was the only thing I could get out before she flipped me onto my back and straddled me, kissing me passionately as her hand wrapped around me, trying to get me riled up again.

God, I was absolutely crazy about her, desperately in love with her. She was so sexy, so incredible, I was sure she was going to be the death of me.

And it'd be a hell of a way to go.


	71. Chapter 71: Clean

**A/N: Sorry for the lack of updates, guys, but here's some nice drama for you! Some very intense moments between Sam and Brad...dun dun dun!**

**Chapter Seventy One:  
>Clean<strong>

~*Brad*~

"So, give me some good news," Gibby said as I climbed into the passenger seat of his car.

I tried to play it off cool, but I couldn't stop the smile creeping across my face – or the cocky shoulder shrug that accompanied it. Gibby just laughed, shaking his head.

"So what's the word?"

"Dude, check it out!" I exclaimed, pulling my newly signed contract out of my laptop bag and thrusting it into his face. "I bet the ink's still wet!"

"That is awesome!" Gibby replied, grabbing it from me and examining it more closely. "So what exactly does this mean?"

"They're gonna shop my screenplay around to different production companies and movie houses...they think they may be able to get me a studio contract for more stuff just based off this! And they signed me for two years, so...hopefully something will happen, you know? This is just the first hump."

Gibby nodded, seeming to think something over. "You know, a lot of that's based on networking. I mean, agents network and all, but..."

"But what?"

"Gonna be awful hard for you to network if you're up in Seattle...are you guys planning on moving out here or anything?"

I sighed, shaking my head. Less than a year ago, I'd been considering it, tossing the idea around in my head almost daily. But things were definitely different now. For one thing, there was my brother and sisters to consider. A move probably wouldn't be the best thing right now for them, not to mention if we just dropped the show and move, how would we support ourselves financially?

"Man, I don't know...maybe I'll just have to start flying out every so often...for anything that could be considered a major networking opportunity. Just, man..."

"What?" Gibby asked.

I shrugged. "Networking in the film business usually involves a lot of after parties, corners of VIP rooms in nightclubs, that sort of thing..."

"Yeah, so?"

"So, I'm a recovering alcoholic? It'll raise eyebrows that I'm not drinking."

Gibby shrugged. "Nah, man. There are some people in LA that respect morals and boundaries. They're few and far between, but they're here...just have to look. Besides, if your stuff's good enough, they won't care."

I nodded. "I hope you're right, Gibs."

"What's your screenplay about, anyway? You've been keeping this thing top secret for the better part of three years now..."

I made a face. Okay, maybe it was silly to be so secretive, but I had a reason, and that reason was because I didn't know how my friends would react to it.

"Well, it's just kind of weird," I responded. "Because it's based on true events, and..."

"Oh my god," Gibby cut me off. "Your screenplay is about the Bill situation, isn't it?"

"How'd you know?" I asked, surprised.

Gibby shrugged. "I mean, it was pretty bad. But things worked out in the end. Isn't that how a good movie's supposed to go?"

"I...I guess?" I replied. "So you don't think it's weird?"

"I don't really know how Sam will feel about her life being turned into a movie...or how Freddie will feel about being portrayed as a cop-beater."

"Well, obviously I tweaked a few details, but...the general story is the same."

"Well, after witnessing all that stuff that happened first hand...people will bite. I'm sure of it."

I nodded. "Thanks man. Alright, so I've got three hours until my flight leaves...what's there to do in this town?"

Gibby thought carefully for a moment as he drove down the interstate, until a smile crept across his face. "I'm starving. Sushi?"

"Yeah, but I can get sushi in Seattle."

"Ever had a dancing squid?"

"A what?" I repeated. "Did you say dancing squid?"

"Yep."

"So...how does that work? It dances while you eat it?" I replied, absolutely dumbfounded.

"Sort of...it definitely wiggles a lot while it's in the bowl."

That was all I needed to hear. I swiftly pulled my phone out.

"Texting Carly?"

"And Sam."

"What?"

"Inside cutesy first date memory text to my lady love, and then an epic monologue of bragging about what I'm about to eat to Sam. Of course, she probably won't check it until tomorrow..."

"Why's that?"

I laughed. "The ban finally got lifted."

"Oh god," Gibby groaned. "How long do you think it'll take before she gets pregnant again?"

"Oh, geez, I hadn't thought of that, but...knowing those two...maybe a year, year and a half."

"Twenty bucks says a year, tops." Gibby replied, and my eyebrows went up.

"We're making a bet on how long it takes one of our best friends to knock his wife up again?"

"Were you expecting anything less?" Gibby replied.

"Not really. I wonder what Carly thinks," I responded, texting her again.

'Hey BTW, Gibby bet me twenty bucks Sam would get pregnant again within a year. What do you think?'

"Okay, so, back to this whole dancing squid, issue..." I began.

Beep!

I looked back down at my phone and smirked as I read Carly's text back to me.

Carly: I bet you both forty it'll take them six months. Love you. Stay out of trouble and hurry home. Xoxo.

"Alright, seriously, let's get back to this dancing squid situation," I said after I sent a quick 'I love you' message back to Carly.

~*Carly*~

I practically leapt off the couch as my phone beeped at me, signaling a text from Brad had arrived. I peered down at it, and without a moment's hesitation scrambled up the stairs.

Brad: On my way up beautiful.

I'd been on pins and needles all day, waiting for Brad to return from LA. He'd been away for less than ten hours, and already I'd missed him terribly. I couldn't wait to see him. I knew he'd be incredibly excited about signing the contract, and I was excited for him – and excited at the prospect of maybe "celebrating" a little bit.

Let's see, bedroom all clean? Check. Super sexy little white thing I didn't know the name of? Check. Bed made perfectly? Check. Me in the middle of said bed in lacy white thing?

I did a flying leap onto the bed, letting out a squeal of alarm as I bounced, falling off the bed and hitting the ground with a thud.

So much for smooth and sexy.

As luck would have it, the door creaked open. Ugh, Brad was back and I'm laying on the ground like an idiot. Greaaat.

"Babe?"

I poked my head over the side of the bed, waving awkwardly. "Hi."

"Babe, what are you doing on the floor?" Brad asked, setting his bag on the ground.

"Um, I was...looking for a contact," I replied, trying nonchalantly to smooth my hair back.

Brad's brow furrowed as he looked at me. "You don't wear contacts."

"Oh...right," I said lamely, slowly rising to my feet. "So...how was LA?"

"What are you wearing?" Brad replied, smiling a little.

"Um...I bought it today," I replied. I ran my hands over the fabric, smoothing it over my hips. "Do you like it?"

"Hmm," Brad replied, cocking his head to the side and crossing his arms over his chest. "Not sure. Come here, let me see it better."

I walked around the bed, letting a out a squeal as he grabbed my arm and yanked me to him, his free arm going around my waist and pressing me against him.

"Mmm," he said in a low, breathy rumble as he held me close. "Much better." He brushed my hair aside, kissing my cheek and then letting his lips drag across my face until he reached my mouth, kissing me passionately. I let out a happy little sigh as I kissed him back, happy to have him back and even happier to be in his arms.

"So what do you think?" I asked.

"About what?"

"About my little...thing...that I bought," I replied. "Do you like it?"

Brad shook his head. "Actually, I hate it."

"WHAT?"

"You should take it off, right now," Brad replied. "Here, let me help you..." He tugged at the thin spaghetti straps, and I laughed, pushing him away slightly.

"Brad!" I laughed. "You're such a jerk!"

"You love me," he replied, kissing me again. "Now, back to this whole getting you naked thing..." He paused, looking around suddenly. "Where's everyone else?"

"Oh, they spent the night at Uncle Spencer's."

Brad's eyebrows went up. "And Heather went along with it?"

"Well, April just bought a tanning bed," I replied, and he rolled his eyes.

"Makes sense," Brad replied. "So, it's just us tonight?"

"Mmhmm," I replied, toying with the collar of his shirt. "I wanted us to have a little alone time tonight. Maybe celebrate a little..."

"Oh really?" Brad said, a smile creeping across his face. "So what'd you have in mind?"

"Oh not much. Just you, me, our big comfy bed, me in this little lacy thing I bought for you..."

"Something tells me you won't be wearing that for much longer," Brad muttered, kissing me again. His hand went to my lower back, pressing me against him as he slowly explored my mouth with his.

"You're a little overdressed," I whispered, tugging at his shirt collar to run my lips over his neck. He laughed, rubbing one hand up and down my back.

"Not fair, you got a head start."

"Guess I did," I said with a laugh. "I missed you, baby."

"I missed you too, Carly."

"Really? You didn't get distracted by the big city and all the hot fake plastic girls there?"

"Of course not," Brad replied. "None of that could compare with you. Yeah, I really did miss..." he trailed off as his eyes fixated on something sitting on the table. "What the hell is that?"

I followed the direction of his gaze and giggled a little. "Something to celebrate with?"

"But, Carly...seriously..."

"Relax, idiot," I replied, thumping him lightly. "It's non-alcoholic apple cider."

Brad stared at me for a moment, then laughed, shaking his head. "You're adorable, you know that?"

"So I hear," I replied. "So they got you for two years, huh?"

Brad nodded, sitting down on the bed and pulling me to him so I'd sit down too. "Yep. Two years to sell a screenplay."

"It'll happen, Brad. I know it will."

"I hope so," he replied. "But...you know things are going to really start picking up speed soon, and we've already got so much going on...I kinda feel like I'm putting a lot of pressure on you, babe."

"It'll be fine, baby. I promise. If worse comes to worse, we can afford a babysitter to help out or something."

Brad nodded. "I guess that's true. I didn't even think about that."

"Well, stop thinking about it. You have other things to think about."

"Like?"

"Well, I do remember you saying something about getting me naked..."

"Now you're speaking my language," Brad replied with a smirk, pulling me against him in one smooth motion as his mouth covered mine.

It was nice having a night alone with Brad, just the two of us. Not worrying about one of the kids waking up in the middle of the night, or worse, walking in on us, or dealing with extremely hyper three year olds at seven o'clock in the morning. I wasn't complaining, by any means. I'd gotten used to how insanely busy our lives were, but that didn't mean I didn't LOVE the downtime we got in these rare little doses. I had a feeling the downtime was going to become even fewer and further between. I was pretty sure Brad would have to go back and forth to LA quite a few times over the next year, and then with the baby coming...

That was what I was most nervous about. The baby could literally come ANY day now, we were right upon the due date, and that would shake things up even more. I was absolutely elated for Brad getting signed, but we'd both agreed; it couldn't have come at a worse time.

Kind of like me being approached by that manager the night I decided to quit doing music. It was like all of the success Brad and I had wanted for so long came to us at the most inappropriate time, when we were loaded down with the most intense drama ever. Brad had decided to move forward and not give up, and I supported him, but that was Brad. Willing to take on everything, never realize his breaking point. I knew mine, and I knew I'd been approaching it fairly quickly.

But still, it was in me. That itch to go back to playing music. I hadn't even been away that long, but Brad finally getting signed, and being confident that we could still juggle everything, it definitely got me thinking. For the most part though, I was able to get it out of my head and just enjoy our night.

Of course, the next morning when we got up, there was other drama to deal with. I'd convinced Spencer to keep the kids until about one in the afternoon or so, so that Brad, Freddie, and I could handle the Sam situation without any distractions. Per the agreement Freddie and I had made, we were supposed to go to their apartment around ten.

I wasn't exactly looking forward to it, but Brad was hemming and hawing and generally behaving more like Leah at the mere prospect of it.

"Carly..." he whined, burying his face in the pillow. "It is WAY too early to get my ass kicked. Come on."

I rolled my eyes. "Sam is not going to kick your ass."

"Well, she's certainly not going to hit you! And she's stopped hitting Freddie, which only leaves one person!"

"Well, we have to do it!" I shot back, yanking the covers off him. "Now get up."

"No."

"Brad..." I warned, trying to ignore the fact that he was still completely naked and I was getting a VERY good view right now. Ugh, focus Carly!

"It's too early for this shit, Carly!"

"And you're going to leave your two best friends hanging over the fact that it's too early? Come on! They BOTH need our support on this! Freddie's freaked out Sam's going to leave him or something, and Sam's gonna be a mess."

"Ugh," Brad grumbled. "I guess you're right. But I need coffee."

"If I make you coffee, will you promise to get up?"

"Yes, I promise," Brad replied flatly.

"Good. Because if you don't, no sex for a week," I replied as I walked out of the room.

"WHAT?" Brad exclaimed loudly, causing me to giggle as I walked downstairs.

About thirty minutes later, after numerous threats, Brad and I were poised outside Freddie and Sam's door. As we'd gotten accustomed to, Brad pulled the spare key out of his pocket, poised to unlock it, and then stopped.

"Maybe I should knock," he said. "I mean, they're probably still..."

"Oh come on, they had to have worn themselves out by now, and Freddie's not dumb enough to sleep with her minutes before we drop a bomb like this on her head. Just open it."

Brad sighed, seeming to mentally prepare himself for the drama sure to come. "Okay," he said with a shrug, opening the door.

"We'll just go in the living room, they're probably still in their bedroom, and we'll just let them know that...oh my god!" I cried as Brad and I took stock of what was in the living room, my hands immediately going over my eyes.

Sometimes, when it comes to Sam and Freddie, I truly forget what I'm really dealing with. But then I'm always reminded again, and walking in on the two of them on the couch completely naked going at it like animals, that definitely reminded me. Oh, my god.

"CARLY!" Sam shrieked, sitting up and trying her best to cover up her naked form.

"Get out!" Freddie yelled as he sat up too.

"Freddie! Do the words 'meeting' mean nothing to you?" I yelled back, while Brad grabbed my arm and began dragging me out of the apartment.

"Five minutes, we have shit to do!" Brad called over his shoulder and shutting the door.

"Oh my god!" I cried as we stood in the hallway. "They seriously never know when to stop, do they?"

Brad didn't respond, just looked at the ground, biting his lip.

I rolled my eyes. "You finally saw them."

He nodded, still biting his lip, the expression on his face clearly reading 'Oh my god, she's going to be so mad when she figures out what I'm thinking.'

I sighed. "Alright, out with it."

"Did you see them?" he yelled. "They're huge! Oh my god! I mean...I'm sorry, baby, I love you so much...but oh my god."

"Ugh," I grunted, rolling my eyes. "You're such a pervert."

"I can't help it!" he whined. "I'm a guy!"

"Yeah, a perverted guy!" I huffed, turning away from him. I let out an annoyed noise as I felt him creep up behind me. "What?" I asked flatly as he kissed my shoulder.

"I like your boobs too."

"Don't start with me."

"You want me to finish with you?" he replied, and I felt his hands go my waist.

"Brad, stop..." I warned as he kissed my neck and his hands went under my tank top. "We're in the middle of the hallway."

"So?" he replied, his hands moving up even higher. Oh god, why hadn't I put on a bra this morning?

"So, we can't...they...any moment they'll open the door, and...oh god..." I said breathlessly as his hands traveled up even higher.

"Hmm, you were saying?" he replied softly in my ear.

"I don't remember..."

"Good. Now, as I was saying. These, right here...I love these..."

"Yeah?"

"Mmmhmm. After all this drama wears off, I'll remind you how much."

"Mmmkay," I barely managed to get out. Oh god, what was wrong with me? I should not be okay with him manhandling me in the middle of the Bushwell hallway, but for some reason I was. Brad was turning me into a bad girl, and I was oddly cool with it.

Before I could turn around to start kissing him, the door opened, revealing a very agitated Sam in a hastily thrown on t-shirt and jeans, hair a mess. She let out a groan of disgust.

"So you interrupt us and then you're getting groped in the hallway. You're not playing fair, Shay."

"He...started it," I said lamely. Sam glared at me for a second, before finally shaking her head and laughing.

"Okay," she replied. "Well, I guess you guys can come in now."

With that, we followed Sam back into the apartment. Freddie was sitting on the couch, fully dressed, but now he had this concerned look on his face, staring at the floor with his arms crossed over his chest.

"Sorry for interrupting," I said weakly as I sat down on one of their arm chairs. He nodded, not speaking, but his eyes slowly met mine, and I caught that panicked look in his eye. I tried to give him an encouraging smile, as if to say, 'it's okay', but he just shook his head. Brad sat down on the other end of the couch, and for a moment Freddie seemed to snap out of his worries, shooting a glare over at Brad.

"Did you get a good look?" he snipped, and Brad and I both rolled our eyes. Freddie had always been sort of eager to show off Sam, like, 'Hey! Look at this hot chick I'm with!' and it never really bothered him if other guys checked her out, but everything was different when it came to Brad. I sort of felt the same way, the whole Brad and Sam thing was a very complicated issue. It wasn't a constant source of drama, in fact it was really rare, but I guess me and Freddie's insecurities over Brad and Sam's weird friendship would always be a source of discomfort.

At Freddie's statement, Brad looked over at me, a wry grin spreading across his face.

"Hey, Carly's got a really nice rack herself, so I'm happy."

"BRAD!" I cried in mortification, feeling my cheeks heat up.

"Okay, so did you guys stop by so the boys could compare their girls' boobs, or what?" Sam asked. "I mean, I'm not trying to be rude or anything, but...you know. Special time, interrupted."

"Well, no, we came by to talk to you about something, and...hey, where's the baby?"

"My mom still has him," Freddie replied. "Wanted to show him off I guess."

Well that was a relief. I was pretty sure the screaming match that was sure to happen soon would not be good around the baby. Come to think of it, the screaming match wouldn't be good for any of us, but oh well. We couldn't put it off any longer. It was time.

I cleared my throat awkwardly as Sam sat down next to Freddie. "So...that whole situation...with your mom? What do you think about that?"

"I don't," Sam replied curtly. "I'm refusing to think about it."

I groaned, forcing myself to continue. "Well, the thing is, Sam...we...we need to tell you something."

She frowned, looking over at Freddie, who just shook his head.

"About my mom?" Sam asked, looking back at me, and I shrugged.

"Yeah."

Sam looked confused, her eyes darting back and forth between the three of us.

"What is it?"

I shot a pointed look over at Freddie, and he sighed, slowly rising to his feet and heading for the bedroom.

"I'll be right back," he said.

~*Brad*~

It took no time at all for Sam to start getting suspicious the second Carly brought up her mom. As Sam got more suspicious, I started moving further and further away from her, scooting down the couch. I didn't want to be in arm's length of that girl, not with what was about to happen.

I kind of felt like an ass for keeping this big secret from one of my best friends, but it was for her own good. I just hoped Sam would see it this way and not fly off the handle. If things got serious, I guess I could take a few hits, but I'd hoped it wouldn't come to that, and above all, I hoped she wouldn't come down too hard on Freddie. He was feeling bad enough about this whole thing.

At that thought, I stood up, off to give Freddie a quick pep talk before the shit hit the fan.

"Where are you going?" Sam and Carly both asked.

"Guy talk."

"Guy talk?" Carly repeated. "Brad, this is not the time to..."

"Look, I don't come between THIS," I said pointedly, gesturing between the girls. "So quit fuckin' with my bromance."

Sam rolled her eyes, and Carly gave me a Look.

"You're such a strange boy."

I didn't respond, just walked into the bedroom where Freddie was leaning against the dresser, seeming lost in thought.

"You okay, dude?" I asked, and he looked up.

"Yeah," he responded. "Just trying to figure out how to best breach the subject."

"Just do it," I replied. "Like a band-aid, rip it off fast, get it over with."

"And then?" he shot back. "She's gonna go postal. She's gonna kill me."

"Probably because you were having sex with her five minutes before we're supposed to tell her."

Freddie rolled his eyes. "That was not my fault. She's been like that all night."

"What, and you couldn't stop her?"

"Do you stop Carly when she's all over you?" he replied, and I shrugged.

"Alright, touche. Did you find the letter?"

"Yeah," he sighed. "It's right here."

"Okay. So let's deal with this."

Freddie shook his head. "She's gonna hate me."

"Nah, bro. It'll be straight. I got your back on this one."

"Thanks, man..."

"Even though it's incredibly early..."

"Yeah, I know..."

"And even though I could be getting some..."

"Yes, I know..."

"I selflessly put all of that aside to come your aide. Because that's the kind of person I am. I'm helpful."

"You're a dick!" he said with a laugh, shaking his head, and I shrugged.

"Got you to lighten the hell up, didn't it?" I replied. "Now come, let's go."

"Fine," Freddie sighed, hanging his head in defeat as he followed me back into the living room.

"So what's going on?" Sam barked impatiently before we'd even had a chance to sit down. Fine by me, I was cool with standing up. It's much easier to run that way.

Carly looked over at Freddie and just gave him a nod. "Do it," she said.

"Do what?" Sam asked nervously. "Freddie, what's going on?"

Freddie let in a deep breath, seeming to mentally prepare himself for what was to follow. "There's...there's something I didn't tell you, baby."

"What?"

"I just didn't want you to stress out, okay?" he replied, leaning over the coffee table and handing her the letter. "I'm sorry."

Sam pulled the letter out of the envelope so fast it tore it, flipping it open.

"Dear Sam Benson, as the listed next of kin, this letter is to inform you that Pamela Puckett will be released from Washington Women's Penitentiary on May 7th..." she trailed off, looking up at Freddie. The first expression was shock, but it was quickly replaced by anger.

"You didn't tell me?" she shrieked, balling up the letter and throwing it at him. "What the fuck is wrong with you?"

Freddie didn't respond, just looked at the ground morosely, and that was a bad sign. I could tell this wasn't going to be an argument, this was going to be an attack. Arguments were par for the course for those two, but this? This was going to get messy.

"Sam, look at the date," Carly said gently. "The postmark, on the envelope. That's the day you went into the hospital! We didn't want to upset you!"

"We?" Sam cried, glaring at Carly. "You knew about this too?"

Carly glanced over at me, and Sam followed the path of her eyes, growling at me. "And you."

I sighed. "Sam, we did it for your own good. Chill."

"Don't tell me to chill, asshole! Who gave you guys the right to decide what's for my good? You didn't even give me the opportunity to deal with it! You just kept it from me!" She whirled around to glare at Carly. "You're getting sneakier and sneakier, you know that? First the Xanax thing, now this? Are you fucking kidding me?"

"Sam!" Carly cried. "Come on!"

"No, fuck you! You're supposed to be my best friend and we're not supposed to keep secrets! And lately that's all you do! You are a shitty friend, Carly!"

"Hey!" I yelled. "Chill out! We were trying to help you!"

Sam ignored me, her gaze fixing on Freddie, and I knew it was about to be game over. She'd been content to yell at me and Carly from behind the coffee table, but this time, she walked around it, right over to Freddie.

"You asshole," she hissed. "How could you keep something so important from me? You knew how bad this whole thing fucks with me! You knew how worried I was that my mother was going to get out! You knew everything I went through! And you didn't even tell me!"

"Sam, I'm sorry...please..." Freddie said, his voice coming out in a beg. "I didn't know what else to do, you were so stressed out, and..."

"Yeah, and obviously I'm not stressed now, so that plan obviously worked!" Sam yelled. "You fucking idiot!"

I expected Freddie to come back with a snide remark, defend himself somehow, but he didn't. He just stood there and took it, while Sam continued to yell at him. He looked like he wanted to disappear.

This was getting out of hand. Sam wasn't even talking about the situation any more, she was just throwing more and more hateful comments in Freddie's face. I wasn't sure if she was trying to bait him into an argument, or just taking out all of her anger and frustration on him, but either way I'd just about seen enough.

Carly and I weren't sure what to do. Sam kept screaming, kept screaming, and Freddie just stood there, staring at the floor while she leveled insult after insult at him, each comment getting meaner and nastier. I'd never really seen them like this.

"ASSHOLE!" Sam screamed. "You're a fucking control freak, just like my sister said!"

"Baby, please!" Freddie cried. "I'm sorry!"

"Fuck you and your apology, you dick! I FUCKING HATE YOU, FREDDIE!"

I really didn't like having to come between those two and their arguments. I'd learned, over the years, that it was best to stay out of it. But all that previous knowledge I'd gleaned instantly left my head the second Sam suddenly gave Freddie a violent shove.

"Knock it the fuck off, Sam!" I yelled, grabbing her arm and jerking her over to me. She let out a gasp of alarm at that; I'd never forcibly put my hands on Sam before, and I could tell it freaked her out. Good, she needed to be freaked out.

"Brad!" Freddie yelled. Ugh, typical Freddie. Sam's ripping him apart, I try to throw him a bone, and he defends her. Well, that wasn't going to help the situation. Sam didn't need to be defended; she needed to have some sense talked into her, and I couldn't do that with Freddie around.

I ignored Freddie, focusing on Sam, who was trying to shove me away from her, but I wasn't budging, just kept a tight hold on her upper arm and pulling her toward the bathroom.

"Let go of me, Brad! I'm gonna kick your ass!"

"Not today, blondie."

"Brad! Let go of my wife!" Freddie yelled, walking after us.

"Brad, this is going too far!" Carly added as she stood up swiftly.

"No, no, chill, I got this!" I replied. I heard my phone go off on top of the coffee table and let out a groan. Great. Probably the agency. Just what I need right now. "Carly, answer that! It's probably the agency!"

"But, Brad..."

"Just answer it!" I yelled, pulling Sam into the bathroom. "Get in there, and shut up!" I slammed the door shut behind us, quickly locking it, and turned to glare at Sam.

"Move," she hissed, and I shook my head.

"Nope. Not until you calm the fuck down."

"Move," she repeated.

"No."

"I said, fucking move!" she yelled. And that was the second time since I've known Sam that she ever hit me in the face. But this time I wasn't going to write it off, and she definitely didn't have Freddie to stand in for her this time. She was fucked.

Sam was one of my best friends, and I thought she was cool as hell. In some ways, she got me better than Carly or Freddie ever could, and I got her. I understood her crazy mood swings, her personality, why she was the way she was. And some of her nastier qualities, I got those too. But that didn't mean I was going to put up with it any longer.

The instant her fist made contact with my jaw, I grabbed both her arms, spinning her around and pinning them behind her back.

The chances of me getting my ass by Sam or Freddie or both was now a definite possibility, but if it got my point across, so be it. What I was about to do was really out of line, but I was positive it would work. Re-open all of Sam's old wounds, break her down, make her feel like shit. After the way she treated Freddie, she deserved it. More to the point, if I didn't do this, she could end up causing irreparable damage to their relationship.

"Let go of me!" Sam shrieked, squirming frantically, but I held tight. Outside, I could hear Freddie banging on the door.

"Open the fucking door, Brad!"

I ignored him, as well as Sam's frantic efforts to escape. Her anger had worn off, and it had quickly been replaced with fear.

"You can't move, can you?" I hissed in her ear.

"Let me go!"

"Remind you of anything, Sam?" I replied evilly, feeling bad for saying it, but moving forward nonetheless. "Not being able to move...not being able to move your arms?"

"Stop it!"

"When's the last time you couldn't move your arms?"

"Fuck you! Let me go!"

"You remember, don't you?" I replied. "Who did that to you?"

"Stop it...please let go..." Sam's voice had dropped to barely above a whisper.

"Was it Bill?" I asked, my tone dropping to match hers. She didn't respond, just continued to squirm in vain; she was beginning to wear herself out. "Answer me!"

"Yes..." she said softly. "Let me go."

"And who brought that asshole into your life?"

"Let me go!"

"Was it your mother? The person who gave you life didn't even care if you were dead!"

"Stop it!"

"How many of her boyfriends hurt you, huh?" I yelled. I grabbed her chin, forcing her to look in the mirror. "She never protected you from shit! She let you get hurt!"

"Fuck you, Brad!" she screamed, starting to cry. "Let go of me!"

"OPEN THE FUCKING DOOR NOW!" Freddie yelled, still banging on the door. "I'm gonna fucking kill you, Brad!"

"How many times did she hurt you?"

"Shut up!" Sam cried. "Let go of me!"

"What about this scar on your forehead?" I asked, brushing her hair off her face. "Who did that to you?"

"Shut up," she said softly, trying to look away.

"Look at it," I said through gritted teeth, grabbing her chin and forcing her head back straight. "FUCKING LOOK AT IT! Now tell me who did it!"

"Let me go!"

"TELL ME!"

"My mom," Sam sobbed. "My mom did it."

"When?"

"The first time Bill attacked me. She hit me in the head with a beer bottle...stop it...let me go, I don't want to talk about this!"

"Who stitched your head up?"

"Let me go!"

"Who stitched your fucking head up, Sam? Tell me!"

"Freddie..." she cried. "Freddie did it."

"Who took you away from your mom?"

"Freddie."

"Who got revenge for what Bill did to you?"

"Freddie."

"And why is that, Sam?"

She didn't say anything, just continued to cry, shaking her head.

"Answer me!"

"To protect me!" Sam cried. "Let me go..."

"That's right," I replied, tightening my grip on her arms. "He did it to protect you."

"Why are you doing this?" she sobbed. "Just let me go."

I whirled her around to face me, putting my hands on her shoulders and shaking her firmly. "You wanna talk about us hiding stuff from you? You almost lost the baby and you could have bled to death because of the stress. Do you hear me? You almost died, Sam. For the second time in your life, you almost died. We took you to the hospital and then a doctor told your husband that he almost lost his wife and child. Because of stress! And the next day the letter came!"

Sam didn't respond, just continued to cry. "Let me go."

"Think about it! Why would he hide something like that from you? Why?"

"Let go of me!"

And with one more straw to break, I pushed Sam against the wall, my face inches from hers.

"FUCKING ANSWER ME!" I roared as she visibly shrunk away from me, seeming to transform into that scared sixteen year old girl she used to be.

"He was trying to protect me," she whispered.

"Yeah, good fucking call," I growled as I stepped away. "Protecting you from a woman who neglected you."

"Shut up."

"Who beat you!"

"Stop it!"

"Who didn't care if you lived or died!"

"Stop!" Sam screamed, bursting into tears again. "Please, just stop. Please..."

With that, I walked over to the bathroom door, unlocking it and pulling it open, only to find Freddie standing there with an angry expression on his face.

"Now, tell me what he ever did to you," I said to Sam pointedly, gesturing to Freddie, before brushing past him.

Sam was absolutely hysterical, and I felt a little bad for that, but as she threw herself into Freddie's arms, burying her face in his shoulder and sobbing, I knew my twisted logic had somehow hit its mark. She was mumbling something into his shoulder than was unintelligible, a mish-mash of crying and gasping and strings of words that didn't make sense while Freddie stood there rubbing her back and trying to calm her down, looking stunned.

"What the hell did you do to her?" he cried, glaring at me.

"Broke her down. Now fix her," I replied flatly as I walked away, heading to retrieve my phone. I needed to call the agency back, and fast.

"Too far," Freddie growled at me, and I shrugged. Yeah, they'd be pissed at me for a few days, but they'd get over it, and I'd served my purpose.

"Yeah, well it worked," I responded as I headed for the kitchen, where Carly was standing, looking lost in thought and very concerned.

"I'm not done talking about this, Brad!" Freddie warned me, but I just waved him off.

"Later, I have to call the agency back."

"Brad?" Carly said suddenly, looking up at me. "That wasn't the agency."

"It wasn't?" I replied, perplexed. "Then who was..."

"It was the hospital," she said softly, and I felt my stomach flip-flop.

"The hospital?" I repeated, and Carly nodded.

"The baby's here."


	72. Chapter 72: Trouble in 421

**A/N: Hooray, new chapter! All I can say is everybody hold on tight, because things are going to get more intense from here on out! The next few chapters are going to be really explosive! Enjoy!**

**Chapter Seventy Two**

**Trouble in 421**

~*Freddie*~

"The baby's here," I heard Carly tell Brad from the kitchen, but my mind wasn't focused on that.

I'd had no idea what had transpired between Sam and Brad in the bathroom. I'd heard tons of shouting, banging around, Sam crying, and honestly, it scared the hell out of me. I didn't know if they were having a physical altercation or if Brad was hurting her or anything. I couldn't get her to talk or make sense because she was absolutely hysterical, and I was guessing Brad had officially checked out of rational thought after being hit with news like that. I wasn't all too concerned with talking to Brad at the moment though. I don't know what he'd done, but whatever it was, I was pissed about it!

Right now though, pissed could wait; I was more concerned with Sam having a mental breakdown in the middle of our hallway than anything else, and she was quickly approaching that territory. Sobbing, shaking, gripping my shoulders so tight it hurt, not making any sense at all. I pulled her against me tighter, pushing her hair aside to put my mouth next to her ear.

"Baby, calm down..." I whispered. "Shh..it's okay...it's okay. Calm down."

"I'm sorry!" she sobbed. "I'm so sorry..."

"It's alright, sweetheart. Shhh. Relax. I got you. Relax."

"I don't hate you...I didn't mean it...please...I'm sorry..."

"It's okay, baby!" I replied, rubbing her back. "Sam...Sammy, it's alright. We're fine. We just need to talk about this. We're fine."

"I'm sorry..."

She was beginning to calm down; stringing together complete sentences and not gasping for breath, and I took the moment to look over at Brad and Carly, who were in a panic of their own.

"We're so not ready for this..." Carly said breathlessly as she paced back and forth. "We don't have the crib set up...or the carseat..."

"Shit...shit...shit...what was I thinking? Shit," Brad was muttering. "Okay, okay. We just have to think about this logically, right? We go to the hospital, check things out, go get stuff, pick up baby...oh god. The lawyer. What we do? We haven't figured out anything, we..."

"I have to call Spencer!" Carly cried.

Oh geez. There was too much drama in my house right now! I looked back and forth between my two best friends and my sobbing wife helplessly, not sure what to do. Okay, one problem needed to get moved along, and fast, and the other problem would still be waiting for me and take hours to deal with. At that thought, I let go of Sam, cupping her face in my hands.

"Go wipe your face," I told her, kissing her on the forehead. "And let me calm those two down."

"Just get him out of here," she whispered, and my eyebrows went up. Sam, behaving like she was afraid of Brad? Unthinkable, and unacceptable. I looked over at him, narrowing my eyes and trying to keep my temper in check. Whatever he had done had obviously lessened her rage at me, but that didn't mean I wanted her crying her eyes out either! I wanted to pummel the guy!

Okay, Freddie, calm down. He's your best friend, and now he has a fourth kid to take care of. And in his own misguided Brad way, he was trying to help. Do not attack your best friend. Do not attack your best friend.

As Sam went into the bathroom, shutting the door behind her softly, I walked into the kitchen, where Brad and Carly were still freaking out.

"Okay, you two, calm down."

"Easy for you to say!" Carly cried. "Oh god!"

"Seriously, Carly!" I yelled. "Chill out! Dickhead, you too!"

"I'm not a dickhead!" Brad yelled back. "And I'm freaking out right now, so I don't need this! Not from you!"

"Yeah, well I'm incredibly pissed at you for whatever you did to my wife! But we'll handle that, later. Right now you guys need to get a handle on yourselves!"

Carly took a deep breath, trying to calm herself down. "You're right. You're right. I just...oh god, Freddie, what do we do?"

"Step one, go to the hospital. Make sure the baby's okay, that it doesn't have any problems. While en route to the hospital, go online to that baby store's website, buy a carseat for immediate in-store pick up. One of you picks up the car seat, goes back, gets the child, done."

"You make it sound so simple, but it's not!" Carly said.

"It is, Carly!" I yelled, putting my hands on her shoulders. "Relax, okay? What else do you have to get done?"

"Custody papers!" she yelled. "We don't have them for the baby, just the other kids!"

"Deal with it on Monday. That's the best you can do."

"The crib's not put together. We don't have clothes."

"Spencer and Brad can put that together in less than an hour. Sam and I have plenty of baby clothes you can borrow until you get to the store."

Carly nodded, seeming to relax a little. "Yeah. Yeah. We can...we can do this, right?"

"Yeah, you got this, Carly!" I replied. "Now you guys have to go!"

"Go...yeah. We have to go. Brad!" Carly yelled. "We have to go!"

Brad was leaning against the counter, a bewildered expression on his face. "Man...I knew it was coming, but now it's here, and...shit."

"Brad!" I yelled. "You have to go, now!"

"Right..." he responded, rather slow to stand up straight. "Okay." He looked over at me, and for the time being had seemed to regain his sanity. "Look, I'm sorry, okay? But..."

"We'll talk about it later," I replied with a wave of my hand. "I have to get back to Sam, and you guys have to get to that baby."

"You're right," he replied. "Alright, well, wish us luck."

"Yeah, cuz we'll need it," Carly replied, walking towards the bathroom and tapping on the door. "Sam! I have to go, okay? I love you! When I get back, we'll talk okay?"

Silence.

Carly sighed, shaking her head. "Okay, well, I'm really sorry, we did it for a reason...I hope you're not too mad at me...love you."

More silence.

"Sam, please..."

"I love you too, now leave me alone!" Sam yelled back. "I'm sorry, I can't deal with any of this right now!"

"Later?" Carly called back.

"Later! I love you, now go get the kid!"

Okay, so she wasn't angry at me, and she wasn't angry at Carly, but I could just bet that she was going to put all her aggression on Brad, and knowing his tendency to just dive into situations like this, that was probably what he had in mind the entire time he was doing it. But it didn't make it okay, and I was going to deal with it.

"Good luck, you guys..." I told them as they both left the apartment, shutting the door behind them, and let out a sigh.

Yes, I was definitely going to deal with Brad, but first I had to finish dealing with Sam.

With that, I pushed the door to the bathroom open, sticking my head in the door.

"Baby? Are you okay?"

Sam shook her head, but she wasn't looking at me; she was looking at herself in the mirror.

"Sam?"

"I'm just like her," she whispered. "I hurt people around me who care about me. I...I'm sorry."

"You're not like her, Sam. You're not. I should've told you, I..."

"Yeah, you should have," she replied softly, whirling around to face me. "What'd I say about keeping things from me?" I could tell the way she said it that she wasn't trying to attack me; she sounded emotionally and mentally exhausted, and still very upset. It was an honest question.

"Sam, I'm sorry," I replied, leaning against the bathroom counter. "I panicked. I...after Dr. Boyd broke it down to me...what exactly a placental abruption is, how bad it was...all I could think about was losing you. I was just sure that any little iota of stress would just...finish the job."

"I don't like when you keep secrets from me," she said softly. "And you make me feel like I can't take care of myself."

"You can, baby. I know that. But at that moment, you couldn't. You needed to be taken care. So I did. I took care of you. I was only trying to protect you..."

"You always do, don't you?" she replied, and I nodded. She stared off into space again, quiet for a few moments, and just when I was about to ask her what was going on in her head, she spoke up again. "I used to take care of myself," she said softly. "I mean, not very well, but...all I had was me...but then I met you. And now you take care of me."

"Yes."

"I don't do the same thing for you, do I?" she asked, and I shook my head.

"That's not true, Sam. You take care of me. We take care of each other, and we both take care of our son. That's the way it works, remember?"

Sam shook her head. "I'm not a very good wife."

"What?" I exclaimed. "Sam! That's crazy, baby! I love you, you're an amazing wife, and an amazing person!"

She still seemed unconvinced, shaking her head again. "I think I'm still angry."

I let out a deep sigh, my head hanging down in frustration. "Baby, I promise I won't keep anything else from you..."

"No, I don't mean with you, and I don't mean with what just happened. I just...I'm still angry. At her," Sam responded. I nodded. I understood that, I guess, but I thought we were past that...why was it all coming out now?

"So, tell me how to fix it," I responded.

"You can't," Sam replied quietly.

"I'll do whatever I have to do, Sam."

"No," Sam replied. "I...this is my issue, and I have to deal with it."

"How?"

"I have to talk to her."

I stared at her for a moment, absolutely taken aback.

"No."

Sam's eyebrows went up as she stared at me. "No?" she repeated.

"No."

"You're telling me I can't? That you won't LET me?"

"I'm telling you it's a bad idea. It won't solve anything. It's only going to make the situation worse."

"How do you know that?"

"Because she's a fucking monster, Sam! She'll only hurt you again!"

Sam nodded, but I could tell she wasn't listening to me. "I have to call Melanie."

Oh, god. No. No! NO! The last thing we needed in this situation was Melanie, causing even more drama. I was fine with Sam talking to Melanie...as long as her crazy sister stayed on the opposite side of the country, but I knew that wasn't going to happen. Melanie would be out here the first chance she could get, and of course, she'd want to stay with us!

"Sam..." I warned. "This is going to get really bad, really quick."

"It's already bad," she replied softly.

I didn't like the way she wasn't making eye contact with me, and my hand reached up tentatively to rub her shoulder.

"Baby, don't push me away."

"I won't," she replied, pressing up against me with her arms tucked against her chest, pretty much the universal Sam sign for 'hold me right now', and I happily obliged, thankful she wasn't angry with me.

"I love you," I whispered in her ear before kissing her neck. "So much."

"I love you too," she whispered back. "I'm sorry. I lost my cool. Again."

"It's okay, baby. It happens sometimes."

"Do you think I'll ever stop?" Sam asked as she pulled away to look at me. "I don't like being angry. And I don't like hurting you. But I keep doing it."

"We have to work on it, that's all," I told her, giving her an encouraging smile. "Everything will be okay."

She nodded, laying her head on my shoulder, and I stroked her hair as I tried to keep her calm. But inside, I was freaking out.

Everything wasn't okay. And we'd been working on Sam's anger issues for years, had finally made progress, and now I felt like it had all gone out the window. Any time the issue of her mother got brought up, Sam went off the deep end, reverted back to the angry, scared, hurt girl she used to be before we got together. And now her mother was out, and Sam was thinking about talking to her.

I could tell our problems were only going to get worse.

~*Brad*~

"What on earth did you say to Sam that got her so worked up?" Carly asked me as we walked down the maternity ward of the hospital.

I sighed, staring down at the floor. Now that my flat-out anger at Sam had worn off, I was feeling pretty shitty. In some ways, it had needed to happen, Sam needed to know that she was out of line, and she needed to stop taking out all her anger on Freddie! Freddie was perfectly fine with letting Sam use him as her emotional punching bag, but I saw what it did to him, how much stress he got put through over it, and how he was always trying to overcompensate, and that bothered me.

Still, I probably shouldn't have yanked her arms behind her back and yelled at her, possibly sending her headfirst into a flashback. But at the moment, I just didn't know what to do. So maybe I'd overreacted a little bit...but it had to be done. Somebody's gotta knock some sense into Sam, and with Freddie constantly handling her with kid gloves, he obviously wasn't going to do it.

But I had a lot of other issues going through my head right now.

Like...how about within a forty eight hour period I'd thrust myself directly into a new career path and am now responsible for yet another young life I could potentially screw up. That was the scariest part for me. I was constantly having to go through the ringer with Heather, I had to keep a close eye on Bryson now since he was apparently becoming interested in girls, and Leah was still so little she required constant care and supervision. What if I couldn't juggle everything? The kids, the show, school, now trying to get my screenplay sold? I'd been so confident about being able to handle everything, but now I wasn't so sure. A baby was a HUGE responsibility, and my life was already full of them. I wasn't going to go back on anything, but I definitely needed some outside perspective on this. I had a feeling I'd be off to confession and some much needed spiritual counseling by the end of next week.

"Well..." I began. "I don't want to get into logistics, but I was a little out of the line."

"And by out of line, you mean..."

I grimaced. "I may have brought up some old stuff. Bad stuff. But...I mean...I don't know if you've noticed, but when Sam goes off the deep end, she really treats Freddie like shit!"

"Yeah, but...they've always been like that."

"Doesn't make it okay," I replied. Of course, that didn't make what I had done okay either. I was going to have to do some major apologizing to Sam, that was for sure!

"Yeah, well..." Carly stopped in her tracks, making a face. "I don't know. That's...it's just an issue they're going to have to work out."

Well that was unexpected, coming from Carly. We all had this really bad tendency of meddling in each other's relationships, and Carly was one of the worst.

"So you're telling me you wanna stay out of it from now on?" I asked, and she shrugged.

"Don't you think we're kind of...busy?" Carly replied, "I mean..." she trailed off as we slowed to a stop in front of the nursery, staring at all the newborns through the glass.

"So...she's in there," Carly said.

"Yep," I replied.

"Your new little sister."

"Yeah." At that statement, I smiled a little. I hadn't really thought about it that way, I'd been looking at this as pure responsibility, life to protect and not screw up, but hey! I had a new little sister now! And so did Heather and Leah and Bryson.

Carly caught my smile, and she smiled too.

"You love your family."

I nodded. "I do. I mean, my parents are nuts, but...my siblings are pretty cool." I paused. "You know, Leah's not going to be the baby any more."

"Oh my god," Carly laughed, covering her mouth with her hand, and the fluorescent lights of the hospital hallway bounced off her ring, sending little rainbows onto the wall next to her. "Leah's a big sister now!"

"Yeah," I said with a nod.

"So...which one is she?" Carly asked as we leaned closer toward the glass to get a better look. "The names are written on those little cards, but...you have better eyesight than I do."

"I keep telling you to go to the eye doctor, but you never listen."

"When would I have time?" she shot back, and I grunted, waving her off as I tried to examine the little placards on each crib. "Just look for pink hats, and go from there."

"There's one!" I pointed.

"I don't think your little sister is Asian, Brad..."

I shrugged. "Good call. Let's see...no...no...ooh. That one. Maybe. Let me read the...nope."

I went through all of them, reading over each placard and coming up empty-handed, and I started to get concerned. What if something happened to the baby, or my mother had turned her over to the state?

"Brad...there's no Harrison baby here," Carly finally said, squinting through the glass. "I'm even looking at the boys, and...there's nothing."

I was trying not to panic. "Okay, let's just go through one by one again. Just to be sure. Maybe we overlooked something."

"Alright," Carly replied. "Let's see...Smith...Martinez..."

"Krakowski...Collins...Johnson...Hawkins...shit. I don't see it," I replied, and then a light bulb went off in my head. "Wait a minute." I shook my head. "Johnson."

"Johnson?" Carly repeated, looking confused. "What does..."

"My mother's maiden name," I grumbled. "Damn it."

"Wait, so..."

"She filed for divorce already...the bitch."

"Brad!" Carly scolded me. "She's still your mother!"

"No," I replied with a shake of my head. "She's not. Look, stay here, okay? I'll be right back."

"Brad..." Carly warned me. "No. You don't need to have another confrontation with your mother..."

"Yeah, I do," I replied. "I have a few things I need to say to her."

"Yeah, but...I...the last time you guys talked, you almost fell off the wagon, and..."

"Babe, just trust me okay? She's not gonna get to me like that."

"How do you know that?" Carly replied. "And what if she does?"

"Then you'll scratch my head and tell me I'm awesome and make me feel better," I offered, and she shook her head.

"You don't have to make a joke every time you're scared or unsure of something, Brad."

I shrugged. "If I didn't have a sense of humor, I'd be dead by now, Carly."

"Yeah but...every time something happens, you just try to blaze through with a joke, or..." she stopped, shaking her head. "Never mind. If you want to talk to her, I can't stop you."

"Thank you," I replied, leaning down to give her a quick kiss. "I love you, okay?"

She nodded. "I know. I love you too."

"And...I..." I paused, trying to choose my words carefully. "You've been really cool about this. You could have said no, or...broken up with me, or..."

"Never gonna happen," Carly cut me off. "I told you. I love you. I want to be with you. I'm in it for the long haul, no matter what."

"Me too." I kissed her again. "Alright, I'll be back soon."

"Good luck," she said, giving me an encouraging smile as I headed off down the hallway.

It didn't take long for me to find my mother's room, and I was perturbed by the dry erase board on her door. All the patients' rooms had them, but my mother's had her maiden name written on it, and I was genuinely pissed about that. I wondered if she had even talked to my father, or just sent off divorce papers. Ugh, come to think of it, I was overdue on a visit myself. Too many things, too little time.

I knocked on the door loudly, not caring if I woke her up or whatever.

"Come in!" I heard her yell.

I pushed the door open, walking inside to find my mother laying in the hospital bed, idly flipping channels.

"I called for meds like an hour ago," she said before she turned her head to look at me. "Bradley..." She sat up quickly. "What..."

"Just stopped by to see if there's anything..."

"...anything I needed?" she finished, and I laughed. I couldn't help it; I tried to hold it in, but this bitter laugh just came out, and I shook my head.

"Not quite. I came to see if there's anything I needed to know. Normal labor?"

"Yes."

"Good. So she's healthy. But...no name."

"I figured you'd want to take care of that."

I nodded. "Yeah, I think I can handle that part just fine. So...didn't feel the need to tell any of us that you were divorcing our father."

She shrugged. "I figured you'd find out...and anyway, you had to have known it was coming."

I shook my head. "I don't understand how you played the game so well for so long. You had me convinced you were this other person. This meek little lamb under the thumb of a controlling monster that I felt sorry for! But that's not you at all, is it?"

"Great, make me look like the bad guy again," my mother replied.

"Make you look like the bad guy?" I repeated. "You are the bad guy! You abandoned your kids, and refused to accept any responsibility, EVER. You dumped us on grandma and grandpa, and then dumped the younger ones on me...and you had a good life. You got everything you wanted! No responsibility, Dad bought you all kinds of crap, went to those parties with you so you could hook up with other men! Did he even like that?"

"Your father had quite a fun time at those events himself," she said with a shrug.

"I'm sure. But it doesn't take much guessing to figure out who's idea it was." I shook my head. "The second you figured out that you were going to have to take charge, get an actual job to support the kids, you jumped ship! If I hadn't stepped in when I did they'd probably be in a group home right now!"

"You're being dramatic, Bradley."

"Don't patronize me, Janet," I shot back, and her eyebrows went up.

"Janet?" she replied, smiling. "You're starting to sound an awful lot like your father. Starting to look more like him too."

I shrugged. "Good."

"You used to talk about what a horrible person he was," my mom observed, and I nodded.

"He played a good game too. The hard-ass role can be difficult to see through sometimes. But, all in all, he did what he thought was right, and that's what's important. He threw away his freedom to protect Heather. The only you wanted to do was put her on prescription drugs."

"She needs to be on prescription drugs!" my mom shot back. "Heather's a loose cannon!"

"And so are you!" I yelled. "So maybe I'm not the only kid in this family that's just like their parent! But Heather's gonna be fine. I'm gonna make sure of it. And Bryson and Leah and the baby too. You don't want them?" I paused. "Well they don't need you! They have me, and I did...and am still doing a hell of a lot better job than you ever did."

"You think Carly's going to stick around for this?" she shot back. "She's gonna leave and you're going to be screwed taking care of those kids! You'll all be on welfare!"

"Carly will not leave! She's not you! And fyi, I don't think welfare is in my future any time soon. I got back from LA yesterday, I just signed a management contract. We're good. We're happy."

"For now."

"For now?" I shot back. "Are you...you know what? I'm done. I'm done talking to you, I'm done thinking about you, I'm done remembering your existence! You're the shittiest mother ever, and you're dead to me. I fucking HATE you, Janet."

She looked at me in shock, and I nodded.

"Yeah. I hate you," I stated. "Have a nice life."

With that, I walked out of the room, leaning against the door as it shut behind me. Carly was right, I shouldn't have gone to talk to her. Now I was so angry I couldn't see straight.

But on the other hand, it had definitely given me a little more motivation and confidence about the whole situation. What I'd said to my mother had been right. They were better off with me than with her, and I was better at taking care of them than she was. If I could just keep that frame of mine all the time, the 'hey man, you got this!' perspective, then maybe I'd make it through this unscathed.

I walked down the hallway back towards the nursery to find Carly right where I left her, seeming lost in thought. I stood next to her in silence, and she was quiet too, just staring at the babies through the glass.

"She's going to need a name," I finally said, and Carly nodded.

"Katerina," Carly said softly, causing me to turn my head quickly to look at her.

"Katerina?" I repeated. "Like..."

"Like my mom," Carly whispered. So that's what she'd been lost in thought about. This couldn't be easy for Carly, about be responsible for, basically mothering a newborn baby and she'd never even known her mother? As Carly looked up at me, she looked like she was about to cry, unshed tears pooling up in her big brown eyes. "Is that okay?"

I nodded, putting an arm around her and pulling her to me.

"Yeah, babe. That's okay," I replied, kissing her on her forehead.

~*Sam*~

I sat on the bed in silence, holding my phone in my hand and just staring down at it.

"Hey Mel, what's up? Not much here...hey by the way, mom's out of prison..." I said aloud to no one in particular. "Shit...no...that won't work...um. Hello, Melanie. There's something I need to talk to you about...ugh! No! What am I, staging an intervention?" I huffed. "Okay, try again. Hey Mel, our bitch of a mother is free, but it'd be super awesome if you didn't take drugs over this or drink yourself into a stupor...or..you know, try to stay in my apartment...no, no, no!"

"Just call her, don't worry about the right words."

I turned around to find Freddie standing in the doorway, holding the baby. I'd needed to be alone for a little while, recollect my thoughts, and Freddie understood, so he'd gone upstairs to see if his mom was back with the baby. Apparently she was, and I couldn't help but smile.

"Awww...there's my little man!" I cried. "Aw, give him to me..."

"Don't you want to call Melanie?" Freddie replied, sitting down on the bed next to me.

"I mean, no," I sighed. "But I have to. But first..." I bent down to kiss my son on top of his head, and he gave me his cute little baby grin. "Aw, mama missed you so much, my sweet boy!"

Freddie gave me a smile, brushing my hair aside as it fell in my face. "Are you feeling any better, baby?" he asked me, looking concerned.

I shrugged; I wasn't sure if I was feeling better or not. If anything, I was feeling worse. I'd absolutely unloaded on Freddie earlier, and I felt like shit about it. He didn't deserve most of the bullshit I put him through, but I just couldn't stop myself sometimes.

I was so, so angry that my mother had gotten out of prison. And it wasn't new anger that appeared out of nowhere; it felt like it had been this slow-burning fire that had been bubbling just underneath the surface for a very long time. It was like all that anger I felt inside had never went away, like the anger had just been locked up with my mother in that prison cell. But now that she was out, the rage, the anger, the hatred, all of it was back now. And I didn't like it.

I'd done well last night, keeping my mind off it, but the more I thought about it, the angrier I got. And that really worried me. I'd done some pretty stupid stuff in the past that had stemmed simply from being angry...what if I just turned back to my old ways. Back then, I felt like I didn't even have control over myself some days. And I was afraid it was going to come back.

I knew I would take my anger out on a someone. It was pretty much a guaranteed fact. And I didn't want that someone to be Freddie! Unfortunately, he was the most likely target. The most wanted target was my mother, of course. I just wanted to rip into her, drown her in all the anger and pain and hatred I felt, but that would be awful hard considering Freddie didn't want me to talk to her. He'd been adamant about it, not willing to discuss the matter at all, so I knew it wasn't happening.

The only thing I could do was hold my tongue and pray that I didn't slip up and lash out at my sweet husband.

"I guess I feel a little better," I replied.

"You're not angry with me, are you?" he asked.

I shook my head. "No. I mean, I wish you would have told me, but...I'm not angry. I mean, not with you."

"But you are angry," Freddie surmised, and I nodded. "At...Brad?"

I made a gagging noise. "I don't want to talk about Brad right now."

I still didn't know what to make of the whole incident that had happened between me and Brad this morning, except for the fact that he'd scared me half to death. He'd gotten a tight hold on my arms, started yelling, and then I started to panic. He kept asking me questions about horrible things that had happened to me, kept bringing up the bad stuff, forcing me to look at my scars. At one point, I was a little nervous he was actually going to hurt me, and then he suddenly backed off and walked away.

I'd been completely frozen in fear, locked in my own panic because of him. And then suddenly he was gone, and I saw Freddie, and then I just broke down. I'd absolutely lost it, and so upset I could barely breathe, let alone think.

So, all of that being said, I wasn't in the right frame of mind to deal with Brad right now. I didn't know what the hell he was thinking, pulling a move like that, and I didn't know how I'd react once I saw him again...if I'd hit him or yell at him or just burst into tears or run away or what!

Freddie looked at me, seeming confused.

"Who you are angry at, Sam?"

I shrugged. "I don't know...the universe, god, whoever lit the green light on her parole...I...I'm just...I am so, so angry right now, Freddie. I mean...they let her out. She is a horrible person, and they let her out."

"I know, sweetheart, but she can't hurt you now," Freddie replied, rubbing my back.

"Doesn't matter. She did enough damage in the past, and I feel like it's coming back."

Freddie shook his head. "No, Sam. Don't. You can't...you can't think about that stuff, baby. It's not good for you, and...I don't want you to get deep into that stuff, okay? What if I can't pull you back this time?"

"I'll be fine, baby," I replied, giving him a smile. "You don't have to worry about me."

"But I do. All the time. And even more now," he said with a heavy sigh. "I feel like...never mind."

"You feel like what?" I asked, and he shrugged.

"I don't know...like something's bad is gonna happen...I don't know why, I just...I don't have a good feeling, Sam."

I nodded. "I don't either right now," I said, and Freddie nodded sadly. "But I love you. I know that."

"I love you too, baby."

"That's what's important, right?" I asked. "That we love each other, and that we don't give up."

"I'll never give up," Freddie replied, leaning forward to kiss me. "Never. I love you more than anything, sweetheart."

"Then everything will be fine, right?"

"I guess so," Freddie replied. "I'm going to change him. You should probably call Melanie, get it over with."

"I guess you're right," I said with a sigh. "And then...the three of us can snuggle in bed? Watch a movie?"

He gave me a smile. "Sounds good, honey."

He stood up, carrying the baby off to the nursery, and I took a deep breath as I pulled up Mel's number on my phone.

"What's up, mama bear?" Melanie's voice came through the phone perky and exuberant. "How goes it?"

"Mel...hey," I said. "It goes."

"Are you sick or something?" Mel replied. "Why does your voice sound all scratchy?"

"Oh..." I trailed off, sighing. "Got into a shouting match a few hours ago."

"With Freddie?"

"No. Well...not really."

"Then who?"

"Brad."

On the other end of the line, my sister made a disgusted noise.

"Fuck Brad, he's such a douchebag."

I was silent.

"And...you're not defending him like you usually do," Melanie observed. "And even when he pisses you off you defend him..."

"Yeah, well...you know. Just...whatever."

"Whoa. You guys must have had a serious fight," Mel said. "What happened?"

"Nothing important. Look, I didn't call to talk about that, okay? I called to tell you something. Something important."

"What?"

"She's out."

"WHAT?" Melanie exploded. "You mean..."

"Mom. She's out of prison. I saw her."

"Are you sure?" Melanie replied, and I nodded.

"We spoke. Not for very long, long enough for me to insult her, but...she's out, Mel."

The line was silent for so long that I was sure she'd hung up.

"Melanie?"

"I'm coming back to Seattle," she replied. "I'll see you in a few days, Sam."

"No, wait...Melanie, you don't have to -"

Click.

"Shit," I hissed, looking down at my phone. I could only guess where she wanted to stay at...

"Did you talk to her?" Freddie asked as he walked in with our son, freshly diapered and in a clean outfit too.

I nodded. "I talked to her."

"And?"

"She was a little shocked, to say the least," I replied. I could feel Freddie's eyes boring a hole right through me, and I turned to look at him. "What?"

"Is she coming here?"

"She said she was."

"When?"

"In a few days."

"Great," Freddie grumbled. "Just perfect."

"I can't stop her from coming here, Freddie," I replied, a little agitated, and he nodded.

"I know that, Sam. I just...that girl brings problems, and you know it."

"You're right, I do know it. Melanie is a constant source of drama."

"Where do you think she's gonna wanna stay?" Freddie pointed out, and I shrugged.

"She has friends here."

"She'll wanna stay here!"

"Well...well she can't!" I replied defensively, and Freddie's eyebrows went up.

"Seriously?" he asked. "You're gonna put your foot down when it comes to your sister?"

"I don't know what kind of state she's in...if she's still popping pills and being a total lush, I don't want her around my son," I replied with a shrug.

Freddie was quiet as he sat down on the bed next to me, still holding the baby, and slid one side of my shirt down, exposing my bare shoulder and kissing it.

"Thank you," he murmured. "I mean, I didn't want to get into a fight over it, but..."

"It's fine," I replied. "We're definitely in agreement over that."

"Good," he replied. "What movie do you want to watch?"

"Just pick something."

"Galaxy Wars?"

"Just pick something other than Galaxy Wars."

"Ugh," Freddie grumbled. "Battle Royale?"

"Much better," I said with a nod, and he laughed, laying the baby on the bed before getting up to look through our DVD collection. He found it fairly quickly and then laid back down with me and the baby. It felt so nice, being snuggled in bed with my husband and my infant son, my little family, but I still couldn't help but think of my other family, the one that had caused me immeasurable drama. My mom was out, and in a few days Melanie would be here, and that prospect was a little frightening.

Freddie had said that he felt like something bad was going to happen, and as I laid there next to him, trying to calm myself by running one hand up and down his arm, I began to realize that maybe he was right, because I felt it too.


	73. Chapter 73: Agoraphobia

Chapter Seventy Three  
>Agoraphobia<p>

~*Brad*~

I stood outside Freddie and Sam's door nervously, preparing to knock. It had been two days since I'd seen or heard from either one of them, and I knew both of them had to be pretty pissed off at me. I'd sent off quite a few apology texts, more to Sam than to Freddie, but neither were responding.

Honestly, I wasn't in the mood to be doing this right now. I was absolutely exhausted. Carly and I had been taking turns getting up during the night with the new baby, little Katerina, or Katie, as we called her. I couldn't remember any of my other siblings crying so much when they were babies, not even when they were sick, but Katie was definitely a crier. A loud crier. More like a wail that rang through the entire apartment and prompted Leah to refer to her as "loud baby."

Yep, it was the one thing that any person who had to take care of an infant feared.

It was colic.

I'd never dealt with it firsthand, but I'd heard about it, and heard it could be pretty intense to deal with. To make matters worse, it could last for months, just hours and hours of a colicky baby screaming its little head off. I could tell we were already a little in over our heads.

When she wasn't screaming however, Katie was a pretty cute little thing. She was very tiny, with a mass of blonde hair and blue eyes to match the rest of the Harrison kids. I felt like once we got her out of that shrieking at the top of her lungs and giving my fiance a panic attack phase she seemed to be in right now, things would cool off a little.

My fiance. My sweet, amazing, incredibly freaked out fiance. Carly was doing her best, she really was. She didn't complain about having to get up in the middle of the night to feed the baby, or anything like that. She didn't get angry. She hadn't even brought up the fact that any sort of peace and quiet we once had before was over with. But I could tell she didn't feel as though she was prepared, like she wondered whether she could handle it or not. Again, I suspected a lot of it had to do with Katie's constant crying, but Carly seemed convinced she was doing something wrong.

I planned to have a conversation with her about it later, but that was later. Right now, I had some major apologizing and ass-kissing to do.

Letting out a yawn, I knocked on the door, and a few minutes later it opened.

"Sam!" I said as I caught sight of her. "Look, we have to talk...I'm really sorry, okay? I..."

SLAM! I was barely able to move away before she slammed the door in my face.

"Sam!" I yelled, banging on the door. "Come on!"

The door creaked open a few moments later, revealing Freddie.

"Hey..." I said awkwardly.

Freddie didn't respond, just stepped out of the apartment, shutting the door behind him.

"She doesn't want to talk to you, dude," he said, crossing his arms over his chest. He stared at me for a second, silent, and then shook his head. "Brad, what were you THINKING, man?"

"Dude, I'm sorry!" I replied. "Look, man...I...somebody's gotta talk some sense into her sometime! And you're obviously not going to do it, so..."

Freddie made a face. "What the hell is that supposed to mean?"

Oh great, Brad. You have made a poor decision.

I sighed, running a hand through my hair. "It means that sometimes you gloss over Sam's... less endearing qualities because you're afraid she'll get mad at you."

"Don't you avoid bringing up certain things with Carly?" Freddie shot back.

"Yeah, like not cleaning out her hairbrush, man! Not going off into blind rages and hitting people!"

Freddie sighed, looking at the ground. "She had every right to be upset that we didn't tell her."

"Yes, she had every right to be UPSET. Not scream at you and emasculate you in front of your friends," I replied. "Come on, man. It's gotten worse and you know it."

"She's under a lot of stress!"

"And she takes it out on you!"

He shook his head. "You just don't get it."

"No, man. I get it. I get it a lot better than you think I do," I replied. I looked around for a second and then took a step closer to Freddie, my voice dropping an octave. "I'm taking care of four kids right now, one of which cries twenty four hours a day. My dad's in prison. My mom's a heartless bitch. You have any idea how badly I'd like to lose it and just scream at somebody? Hit somebody? But I don't! I deal! She can fucking deal too!"

"Do you think I don't know how to deal with my wife, man?" Freddie shot back. "What, Freddie can't handle shit all of a sudden, needs his best friend to step in for him? To defend him from a girl? Is that what's going on right now?"

I groaned. "Freddie, not everything's a shot at your ego, dude!"

"Look, I got this, okay? I've dealt with way worse out of her. This is nothing. We're fine."

"It's not about how much shit you can take from her, man! If you don't lay down a limit, then it's gonna get worse! She's gonna revert back to...everything."

"You think I don't fucking know that?" he shouted, grimacing as he looked behind him to make sure the door was still shut. He grabbed my arm suddenly, jerking me away from the door and heading further down the hallway, as if he didn't want Sam to overhear us.

"Look, I know shit's about to get bad, okay?" Freddie told me, and my brows furrowed.

"How do you know that?" I replied.

"She's making noises about talking to her!" he replied with a heavy sigh. "And Melanie's coming back to Seattle."

"Ugh..." I groaned. "Melanie fucking Puckett. That's all we need. I mean, it's not like we're stressed out with a bunch of shit going on or anything! Is she staying with you guys?"

"Sam says no, but...Melanie could hit her soft spot and talk her into it, I'm sure. I...man." He sighed again. "I'm really worried, dude. She's quiet. Withdrawn. Like she's really deep in thought, and that's not good with everything that's going on."

I was quiet for a few moments, just mulling over what he'd said, before looking back up at him. "She's not having nightmares again, is she?"

"No," Freddie replied. "Thank god. But...doesn't mean it won't happen again." His eyes narrowed suddenly, staring me down. "I don't care what you were doing, I don't care what you were trying to prove, you went too far. You know that, right?"

I nodded. "I know."

"You hurt her."

"I know."

"I don't know how this can be fixed, honestly."

"Just let me talk to her, dude!" I replied, and Freddie shook his head.

"It's not about me letting her, man! She doesn't want to! You know Sam, if she doesn't want to do something, come hell or high water, it's not happening!"

"Ugh, dammit!" I groaned. "How are we supposed to work together if she won't talk to me?"

"I dunno," Freddie said with a shrug. "I hate to say it, but for once my mind's not on work. It's not even in the back of my mind right now. There's literally too much shit going on for me to think about work!"

"Yeah, no kidding," I responded, then paused, looking at him. "Do you think if we didn't make money off this we'd still be doing it?"

"Well, honestly, no. I wouldn't. I mean, it's fun sometimes...makes us money. Good money. But...I dunno. Sometimes I feel like we've...outgrown it, you know?" He shrugged. "But it's a job, what can I say?"

"Yeah," I replied with a shrug. We were silent for a few moments. "What?" I asked when I noticed the way he was staring at me.

"You can't do all of it, Brad. You know that, right?"

"Do what?"

"Take care of those kids, go to school, do the show, and pursue the filmmaking thing. Especially not if you want any sort of...normality...not to mention a meaningful relationship with your fiance. Not one where you guys are just scrambling around trying to keep everything together."

"I think I can handle it just fine," I replied, and he glared at me.

"Oh, I see. You can handle your shit, but I can't handle mine. What was that you said about ego before?"

"Dude!" I yelled. "I got it, alright?"

"Fine," Freddie said with a shrug. "I won't tell you what to do, and you don't tell me how to deal with my own WIFE."

"Fine," I replied. Another awkward silence, and I let out a sigh. "Does Freddie Jr. cry a lot?"

"Not really," Freddie replied. "He's actually a very chill baby. So you got a crier, huh?"

"Understatement. She doesn't cry, she shrieks. At the top of her lungs."

"Ugh," Freddie said, making a face. "That sucks."

"Yeah, tell me about it. It's really freaking Carly out."

"Well, maybe Sam can be of some help," he replied with a shrug, then gave me an exasperated expression as my eyebrows went up. "I know that look, and no, you are not going to make Carly call Sam for help so you can try to talk to her. I'll make sure Carly doesn't do that."

"Dude, I have to apologize!" I exclaimed. "I feel like shit!"

"As you should!" Freddie replied. "It doesn't matter how you feel right now, Brad. I'm sorry. What matters is how she feels. When she's ready to talk, she'll talk. You know Sam. But right now..." he shook his head. "She didn't say it out loud, but...if I had to guess, I'd say she's a little scared of you right now..."

"Oh come on, man! You know I'd never really hurt Sam!"

"No, just scare her into thinking you would," Freddie replied. "And you have no idea how much restraint I'm showing over this whole situation."

"Yeah, I know. You really wanna kill me, don't you?"

"You deserve it, you jack ass! And you DID hurt her. Maybe not physically, but...you hurt her. And I'm not okay with that."

"Look, man, I'm sorry. I know I took it too far. I just want to apologize, okay?"

"And when she's ready, she'll talk. Like I said. I'm not gonna force her into it, or con her into it."

I nodded, I guess he had a point. Trying to force Sam into doing anything was generally a bad idea, and I didn't want to cause any more damage. Freddie was right, I'd just have to wait it out.

"So...you're pissed at me too, right?" I asked.

"I'm not happy with you, that's for sure," Freddie replied. "But...pissed? Honestly, I don't have time to do pissed right now, Brad."

For a second, I thought I was off the hook with Freddie, and then he caught me completely off-guard, putting his hands on my shoulders and slamming me hard into the wall. I was so stunned by the out of the blue attack that I couldn't even say anything!

Freddie stared me down, eyes narrowed and jaw set in a firm line, that angry, pissed off look that you never want to see from him.

"If you ever...EVER put your hands on my wife like that again, I'll kill you," he said though gritted teeth. "You know that, right?"

"Uh-huh," was all I could say.

Then just as suddenly, he released me, taking a step back.

"Good," he replied.

And then he was back to being normal Freddie. Sometimes it was scary how quickly he flipped back and forth. In that way he was like Sam...quick, push-button tempers that would burn out as quickly as they'd started. Maybe that was why he didn't see any sort of issues with Sam's behavior.

But I was going to stay out of it from now on. I'd definitely learned my lesson in that respect. I just hoped that I hadn't permanently damaged me and Sam's friendship.

~*Sam*~

I heard the sound of the front door shutting, and a few moments later Freddie walked into our bedroom, where I was laying on the bed with the baby.

"Hey," he said softly, sitting down next to me and running a hand down my back.

"So he came by to offer some lame ass apology, I'm assuming?"

"He feels bad, Sam," Freddie replied.

I shook my head. "I can't believe you didn't kick his ass over this."

"I wanted to," Freddie offered, shrugging.

"But?"

"But he's my best friend."

"Didn't stop you the last time he stepped out of line with me."

"Yeah, but..." he paused. "Look, I just...I talked to him. I shoved him into the wall, let him know in no uncertain terms that if it happened again, I'd kill him."

"So is this the part where you tell me to forgive him and we go back to be a happy little group?"

Freddie shook his head. "No, Sam. I'm not telling you to do anything. When you're ready to talk to him, talk to him."

"I hope he gets hit by a bus."

"No you don't," Freddie replied, leaning down to kiss me. "You're just upset."

"He scared the shit out of me, Freddie!" I cried. "I mean...there are certain things I can handle, and certain things I can't...and Brad crossed that line."

"I know, sweetheart. I know it scared you. But...I don't think..." he trailed off. "I think he just went too far without meaning to, you know?"

"Whatever," I replied. "I don't want to talk about it any more."

"Okay," Freddie responded. "We won't talk about it." With that, he focused his attention on the baby. "Hey buddy. What's going on?"

Little Freddie stared at him for a second, and then gave him a cute little grin, causing an identical grin to spread across his father's face, which, let's face it, made me melt. Even though the baby was so young, I already noticed a lot of similarities between Freddie Jr. and Freddie Sr. Aside from their physical similarities, I mean. Little Freddie was definitely very mellow, just like his daddy, until something burst his happy little bubble. Then he'd freak out for a few minutes, it would wear off, and then he'd be fine, and go back to being a happy little boy. Just like his father. I could only wonder what other similarities would start to come out the older he got.

I nodded. "You know, your mom doesn't have to take the baby."

"I know. And she knows. But...we figured...you know...a few hours for you to have some alone time would be good, you know? Wrap your head around things..."

I shrugged. I'd been trying to wrap my head around things for days, and still nothing made sense. I didn't even know where to begin. The altercation with Brad, feeling like Freddie kept me sheltered because he thought I wasn't strong enough to handle things on my own, knowing I'd have to deal with my sister again soon.

And of course, everything that happened before. I'd been thinking a lot about my childhood too, beating myself up with what if's and if things would have been differently if I'd just been less of a brat, or if my father had stuck around. Or just...that maybe if I'd have been different, things would have turned out better.

But of course, I was just torturing myself. Struggling to think of something to say, I looked down at the baby.

"He's starting to outgrow his newborn clothes," I commented, and Freddie nodded.

"He definitely needs some new stuff...especially since Carly cleaned out half our stockpile."

I groaned, feeling slightly guilty for being so locked into my own drama that I hadn't given any thought to what was going on with my best friend. We'd been texting like crazy, of course, but I still needed to go up there and actually see the baby. Honestly the only thing that had been holding me back was I didn't want to see or deal with Brad. But I could just ignore him, right?

"I really need to hang out with Carly," I sighed, and Freddie nodded.

"It's been a stressful couple of days for everyone, baby. Don't feel bad."

"Well, maybe later tonight. You could distract asshole, make him go to the gym with you or something..."

"Yeah, I guess I could," Freddie replied. He let out a deep breath. "I really don't want to go to class today. I'm so tired."

"Sorry..."

He shot me a wry grin, immediately understanding what I meant by that, and kissed me.

"Not complaining."

"No?"

"Nope. Last night was uh..."

"Intense?"

"Just a little..." he laughed.

I shrugged. "Had to work off some stress..."

"I know, baby. Me too," he replied. "So are you still stressed?"

"Duh."

"Hmm," Freddie said, kissing me again. "So do I need to help you work off more stress tonight then?" he murmured against my lips. I nodded, sighing as he kissed me deeper. Oh god, why did he have to go to class today? I just wanted to wait until the baby passed out, put him in his crib, and then log some serious hours rolling around the bed with my sexy husband.

"Lots of stress," I said softly, kissing him. "So much stress."

He laughed against my lips. "Then I won't stop until I burn it all off."

"Promise?"

"Mmhmm."

At that moment, the baby decided to emit a loud squawking noise, causing Freddie and I look down at our son, staring back at us with a stone cold expression on his face.

"What's all that noise about, huh?" I asked him. "Looks like somebody wants to be the center of attention." I bent down and kissed him on his little forehead, and I heard Freddie snort beside me. "What?"

"See, he did get some of your personality."

"You're hilarious," I replied flatly, causing Freddie to laugh.

"I'm just kidding, honey. Look, I gotta go, okay? Or I'll be late."

"Alright," I sighed. "Just hurry back."

"I will, but...you know I've got the three classes today, so...see you around four, baby. I'll call you after Circuits Lab, okay?"

"Okay," I nodded. "I love you, Freddie."

He gave me a smile, giving me one more kiss. "I love you too. I'll see you soon. My mom'll be here in like half an hour or so."

"Alright."

"Just...don't think about anything too much, okay? Chill out, relax, whatever."

"Yep. Good luck."

"Thanks." He stood up, giving me one last kiss, before giving me a little wave and heading out the door.

I looked over my son, who was currently amusing himself with chewing on his little fist.

"So you're gonna go hang out with grandma."

No response, just more fist chewing. Geez. Good thing that kid didn't have teeth yet!

"And I'll just be here, by myself...with nothing to do. Just think. And...I probably shouldn't do that, should I?"

It occurred to me that I was having a conversation with my six week old baby, and that probably was not proof of my sanity. Of course, that was debatable these days, me having any sanity left. With everything that was going on, I didn't feel sane at all. I felt like I was losing it, and it sucked, because I was finally beginning to believe I'd started to get a handle on things, get over my issues and deal with my problems, but they were back again, and with a vengeance. I wanted to scream and cry and break things and hit people. Anything to work off this aggression.

I laid in bed with the baby, trying to keep my mind off things by playing with him. He wasn't really able to do anything other than just watch me shake little toys in front of his face, but nevertheless his expressions were entertaining, and it kept me occupied until I heard a knock at the front door.

"Must be grandma," I told little Freddie, scooping him up and getting off the bed. I headed out of the bedroom, towards the front door, pulling it open to reveal Marissa.

"Hi, Sam," she said. "How are you feeling, honey?"

"Hey Marissa," I replied. "I...I'm okay."

"Freddie told me a little bit of what happened...are you sure you're alright? Not thinking about bad stuff?"

I shrugged. "Not really. I mean...kinda, yeah, but I'm doing my best to take my mind off of it."

"Well, I'll take the baby for a few hours and you can unwind a little. Take a bath."

I rolled my eyes. "You and Carly are the only two people I know who think bathing fixes everything."

Marissa ignored me, pulling something out of her pocket, and I saw it was an envelope. Oh, great. The last time somebody presented me with an envelope, I'd flipped out on my husband and got shaken to the very core by one of my best friends. I narrowed my eyes, looking at her curiously.

"Whatcha got there?"

"I was debating whether or not to give this to you, but it came in the mail."

I was perplexed. "Something came in the mail for me, to your address?"

"I think it was the last address she had for you."

My eyebrows went up. "She?"

Marissa didn't respond, just handed me the letter, and as I looked down at the return address, I felt my stomach drop.

It said Pamela Puckett, but the address listed wasn't the one for the trailer, where I'd grew up. She was staying somewhere else now. I just stared at the letter, not sure what to do with it.

"Here, let me take the baby," Marissa said as she took him out of my arms. "Hi sweetheart...grandma is going to take you for awhile, okay?"

I didn't respond to her baby talk; I was too busy staring down at the letter, a million thoughts racing through my head. Then, a burst of anger hit me.

"Forget this," I said, tearing the letter into several pieces. Marissa stood there, silently, watching me, and after I'd just scattered the pieces to the floor, I looked up at her. "I don't care what you think about that."

Marissa shook her head slowly. "It's your letter to do what you want with, Sam. It's not my place to tell you what to do."

I shrugged. "I don't know what to do. I don't understand, after all these years and everything she did, how she can just expect to form some mother-daughter relationship? It's not going to happen!"

Marissa nodded. "Freddie said you were thinking about talking to her though..."

"Yeah, to yell at her...tell her what a shitty...I mean, bad, bad mother...she was. Still is."

Marissa didn't comment on my sudden swearing, which was unlike her. She just gave me a sympathetic look.

"If you need to talk, I'm here."

I sighed, nodding. "Thanks, Marissa. But...everyone wants me to talk about it. And I'm done talking about it. Maybe if I stop talking about it, I can stop thinking about it."

She shook her head. "You won't be able to stop thinking about it until you've dealt with it. You know that, don't you?"

Ugh, she was right, but I did NOT want to deal with this! Wasn't ripping up the letter from my mother proof enough that I didn't want to deal with this? I just wanted to forget! Why couldn't I just forget?

I didn't respond, and she seemed to give up, changing the subject.

"Is the baby's diaper bag ready?"

"Yeah, it's right over here," I replied, grabbing it off the counter and handing it to her. I leaned down, pressing my lips lightly against my son's forehead. "Mama loves you. I'll see you soon."

"I'll bring him back in a few hours," Marissa told me, and I nodded. "Bye, Sam. Try to take it easy."

I couldn't help but laugh.

As I shut the door behind her, I stood there for a second, staring down at the little pieces of ripped up paper that covered the floor.

"Stupid bitch," I muttered, flopping down on the couch.

I couldn't believe the audacity of that woman, to track down an old address...my mother in law's address, no less, and then send me a lame letter? Like that would fix nearly twenty years of damage? She was such an idiot, absolutely worthless, a hopeless drug addict.

I sat there stewing in my anger for a few minutes, but I kept catching myself looking at that discarded pile of ripped up paper. To no one in particular, I shook my head.

"Don't do it, Sam," I muttered to myself. "You don't need to read that shit."

Silence.

"If you tried putting that back together, you'd probably get a papercut," I told myself.

God, I was losing it! I'm talking to myself again! This couldn't keep going like it was, but I truly didn't know what to do. For once, talking to Freddie about it wasn't helping, and that was really worrying. He'd always been able to help me with whatever I was going through, but this time? He couldn't. He couldn't help me, and I didn't even know how to help myself!

Another glance over at the pile of torn of paper.

A low growl emitted from my throat as I stood up and walked over to the pile, scooping it up in my hands.

"Fuck this, let's just get it over it."

It must have taken me twenty minutes to piece that stupid letter back together, going through almost an entire roll of tape in the process, until I'd finally managed to pull it back into a readable document. I took a deep breath as I focused on the paper, on her handwriting.

I wasn't really familiar with my mother's handwriting. I wouldn't be able to look at something she'd written and say, "Oh, that's my mother's handwriting." And for some reason, that really stuck out to me. I should have grown accustomed to seeing it from birthday cards and field trip permission slips and signed report cards, like every other kid on the planet. But instead I'd gotten a mother who was too drugged out of her mind to even lift her hand to write, let alone pen me sappy holiday cards about how great I was and how happy she was to have me as a daughter. I'd never gotten that. And it sucked.

'Sam,

Seeing you for the first time in three years the other day was intense, right? You've really grown up, and I gotta say, you look like you turned out pretty good.

I've been out for a few months, and I'm slowly putting my life back together. As you saw, I have a job, and after a few months at the halfway house, I've got my own place. Things are looking brighter. Best of all, I'm not on all that stuff any more.

This is probably too little too late. But I know I was a shitty mom. I was messed up, kid. You and your sister definitely deserved a lot better, and I'm sorry I couldn't give it to you. But if we could somehow forget about the past, move forward, I'd really like that. I feel like I don't even know my own daughters, and I hate that.

I have no clue how to get in touch with Melanie, and that's why I'm reaching out to you. I'd really like to talk to you, both of you, and see if we could just start over.

I love you.

Mom.'

I was speechless. I didn't even know what to think, how to process this or anything. My mind was a blank.

I leaned against the counter in silence for a few minutes, absolutely stunned, and before I even knew what I was doing, grabbed my purse, keys, and headed for the door.

~*Freddie*~

My head was in a fog the entire time I drove back from school. Sam had inexplicably stopped answering my texts a few hours ago, and she hadn't answered when I called, so I was beginning to worry a little bit. I hated to say it, but maybe she'd gotten herself overly worked up and then fallen asleep. It wasn't out of the norm for Sam to get upset to the point she'd cry herself to sleep, and any other explanation for why she wasn't communicating with me right now, well...it wasn't good.

I'd been trying to think of things to do to make her feel better all day, totally spacing out during one of my lectures and just generally not able to pay attention the entire day. I was running out of ideas. This was going to take a lot more than take-out from one of her favorite restaurants or buying her jewelry or any of my usual tactics. Still, I did manage to stop on the way from school off at the flower shop to pick her up some roses. I liked doing every so often, even when Sam wasn't having a bad day, just to remind her how much I loved her.

I was bouncing up and down with impatience waiting for the elevator to arrive at our floor, quickly getting off, down the hallway, and hastily inserting my key into the lock.

"Sam!" I called. "Baby, are you..." I trailed off as I walked into the living room and caught sight of Sam sitting on the couch with Carly on the opposite end. "What's going on?"

"Hey, baby," Sam stood up, walking over to me and giving me a kiss, then gestured at the flowers I was holding. "Are those for me?"

"Uh, yeah...why haven't you been answering my texts?"

Sam looked over at Carly and made a face, who just shrugged back at her.

"Uh...I kind of had a meltdown on the fire escape..."

"Okay..." I replied, my brow furrowing. "I don't if I should ask why you had a meltdown or what this has to do with you not answering my texts."

"She threw her phone," Carly replied with a roll of her eyes. "She threw her phone off of Bushwell Plaza."

"Sam!" I exclaimed. "Why would you do that? I mean, it's not like we can't afford another one, but still!"

"Because I was upset," she replied curtly.

"About what?"

She didn't respond, just turned on her heel, walking over to the counter and picking up a crumbled up, taped up piece of paper, then handed it to me.

"What is...oh god, you've gotta be kidding me," I groaned as I read over it. A letter from Pamela Puckett. I was surprised the worthless bitch knew how to read or write! "Can I burn this?" I asked. "Seriously, can I burn it?"

Sam shrugged. "Do whatever you want, I don't care."

I sighed, putting the letter on the coffee table. "I'm sorry, sweetheart. You should have called me."

"Uh, hello!"

"Before you chucked your phone off the top of the world, baby. You wanna go get a new one before the store closes?"

"Maybe in a little while," she replied. "Carly and I were talking..."

I nodded, shooting a glance over at Carly. "How's it going?"

Carly sighed, running a hand through her hair. "I am so exhausted."

"I can tell. You look awful."

"Gee, thanks!" she replied, giving me the hairy eyeball.

I rolled my eyes. "Not what I meant, Carly. You just look out of sorts, that's all."

"I am way out of sorts. I've gotten like...six hours of sleep in the past three days," Carly moaned. "She just cries, all the time! Day and night! And I just know I failed my Spanish test today..."

I gave her a Look. "I told you if you needed help with it, let me know, and you didn't."

"I don't have time to be tutored, Freddie! We're all up to our eyeballs in bullshit!"

"Yeah, no kidding," I grumbled. "I wish I knew how to help..."

"Yeah, I wish there was some magical cure for colic, but apparently it doesn't exist! We're completely doomed, Freddie!"

"I think you're being a little dramatic," Sam stated.

Carly snorted inelegantly. "You guys haven't seen Katie yet. Or...heard her, to be more specific. At the top of her lungs, all day. I mean, she's adorable when she's asleep...but that's rare too! God, we're so in over our heads."

I rolled my eyes, laughing a little, and Carly gave me a death glare. "What?"

"I thought you guys were smarter than this."

"WHAT?" she exploded. "I'm stupid because I can't get a baby to stop crying?"

"No!" I yelled. "Geez!"

"Then what, Freddie? What are you saying?"

"You're stressed. You're taking care of four kids. You go to school, and you work. You work on a very popular and highly profitable webshow."

"I knew this already! What's your point?"

I rolled my eyes again, agitated that Carly still wasn't getting it.

"My point is, you and Brad are richer than about 95% of fellow college students! Hire a nanny, dude! Damn!"

Carly's eyes widened, realization finally striking her in the face.

"Oh my god! I could...sleep! And...do other things. Like...studying. And..."

"Showering?" Sam finished.

"Oh come on, Sam! I didn't have time today!"

"Just saying," Sam replied, prompting Carly to roll her eyes.

At that moment, I heard the sound of my son crying over the baby monitor.

"He's up," Sam said. "I'll go get him."

"Nah, I'll do it," I said with a wave of my hand. "Haven't seen him all day."

"Aw..." Sam replied with a smile, kissing me. "You're such a good daddy."

I shrugged. "I try. I'll be right back."

I left the girls in the living room, allowing Carly to pretty much bemoan her existence to Sam as I headed towards the nursery, turning on the lamp next to the the changing table and heading towards the crib.

"Hey buddy...what's going on," I reached into the crib and picked him up. "Haven't seen you all d-" But I stopped speaking when I noticed what he was wearing, and that the fauxhawk was back.

"Sam!" I called. "What the hell did you do to my son?" I headed back into the living room carrying the baby to find Sam glaring at me.

"We've been over this swearing in front of the baby thing, Freddie!"

"Hey, hell is not a swear word, it's in the Bible. Deal," I replied. "What is he wearing?"

Sam rolled her eyes. "Remember, we said he needed new clothes?"

I gave her a strange look. "You went to the mall?"

"The baby store," Sam replied. "And...I may have saw some very...edgy baby things when I was walking past Hot Topic..."

"No wonder! Come on, Sam! This is completely inappropriate clothing for a baby!"

"How is it inappropriate?"

"Oh gee, I dunno," I said sarcastically, bouncing the baby up and down a little bit as I fussed at Sam. "Maybe it's the skull hoodie? Or the shirt that says 'I tore Mommy a new one'? Come on!"

"Don't forget his sweat black ripped jeans. And did I mention the rips are reinforced and pose no choking hazards to babies? Isn't that awesome? He's safe and he's cute!"

"This is not cute, Sam! This is...baby's first mug shot!" I exclaimed. "He looks like he's gonna beat up other babies and make them eat clumps of dirt on the playground!"

"You just have a chip on your shoulder about eating clumps of dirt!"

"You're right, I do! And come to think of it, I'm still mad about that!" I shot back.

"We were twelve!"

"It still doesn't change the fact that you made me eat a clump of dirt!"

"Oh god," Carly groaned, standing up and taking the baby out of my arms. "You guys are going to argue about something that happened in sixth grade? While holding the baby?"

"Quit being so sensitive!" Sam told me. "It wasn't that big of a deal."

"Easy for you to say, you've never eaten dirt!" I responded. "I am not going to let you dress him like that!"

"What would you prefer, the sweater vest you bought him?" Sam said, putting a mocking emphasis on 'sweater vest'.

"You know what? That sweater vest was cute, and yeah, it IS a lot better for a baby than a skull print hoodie!"

"Do you remember how bad I made fun of YOU the last time you wore a sweater vest?"

"You know what..." I started.

"Come to think of it, were you wearing a sweater vest the day I made you eat dirt?"

"Sam!"

"I'd rather have him be the bully than be bullied!"

"Yeah, well I'd rather have him be the one to STOP the bullies, thank you very much."

Sam paused, looking at me. "You've thought about that?"

"Yeah, I've thought about it! I've thought a lot about the kind of character I want my son to have, and what I have to teach him, and that's one of those things!"

She stared at me for a second, a slow smile spreading across her face, and then she stepped toward me, putting her hands on my shoulders and pressing her lips against mine, and I breathed a sigh of relief. Oh my god, did we just have a normal argument? One about meaningless things that was basically nothing more than us fussing at each other like we were kids again? And then instantly making up and forgetting about it?

Oh my god, were we getting back to NORMAL?

I kissed her deeper, one hand reaching up to tangle through her hair and the other going to her lower back and pulling her against me as her arms went around my neck, continuing to kiss me. It felt amazing. Not in a sense of turned on amazing, though I definitely was, but...it was more comforting than anything. I knew the drama wasn't over with yet, not by any means, but this? This was reassuring. Normal. Normal us. I missed normal us.

A few feet away, I heard Carly laugh, and Sam and pulled away to look at her.

"What?"

"You guys are nuts," Carly said, shaking her head. "But...back to normal, I see."

"Yeah...we are," Sam replied, her eyes flicking up to meet mine. "Right?"

"Mmhmm," I replied, kissing her.

"But you guys, we a bigger problem right now," Carly said.

"What's that?"

"Freddie Jr. needs a diaper change, and my diaper quota is reaching max capacity, so...one of you take him," Carly stated, rocking little Freddie Jr. back and forth.

Sam looked at me, and her eyebrows went up in a pointed way. I sighed.

"Fine," I replied.

Sam held her left hand out, palm up, her right fist coming down in the center of it, and I did the same.

"Ready?" Sam asked.

"Yep."

"Alright. Rock, paper, scissors, shoot!" Sam exclaimed.

A half second later and I was shooting a victorious grin over at my wife, who just scowled at me.

"Scissors beats paper, baby," I told her. "I win."

"You figured out some sort of mathematical equation to beat me in it, didn't you?" she shot back as she took the baby from Carly, heading for the nursery.

"Not my fault you suck at it!" I called back. "And anyway, you brought it up!"

"I thought I had you this time! You're always slower in the afternoon!"

"I love you too, sweetheart," I said flatly.

"I'm throwing out the sweater vest!" she yelled back.

"Don't you dare!" With that, I glanced back over at Carly, who just smirked at me.

"What?"

"You guys had one of your normal pointless Seddie arguments," Carly replied with a grin. "And then went right back to making out like rabbits. It's adorable."

I rolled my eyes, laughing a little and nodding. "Yeah. I mean...she drives me nuts sometimes, but..."

"Pfft. You enjoy fighting with her."

"Well, yeah...those kind of fights. Not the really bad ones."

"I know, but..." she trailed off, shaking her head. "I've just never heard of arguing being an aphrodisiac. Except for you two. Cuz you guys are weird. Perfect for each other, but...weird."

"Oh whatever, you and Brad are weird too."

Carly just shrugged. "Well, I should go back upstairs, I need to talk to Brad about this whole...nanny business."

"Alright," I replied. I paused for a second. "Any ideas on how we're going to get through the production meeting tomorrow?"

She groaned. "No clue. We'll have to figure something out. I mean, Brad feels really bad, but...I know Sam doesn't want to talk to him at the moment. I just hope she'll talk to him eventually..."

"It was bad, Carly."

Carly nodded. "I know. Well, I'm gonna get out of here. BYE SAM!" she yelled. "I'M LEAVING!"

"BYE! TEXT ME!" Sam yelled back.

As Carly let herself out, I headed back into the nursery to find Sam had changed the baby's clothes.

"Happy?" she teased, and I nodded.

"He looks like a sweet little boy now."

"He is a sweet little boy," she replied, picking him up and then giving me a kiss. "I missed you today."

"I know. I missed you too. Worried about you."

"Yeah, I kind of...had a meltdown, but...I dealt with it."

"Did you go to the mall before or after the meltdown?" I asked.

"After."

I stared at her for a second. "Sam, don't tell me..."

"I didn't," she replied. "I didn't talk to her, okay? You can relax."

"Baby, I'm just worried, that's all..."

"I know. But..." she trailed off, shaking her head. "Never mind. I don't want to fight tonight. What do you want for dinner?"

I shrugged. "I dunno. Whatever you make is fine, baby."

"Okay," she replied. "You wanna take him, then? So I can start dinner?"

I nodded. "Sure."

"Take that blanket right there, put it on the floor in the living room and then put him on his stomach. Time to start working on strengthening his little muscles."

"Okay, baby," I replied, taking the baby from her.

"And after dinner can you take the laundry downstairs?"

"Sure."

"And change the lightbulbs in the bathroom?"

"Uh-huh..."

"And then fuck my brains out?"

"Huh?" I exclaimed, caught off-guard after asking me to do so many mundane tasks. She laughed.

"Of course, the order's completely optional," Sam said. "I mean...I would say highest priority, do that first, and if the other stuff doesn't get done, then oh well."

"And what should my highest priority be?"

"I think you can figure it out, don't you?" she replied, giving me another kiss, and I let out a yelp when she without warning grabbed my package and gave it a firm squeeze.

"Sam! I'm holding the baby!"

"Sorry," she said, giving me a grin. "I'll be in the kitchen..."

"Hey, what about your phone?" I asked.

"Uh, I think we can put it off until tomorrow, don't you?" she replied. "Because I have plans for tonight."

"Oh yeah?" I asked, smirking, and she nodded.

"I better start cooking, because you're gonna need the energy." With that, she walked away, heading for the kitchen.

I was a little surprised. With everything that was going on, Sam seemed to be back to her old self, when this morning she had still been stressed out and kind of gloomy. It wasn't really adding up, but maybe she'd worked out some things in her head today. Either way, I wasn't going to push the issue, I was just relieved that she was happy for now, and by that rationale, I was happy. As long as Sam and my son were happy, safe, and healthy, everything was fine.

I looked down at my son, giving him a grin. "Come on buddy, let's go have a little tummy time."

I really hoped we were past the worst part of everything that had happened. But for the moment, I just needed to focus on the right now, and enjoy a nice, drama free night. Because with Melanie due to show up any day now, and Sam still at odds with Brad, I could tell the drama wasn't going to wear down any time soon.


	74. Chapter 74: Switchblade

A/N: Please, please, please, DO NOT KILL ME. I know things are about to get bad, but just keep calm, folks. Sidenote: this chapter isn't that long, and seems like it should've been done pretty quickly, but this was extremely hard to get through, particularly the last POV. It hits home extremely hard for me, and I was very emotional writing it.

**Chapter Seventy Four  
>Switchblade<strong>

~*Carly*~

"A nanny?" Brad wrinkled his nose as he sat down next to me on the couch. "I dunno, Carly."

The fact that he had the audacity to say "I don't know" while I was holding a screaming baby, and the fact that I still hadn't written a paper I had due tomorrow...coupled with an extreme lack of sleep made me narrow my eyes, practically hissing at him as I stood up, walking away from him.

"Are you retarded?"

"What?" he exclaimed. "Carly! Where did that come from?"

"Brad, we could hire a full-time nanny, a chef, and a housekeeper, and it still wouldn't give us enough time in the day to get everything done!" I shouted.

"Yeah, but maybe I don't want a total stranger taking care of my brother and sisters! They could be a total whack-job!" Brad replied.

"So what? You'd rather us be exhausted all the time? Stressed out? Look at me, Brad! I haven't even showered today...and I can tell by the state of your hair that you haven't either!"

"Wha..." Brad trailed off, his hands going up to his head to smooth his hair down. "Look, Carly, I just think..."

"I know what you think, but I know what we need, okay? And we need help on this, Brad! It's too much!"

Brad stood up, walking towards me, stopping in front of me to plant a gentle kiss on my forehead. "Babe, I know it's stressful right now, but...it's just going to take some getting used to."

"Even after we get used to it, it's still going to be too much!" I cried. "Have you thought at all about what we're going to do when she starts crawling, Brad? In this place?"

"So...what...you think we need a new place or something?" Brad asked.

"Well, yeah!" I cried. "I mean, Brad...come on!"

Brad stared at me for a moment with a strange expression on his face. "But...where would we shoot?"

I sighed. "That's the last thing on my mind right now."

He shook his head. "You're not the first person who's said that, you know."

"Who else?"

"Well...me...Freddie," Brad replied with a shrug. "We all feel like that. Why are we still doing it?"

"How else are we supposed to make money? I mean, I know, your screenplay's being shopped, but...it hasn't sold yet..."

"We have a lot of money saved up."

"But...where would we go?" I asked. Brad looked down for a second, biting his lip.

"LA."

I shook my head fervently. "We can't do that. Take the kids out of school...and the real estate in LA is just as high as it is here, except we wouldn't have rent control there. And come on, the amount of trouble Heather could get into in LA..."

"Heather's on the fast track to a private, all girls school if she keeps it up!" Brad replied, and I scoffed.

"Yeah, cuz that worked out great when they tried it on Melanie."

"Ugh," Brad groaned. "I can't believe she's actually...why couldn't she just stay on the other side of the country?"

"Maybe because her mother just got out of prison?" I replied. I paused, still bouncing the baby up and down, trying to get her to calm down. "Something's up with Sam. I mean, more than just what happened the other day."

Brad's brow furrowed. "What do you mean?"

I sighed. "I don't know. Just...something's off, you know? I mean, yeah, she's all in a whirlwind because Pam's out, but...it's something else."

"Well, I guess...just keep pestering her until you get it out of her."

"That's the thing," I said with a frown. "She's not in a bad mood, and she should be. She should be really upset, but she's not. She's...happy."

Brad shrugged. "I dunno, babe. But...we gotta talk about this moving thing."

"We're still in school. And...I can't leave Sam."

"Sam...Carly!" Brad scolded me. "Look, I know she's your best friend, but Sam's a big girl..."

"You just don't get it!" I cried, grimacing when Katie began crying even louder. "Sam and I have been best friends for over ten years! I can't just...go to LA!"

"Fine, fine...okay?" Brad replied, his hands going up. "I don't want to argue about it, Carly. But...you're probably right about the apartment. We do need a bigger place."

"I completely agree," I replied. "So we need to start looking, and soon..."

As Brad and I were discussing the apartment situation, we barely noticed the front door opening and Bryson walking in, with his little friend Riley trailing behind him. Those two had been joined at the hip for the last few days, and I guess Bryson really did have quite the crush on her.

Bryson strode past Brad casually, with Riley not too far behind him, heading for the staircase, and Brad finally seemed to pay attention, grabbing Bryson's shoulder and pulling him back.

"Hold it, little dude!" he said. "Where do you think you two are going?"

Bryson shrugged. "My room?"

"Try again. Why don't you guys hang out here, in the living room?"

Bryson glared at him. "Why can't we hang out in my room! We're working on..."

"I know what you're working on, and you're too young to work on it! No girls in the bedroom, that's the rule!"

"You have a girl in your bedroom every night!" Bryson argued. Brad shot a smirk over at me, raising his eyebrows flirtily, and I just shook my head, trying not to laugh.

"I'm twenty! And engaged!" Brad replied. "Look, whatever you guys are working on, you can work on it at the kitchen table!"

"You suck," Bryson grumbled, turning to Riley. "I'm going to go get the art supplies. Stay here. Because my jerk of a brother won't let you go upstairs."

Brad shrugged. "Hey, it's not my fault you tried pulling a fast one while I was out of town."

"Whatever," Bryson grumbled, heading for the stairs.

Riley stood there for a moment looking awkward, shifting her weight from foot to foot, her red hair falling in her face.

"Riley, there's juice boxes in the fridge," I told her. "You can grab one if you like."

"Thank you," she replied, walking over to the fridge.

I turned to look back at Brad.

"Alright, so..."

"BRAD!" Bryson yelled, tearing down the stairs.

"What?" Brad asked. "What's wrong?"

"You left Leah up there by herself, she destroyed all my artwork! Are you serious? I can't live like this! Oh my god, my creative drive!"

I sighed. A house full of girls, and Bryson was more dramatic than anyone here. I could understand him being upset, but I couldn't understand why he suddenly launched himself facedown on the floor.

Brad rolled his eyes. "Bryson, get up."

"No. I've lost the will to live."

"You can make more art!" Brad responded. "Come on!"

I sighed. "Just leave him, he'll get over it. We need to go check on Leah, clean up any messes she made. Make sure she didn't mess with the studio stuff."

"Ugh, you're right," Brad grumbled. "Here, give me Katie. I'll give you a break for awhile."

"Thank you," I said with a deep sigh, handing her to him. She wasn't full-on crying any more, just whimpering, but she never stopped making noise! I was really starting to think Katie hated me!

Brad and I headed upstairs to check on Leah, pushing the door open. Even though she'd caused all kind of trouble for Bryson, I couldn't help but giggle when I got a good look at her.

"I a artits," Leah said with a triumphant grin, pink and green paint smeared all over her face.

Brad laughed, shaking his head.

"You're a very good artist, Lee-lee," he told her. "But why'd you have to paint all over the floor?"

"I made it pwetty!" she responded indignantly.

"Yes, Lee-lee, it's very pretty," I said. "But you know you're not supposed to make messes on the floor. And now you have to take a bath."

"No baff."

"Yes bath," Brad replied.

"No baff!" Leah yelled, stomping her foot.

"Lee-lee," Brad said firmly, giving her a Look. "You're gonna take a bath, or no cartoons before bed!"

Leah looked at him like he'd just told her Santa Claus didn't exist, her bottom lip poking out.

"Bwad is mean."

"I am not mean!" Brad replied, trying to talk Leah down and keep Katie from bawling at the same time.

"Are too!"

"Am not!"

"Are too!"

"Am..." he trailed off, making a face when I cleared my throat to remind him he was arguing with a three year old. "Leah, you're taking a bath!"

She stared at him for a moment, her little arms crossed over her chest, before making a disgusted noise.

"She...she rolled her eyes at me!" Brad cried, looking at me in horror. "Did you see that?"

"Oh come on, Brad, you've gotta be used to girls rolling their eyes at you by now," I responded, and he scowled at me.

"Fine. For that, you get to wash the paint of Leah's hair."

"What?" I cried. "But..."

"Unless you want to take Katie and let me bathe Leah."

"No, no," I replied with a sigh. "I'll take her. Come on, Lee-lee."

"No baff!" she yelled, stamping her feet again.

"I'll give you a cookie," I proposed, watching her eyes light up, and then noticing the way Brad glared at me.

"So you can bribe them, but not me. Is that how it works?"

"I'm too tired to do anything else," I responded, reaching down to pick up Leah. "Katie probably needs to be fed again..."

"Yeah, probably," Brad replied, looking down at his baby sister. "Hungry, Katie-cat?" I had no idea where Brad had come up with that nickname, but it was pretty adorable, and even though she squawked and shrieked and cried at all hours of the day and night, it was very obvious that he loved her. I knew he'd be an amazing father one day, but at the rate we were going, we were too busy with his siblings to EVER have to worry about having kids of our own.

Come to think of it, why was I worrying about it now? We had enough on our plates right now, and we were running out of room on those plates. It was true, we needed more space, and to do that, we needed to move. And as much as I hated to admit it, Brad had a point about Los Angeles. But we'd lose our income, and I'd lose my best friend.

It seemed like no matter what the outcome, I was going to lose something.

~*Freddie*~

"Did I do something wrong?"

Sam turned away from the dresser mirror, looking at me like I'd lost it.

"Why would you say that?" she asked, and I shrugged.

"Because!"

Sam let out a sigh, leaning against the dresser.

"Freddie, I spend practically all my time stuck in this apartment! I just want to get out for a little while...what is so wrong about that?"

"Sam, I get that you want to get out," I replied. "But what I don't get is why you want to go out by yourself."

Sam shrugged, and I didn't like that. There was something going on with her, and for the life of me, I couldn't figure it out. I liked that even less. She tried to cover it up by acting happy and care-free, but I knew that girl, and I knew she was bullshitting me. For one thing, too much drama had been stirred up in the last few days for her to be this happy, and for another, I could tell, every time I looked at her, that it was a lie. And that hurt more than anything. Sam used to be able to talk to me about her problems, what went on inside her head, but this time, she'd pulled away, and I couldn't get through to her. It was scaring me, to be honest, and I didn't know how to deal with it.

"You're still mad at me for hiding the letter from you, aren't you?" I asked softly, looking at the ground.

"Freddie..." Sam said in an equally soft tone of voice. "No. I just...I'm having trouble wrapping my head around things, okay?" She walked over to where I was sitting, dropping to her knees and placing her hands on my legs. "I feel like...I feel like the walls are closing in on me or something."

"And you can't talk to me about it," I surmised, looking away. Sam let out another sigh, obviously frustrated.

"I don't know what to tell you, Freddie," she replied, standing up. "Look, I love you, okay? But...I don't even know how to deal with this, so how could you?"

"Because dealing with you, and helping you deal is what I do!" I snapped. "But...I can't do that if you won't talk to me!"

"What am I supposed to say?" she yelled back. "You want me to say I'm angry? I told you that! You want me to say I don't know what to do? I told you that too! I just need..."

"What, baby? What do you need?" I asked, my hands rubbing up and down her arms. "Tell me. Please. I'll give it to you. I'll give you whatever you want."

"I need space!" she shouted. I was stunned, completely unable to come back with anything, and the silence that hung in the air felt like a heavy weight pressing on my chest. I dropped my hands from her shoulders, taking a step back, and I knew I had a wounded look on my face, because Sam let out another sigh.

"I'm sorry, Freddie," Sam said quietly.

"Yeah, me too," I replied, walking away from her and staring out the window.

"What are you doing?" she asked.

"Giving you space," I grunted. "Have fun doing whatever it is you're doing."

"Freddie! Come on!" she cried. "You're being unfair!"

"How am I being unfair?" I shouted. "You're the one who's...never mind."

"I'm the one who's what?" Sam asked, and I sighed.

"Just forget it."

"No, I won't. I'm the one who's what?"

I turned around to glare at her. "You're the one who's acting like someone I don't know." I paused. "Or more like someone I used to know."

"What the hell is that supposed to mean?" she snapped.

"You're acting like Sam Puckett."

She instantly understood what I meant by that. Distant, removed, sneaky. Dishonest. Her eyes narrowed into slits as she practically growled at me.

"I can't deal with this right now."

"Join the club," I grunted. "You know what's really throwing me off right now?"

"I'm sure you're going to tell me," Sam replied with a roll of her eyes.

"You're calling me Freddie."

As stupid as that sounded, that was bothering me too. She was calling me Freddie. Not baby, not honey. Even 'nub' would have been welcome at this point. We rarely called each other by our names, unless some serious shit was going down, and that alone was enough to tell me that something was really wrong.

Sam sighed, closing her eyes for a second.

"I have to go clear my head for a little while," she said. "I do love you, Freddie."

"Coulda fooled me," I grumbled. Sam gave me a surprised, hurt look, backing away.

"Fine, just...take care of the baby. Think you can handle that?"

"I think I'll be able to get through it," I replied sarcastically, and she rolled her eyes.

"Bye," she replied, walking out of the bedroom, and a minute later I heard the front door slam shut. My eyes squeezed themselves shut as I fell backwards onto the bed, letting out a miserable sigh.

I was so incredibly lost right now. I could actually feel the separation between Sam and I happening, and I was absolutely powerless to stop it. Maybe if I just tried harder, to be more supportive?

As I laid on the bed, I was trying desperately to figure out what to do. It was my fault we'd gotten into an argument, but it was only because I couldn't deal with the front Sam was putting up. We didn't do that! Not with each other! I knew she was dealing with something heavy, that she was hurting, and I wanted desperately to be there for her. But she wouldn't let me.

What could I do? She wouldn't talk to me. I knew buying her something wouldn't work this time. If I tried coaxing it out of her, by being physically affectionate, we'd just end up having sex, and for the first time ever, that wasn't what I wanted. It had happened last night. I'd tried to get her to talk about whatever was bothering her, and the next thing I knew she'd gotten my pants off, and the rest was history.

I laid there for a little longer, jumping in surprise when I felt my phone vibrate in my pocket. Sam still didn't have a phone, which was one of the reasons I was bothered by her going out by herself. It was probably Brad or Carly, having a baby meltdown. My brow furrowed when I realized I didn't recognize the number.

"Hello?" I answered.

"Hi, my name's Shannon, I'm the manager of Auntie Aimee's Pretzels at Westside Mall..."

"Okay..." I said slowly. I was confused, but at the same time, something clicked in my head. Pretzel Place? At the mall? That's where Pam worked...

"One of my employees found a phone laying on the counter, and your number was listed as 'Hubby', so I figured you were probably the right person to call. I'm assuming it's your wife's phone."

Oh. My. God.

I didn't know whether to yell at the manager, throw the phone, freak out, or cry, but I felt a rage go through me that I hadn't felt in years.

Sam hadn't thrown her phone off the top of Bushwell during a meltdown. She hadn't gone to the mall with the intention of buying baby clothes. She'd gone to talk to her mom. She was probably going to meet her right now.

She had lied to me.

"Yeah...my wife did lose her phone. I...thanks. I'll come pick it up," I managed to get out.

"Okay! Any time before 9 is fine, that's when we close."

"Got it," I replied in a shaky voice, clicking off.

I sat there in stunned silence for a moment, unsure what to do.

Sam had lied to me.

Sam had lied to me to go spend time with a person who had ultimately almost cost her her life.

I'd chased that girl across state lines to make sure she was protected. I'd married her at sixteen and changed my life forever to make sure she was protected. I violently attacked and permanently injuring the guy who had nearly killed her, in the process losing a part of myself I would never get back, to make sure she was protected.

Pam had insulted her, neglected her, damaged her, abused her, and apparently Sam had forgotten that. She'd forgotten what she'd been through. She'd forgotten what I'd been through.

Sam, my wife, had LIED TO ME.

I didn't even know how to deal with this.

So I did the only thing I was capable of doing at that moment.

I started to cry.

~*Sam*~

"I can't believe this."

I stared across the table at my dinner companion, still a little bit surprised at myself for doing this.

I couldn't believe, after everything that had happened, that I'd actually agreed to this, not only once, but twice, and within a forty eight hour period at that! I must seriously be losing it, but that part was obvious.

"Believe what?" I asked nervously.

My mother gave me a sad smile. "You're actually talking to me. After everything I did...I...I treated you like shit for so long, kid. I...I'm sorry."

I sighed. "It's okay...mom."

The thing was, it wasn't okay. I was still dealing with so much shit in my crazy, mixed up head. I still wasn't over everything she'd put me through, and maybe I never would be.

Motherhood, having a child of your own, tends to pull some crazy things out of you. It makes you question everything about yourself. It makes you question everything about your past, your childhood, and everything and everyone connected to it. Especially your parents.

I suppose no matter what, a child always craves its parents, especially its mother. It's like this innate quality in all of us that we can't shake, myself included. Despite she genuinely sucked at the job, she was still my mother. I'd always craved a real mother-daughter relationship, something I'd never been able to have. I guess that's why, against my better judgment, I'd gone along with this.

But my guilt over lying to Freddie was overwhelming. I felt horrible about it, but again, I so desperately just wanted...a mother. I wanted her to love me, and accept me, and not hate me, and do everything a mother was supposed to do that she had never done. It wasn't too late, was it?

Freddie did a lot of things for me. He loved me, supported me, listened to me, took care of me. He protected me. But the one thing he'd never be able to do was take the place of my mother. And I knew I'd never be able to make him see that. So...I lied.

Eventually I was going to have to come clean and tell him the truth, I knew that. Freddie could already tell something was up, that part was evident by the argument we'd had before I left to meet up with my mother. He was going to absolutely postal when I told him. But...he just didn't understand. He had a mother who loved him, almost too much. Marissa had always taken care of her son. Marissa had never abandoned her son. Marissa had never let anyone hurt her son. He didn't know what it was like to have a big empty hole in your heart, an emptiness that only comes from a lack of parents. True, he had lost his father, but he knew his father had loved him. It wasn't the same thing.

My mother gave me another smile. "I can't wait until Melanie comes. It's going to be so odd seeing the two of you together again, and I haven't even seen her since she was nine. I wish..." she trailed off, biting her lip. "I wish I'd never sent her away. I was such a monster."

"You were on a bunch of bad shit," I replied.

She nodded. "But not any more, and never again," she replied. My mother paused for a second, taking a sip of her tea. "So..."

"So..."

"Maybe this is a little premature, but..."

"But?" I pressed.

She sighed. "Sam, I...I'd really like to meet your son. My grandson."

That comment hit me pretty hard. I hadn't even thought about it, but yes, she was my son's grandmother. Still, even though I was willing to take a shot at fixing things with her, I was an adult who could handle and take care of myself, not a helpless infant. I wasn't ready to go down that road yet.

"I don't know how Freddie would feel about that," I replied softly, and my mother rolled her eyes.

"You're the mother, you can make that decision."

"Mom," I began, biting my lip. It still felt so strange to call her that. "Freddie's his father. He gets an equal say." I paused, trying to think of something to say. "And Freddie's a good father. And he's a good husband. Great, actually. He really takes care of me well, he..." I frowned. Ugh, talking about how amazing Freddie was made me feel even shittier for lying to him. At that thought, I pushed my chair back, standing up.

"Where are you going?" my mother asked.

I sighed. "Look, I definitely...want to do this again, but...I haven't told Freddie I've been talking to you. I need to tell him the truth."

"Why haven't you told him?"

"Look, let's be honest. Everything that happened, it was bad. And...you weren't doing your job back then of protecting me. So Freddie stepped in, did the job for you. The idea of me talking to you, after everything that happened, it worries him."

"Not like you to let other people control you, kid."

I gave her a surprised and wounded look. "No offense, but you don't really have the right to say that to me."

"Why not?"

"Because you barely know me!" I cried. "You were mentally absent for the first sixteen years of my life, and totally absent for the rest of it! And...if you want to fix things, then don't tell me what to do. Especially when it comes to my marriage and how I handle my husband. I'm an adult, okay?"

"Fine, I won't. But...bit of advice, lying to him, that's not how you handle things."

"Believe me, I know," I said with a roll of my eyes, reaching into my bag to pull out a ten dollar bill. "Here. To cover my half of the bill."

At the mention of the bill, she began rifling through her own purse "Damn minimum wage job..." she muttered, pulling a handful of crumpled one dollar bills. I rolled my eyes, throwing down another ten dollar bill.

"Oh, here," I replied.

"Sam, you don't have to do that..."

"Trust me, I can afford it," I replied. "We do pretty well with iCarly."

"I noticed. How much did that bag you're carrying cost?"

"I'm not sure," I said with a shrug. "Freddie bought it for me. He buys me a lot of stuff."

She nodded. "I'll see you later, Sam?"

"Of course," I replied with a nod.

"I...love you," she said, staring at me. I didn't quite know how to respond to that. I knew I couldn't say it back. At least not yet.

"I'll see you later...mom. Bye." With that, I hurried out of the restaurant, my guilt completely taking hold of me. I needed to get back home, now, and come clean with Freddie. He was going to be furious with me, but I could handle it. I deserved it. I'd screwed up. Maybe I could figure out a way to distract him from being so angry, like last night when he'd tried to figure out what was going on and I'd just ended up giving him a blowjob to shut him up. Yeah, that would work. I'd tell him, let him rant for a little while, and then boom. Sexy time. It always worked.

Of course, this was going to be a pretty big deal. But again, I deserved the wrath of Freddie right now. I still couldn't believe I'd lied to him, but I was determined to make it up to him.

After I'd gotten back to Bushwell and parked the car, I headed upstairs, incredibly nervous the entire time. Oh god, how was I going to bring this up? Maybe I should butter him up first...

I stuck my key in the lock nervously, unlocking the door and walking in. I took a deep breath, steadying myself, preparing for a huge fight, when I walked around the corner to find Freddie sitting on the couch, arms crossed over his chest with a withdrawn, sullen expression on his face.

"Hey baby..." I said, walking toward him. I leaned down to kiss him, surprised when he jerked away, refusing to meet my eyes. "What's going on?"

"You tell me," he replied flatly, pulling something out of his pocket and then laying it on the coffee table. My eyes widened when I realized it was my phone, the one I'd lost yesterday when I'd gone to confront my mom at her job. My stomach flip-flopped, and I felt like he was going to be sick. He knew what I'd done. He knew I'd lied to him.

"Freddie..."

"You fucking lied to me, Sam," he said in a low growl.

"I'm sorry," I said softly.

"Why?"

"You wouldn't have understood."

"You're damn right, I don't understand. I don't understand why you would go and see her! After everything she did!"

"You don't get it!" I cried.

"Then explain it to me, Sam!" Freddie yelled.

"I can't!"

"Why not?"

"Because," I replied, shaking my head. "I could explain it to you all damn day, for a hundred years, and you STILL wouldn't get it."

"How do you know that?" he yelled. "When have I ever NOT gotten you? I get you, remember? Or I did..."

"Because of Marissa!" I yelled. "She loves you, Freddie! She loves you so damn much! She would do anything to take care of her child, and I wanted that! I wanted that so fucking bad! I want a mother, why can't you understand that?"

"That woman doesn't know how to be a mother, Sam! She's only going to hurt you again, and I'm going to have to pick up the pieces, AGAIN!" he roared.

"How do you know that? She's clean, Freddie! I...I talked to her, and I can tell. She's clean."

"For how long?" he replied.

"She said for good!"

"Yeah, right," Freddie laughed bitterly. "I'll believe that when I see it."

I shook my head. "I knew you were going to say that. And you wondered why I lied to you? This is why!"

"Did you ever think it's just an act, Sam?" he shot back. "Has she asked you for money yet? Because I guarantee she will!"

"Why does it have to be some ulterior motive?" I shouted. "Why is it so hard to believe that she wants to fix things? Why is it so hard to believe that she actually DOES love me?"

"Yes, it is!" Freddie yelled, and I gave him a hurt look.

"Why is that? Because I can't be loved?"

"Because that woman is incapable of loving anyone or anything except drugs, Sam! She let your sister get raped when she was a child and then sent her away! She let you get the shit kicked out of you! SHE DOESN'T FUCKING LOVE YOU!" Freddie roared. "You're in denial!"

"Shut up!" I screamed. "I don't want to hear it!"

"You need to hear it," he growled. "She doesn't love you, Sam."

"Stop."

"She doesn't fucking love you!"

"SHUT UP!" I shrieked, giving him a hard shove backward. He glared at me, shaking his head.

"After everything we went through, this is what I get."

"Did you want me to thank you every single day for the rest of our lives?" I responded. "Is that what you want? Am I in your debt forever? Because you saved my life, you own it?"

"No, Sam..." he replied, sounding exhausted. "I love you. I love you so much it makes me crazy. It's my job to protect you. But I can't do that if you keep putting yourself in stupid situations!"

"Putting myself in stupid situations?" I cried. "So it's my fault? Did I put myself in a stupid situation when Bill attacked me?"

Freddie shook his head. "Don't put words in my mouth, Sam."

"You wanna talk about fault? I begged you to stay with me that night, and you went to the fucking gym, you asshole!"

I was completely caught off-guard when Freddie suddenly let out a loud yell that sounded like something that came out of the movie Gladiator, suddenly grabbing the coffee table and flipping it over. I'd never in my life seen him do anything like that before, not even close. He whirled around, and the look he gave me was downright scary.

"I HAVE BEEN BEATING MYSELF UP FOR THREE GODDAMN YEARS OVER THAT!" He screamed at the top of his lungs, inches away from my face. "FUCK YOU, SAM! FUCK YOU FOR BRINGING THAT SHIT UP!"

"Fuck you for not being there, Freddie!" I yelled back.

He stared at me for a second, shaking his head. "You know what? I wish I'd never marr-" he cut himself off, biting his lip and looking away. I just nodded, unable to stop a tear streaming down my face.

"You wish what, Freddie? That you'd never married me?" I asked. He didn't respond, or meet my eyes. "You know what? Feeling's mutual." I turned to walk away, to go check on the baby, and let out a cry of alarm as Freddie suddenly grabbed my arm and yanked me back.

"We're not done talking about this!" he yelled, and I whirled around.

"HAVE YOU LOST YOUR FUCKING MIND?" I screamed, and before I knew what was happening, I hit him. I let out a gasp as soon as I realized what I'd done. Oh, no.

I had sworn to myself, no matter what, I'd never hit him again. I couldn't believe what I had done. This was no little slap like in the past. I'd hit him. Closed fist. Right in the mouth.

He stared at me for a minute, totally in shock, as he lifted a hand to his mouth and then pulled it away, staring at the blood on his fingertips and then finally looking up at me.

"Oh, god...baby, I'm so sorry, I didn't mean to..."

"I'm done, Sam," he said in a low voice, and I felt my stomach drop, unable to respond, move, think, breathe, blink. He continued to glare at me, shaking his head. "Did you hear me? I'M FUCKING DONE!" He brushed past me, heading for the front door. "IT'S OVER!"

With that, he opened the front door, slamming it behind him hard, and then all I could hear was the baby crying. But I was somewhere else. It took me a moment to realize I was on the floor, that I'd fallen to my knees, and then I started to sob.

Oh god, what had I done?


	75. Chapter 75: To Get Up and Walk Away

A/N: Bet you guys weren't expecting an update this fast, but here it is! Yes, things are definitely getting intense. Someone's going to absolutely lose their shit. Sidenote: I am beginning to run out of Incubus song titles to put with my chapters, so instead of song titles, I'm going to start Incubus' song lyrics.

**Chapter Seventy Five  
>To Get Up and Walk Away Would Be Too Easy<strong>

~*Brad*~

I frowned as I looked down at my watch, my eyes widening at the time. What was going on? Freddie and Sam knew we had a production meeting today, they were over a half hour late, and Freddie hadn't responded to any of my texts. This was completely unlike them. Even if they were going through one of their "all over each other" moments, they could usually manage to pull themselves apart long enough to get business stuff done.

"Okay, this is so not like them..." I muttered, beginning to get a little agitated.

At that moment, Carly walked into the studio, grumbling, and my eyebrows went up.

"What's wrong?"

She sighed. "I am SICK of your sister bribing us every time we need her help! You owe me eighty bucks!"

"Eighty?" I replied in surprise. "Geez, I mean, Katie's difficult and all, but..."

"But your sister is a con artist in the making," she replied with a shake of her head. "Brad, we have to talk about this nanny business."

I sighed, not wanting to get into this conversation again. "What about it, Carly? Look, I'm just not comfortable with a total stranger taking care of..."

"And I'm not comfortable failing college!" she shot back. "Or falling asleep at the wheel when I'm driving! We can do background checks! Brad, come on! You know I'm right on this!"

I let out a sigh. This was obviously really important to Carly, and as much as I disliked the idea, she was right. We needed help. We were in over our heads, and it was silly to keep trying to staying afloat on our own when we had more than enough money to hire some real help.

"Okay," I replied, and she looked at me in disbelief.

"Okay?" she asked, and I nodded.

"But just because we're hiring someone doesn't mean the hard part's over. We can't have a live-in, there's no space, so there'll still be some sleepless nights."

She nodded. "I know. But...I just feel like I'd be..less haggard."

"You're not haggard, babe. You look amazing, as always."

"I feel haggard," she replied self-consciously, tucking a strand of hair behind her ear.

"Nah, not at all," I responded, kissing her. "We'll start looking over the next few days, okay?"

Carly nodded. "Thank you," she said.

"But...right now we've got a bigger problem, babe," I told her. "Where's Sam and Freddie? They're over a half hour late. That's completely unlike them..."

Carly made a face. "You're right, that is completely unlike them...I need to text Sam...shit. She still doesn't have her phone. I can't believe she just...threw it off the apartment roof." I made a face of my own, which Carly caught. "What?"

I shrugged. "It doesn't really add up. You're telling me she was freaking out, decided to go up on the roof, and then chucked her phone?"

"Well, I..." she trailed off, frowning. "You're right. It doesn't add up. But...why would she lie?"

"Maybe she's hiding something."

Carly rolled her eyes. "You're doing that transference thing again."

I glared at her. "Don't you dare go freshman psych on me again, Carly. This has nothing to do with my mom."

"Fine," she replied. "Okay, we need to find out what's going on with them." She headed for the studio door, and I followed suit, going downstairs.

"Maybe Freddie's just having difficulty convincing Sam to deal with you," Carly stated, and I gave her a Look.

"Gee, thanks."

"Well! You did scare the crap out of her, Brad! And it's Sam, so that's not an easy thing to do."

I sighed. "Yeah, I know. And I feel really horrible about it. I really want to fix things with her."

"Well, maybe you can start tonight," Carly offered as she moved to open the front door. "Let's just...Freddie?" Carly stopped in her tracks, staring straight ahead, and I followed her gaze to find Freddie sitting against the wall next to his mom's apartment door. My hand went to Carly's shoulder, lightly pushing her aside as I walked out.

"Dude..." I said in a low voice, dropping to my knees in front of him. "Are you alright? What's going...holy shit man!" I exclaimed as I caught sight of his face. He had a busted lip with a good amount of blood he hadn't bothered to wipe away, his jaw looking slightly swollen. Oh shit. I had no clue what had happened, but whatever it was, it wasn't good.

"Freddie?" Carly asked worriedly, kneeling down next to me. "What happened?"

He just shook his head, staring at the ground.

"It's over," he said quietly.

As soon as the words left his mouth, Carly and I gave each other a horrified look. Oh, shit.

"Freddie," Carly said gently, putting a hand on his knee. "Tell us what happened."

Freddie let out a deep sigh, pushing Carly's hand away. "Please. Don't touch me right now."

"Dude," I replied. "You wanna get up? Tell us what's going on?"

He sighed again. "No."

I rolled my eyes, rising to my feet as I grabbed Freddie by the arm and yanked him up. "Come on."

"Why?"

"Man, snap out of it!" I yelled, shaking his shoulders. "Now get your ass in the apartment now, so we can figure out how to fix this!"

"It can't be fixed!" he yelled back, but I continued to drag him into the apartment. He fell back onto the couch, staring at the ceiling. "Oh my god, I wish I was dead."

"Freddie!" Carly cried as she shut the door. "Come on! That's not going to help anything."

"Nothing's going to help anything," he muttered.

"Dude," I said, perching on the coffee table and staring at him. "Pull yourself together. Now start from the beginning."

Freddie nodded, and I could tell he was mentally trying to steady himself before finally looking up, glancing over at Carly.

"I found Sam's phone," he said, and Carly gave him a perplexed look.

"In pieces?"

"No," Freddie replied. "She...we had an argument earlier today, because she wanted to go out..."

"Okay, so?" Carly asked.

"By herself, Carly!" Freddie yelled. "How many times since you've known her has she EVER done that?"

Carly made a face. "Never," she replied.

"Exactly," Freddie said with a nod. "But...I let her go, you know? I didn't want to make her any madder, I mean..." he let out a bitter laugh. "I always feel like I'm walking on eggshells with her. Half the shit, I shouldn't let her get away with it...but I do." He shook his head. "She makes me feel like a pussy sometimes, you know that?" He touched his busted lip self-consciously, grimacing in pain. I shot a look over at Carly, who nodded, heading into the kitchen and pulling out the first aid kit, rifling through it.

"Okay, so you got in a fight, she left to go out by herself," I said. "What else?"

"I got a phone call. From the manager of the pretzel place in the mall, letting me she found Sam's phone."

I heard a loud, metallic sounding bang to my left, and I turned my head to find Carly with her hand over her mouth, and the first aid kit laying on the floor, bandages and other supplies strewn about.

Carly shook her head slowly. "Please don't tell me..."

Freddie nodded. "She lied to me."

"And me," Carly replied. "To see Pam? After everything that happened?"

I couldn't even think of anything to say. Nothing would be helpful at this point, and I didn't want to say anything that could potentially stir Freddie up even more, but one thing was for sure: this was really, really bad. I'd never thought in a million years Sam would willingly converse with her mother, let alone see her. We'd all thought that Sam had been able to move past her old life, and deal with her problems, but it was obvious that wasn't the case. Sam was screwed up.

"So what happened after that?" I asked Freddie as Carly knelt down to scoop up the rest of the first aid supplies she'd dropped.

"She came back, and I called her out on it. It didn't go well," he said with a shake of his head.

"Obviously," I grunted. "So how'd you end up with a busted lip in all of this?"

"You want the cliffs notes or the unabridged version?" Freddie shot back.

"What do you think?"

"I told her I couldn't protect her if she kept doing stupid stuff, putting herself in stupid situations, she made a reference to the...incident."

My eyebrows went up.

"What kind of reference?"

"That it was my fault, because I wasn't there," he replied, sounding completely broken. Carly let out a mortified gasp, and I just shook my head, my hand covering my mouth.

"Oh my god, that little bitch..." I muttered.

"DUDE!" Freddie yelled, standing up and giving me a menacing look.

"Dude!" I replied pointedly, gesturing to his busted lip. "This is part of the problem! Every time Sam does something fucked up, you just jump up and defend her, whether she's wrong or not!"

"That's my job!" he yelled. "And I fucked it up! Obviously!"

I shook my head. "It's not your job to coddle her, make her think she doesn't have any faults. If you ask me, it makes it worse..."

"Shut up," Freddie snapped, flopping down on the couch, scowling.

I sighed, rolling my eyes. "Okay, fine. Forget I said anything. So...Bill situation got brought up, she said it was your fault..."

"I flipped the coffee table over, told her to go fuck herself, she tried to walk away and I grabbed her arm, and then..." he trailed off, leaning forward, resting his elbows on his knees as he ran a hand through his hair. "I can't do this with her any more." He paused. "I love her so much, but...it...it doesn't..." He shook his head. "It's not the same any more."

"Freddie, look, a lot of bad shit has happened over the last year, right?" Carly asked as she sat down next to him, examining his cut lip. "Sam's...she's not stable right now."

"Yeah, no shit...stop!" Freddie barked, aggravated, as he swatted Carly's hand away from his face, jerking the first aid kit out of her hand. "I don't wanna be touched right now."

"Watch it," I warned him. "She's just trying to help."

Carly shook her head. "It's fine. I get it."

We were all quiet for a few minutes, and Freddie let out a miserable sigh, shaking his head.

"I fucked up so bad."

"What?" I exclaimed. "Uh, no...Sam's the one who screwed up this time..."

"No, you don't get it..." Freddie replied. "It's my job to protect her. And I tried, you know? I tried really hard."

"Freddie, you did a good job," Carly replied softly. "You've always protected her."

"Yeah, I did. I protected her from everything, but...I didn't see it. I didn't fucking see it. I missed it, completely."

"See what?"

He shook his head. "I didn't protect her from herself. She..." He paused. "She's gonna self destruct. I...I can feel it."

I nodded. "It's been coming a long time," I said, and Freddie gave me a surprised look. "And there's nothing that you could have done to stop it. We all thought that getting rid of Bill, getting Pam locked up in a box, that it'd solve everything. But it just covered it all up. It was just waiting for the right time to come out."

"Yeah, well it's fucking out now," Freddie said bitterly. "I...I can't do it, man. I know that sounds shitty of me, but...I just can't. Everything I did for her, it was for nothing. It didn't fix anything. It didn't help her. And...now she's back to being volatile, unpredictable, dishonest. Like that girl that I was married to never even existed."

Carly shook her head. "Freddie, you can't give up."

"What am I supposed to do, Carly?" Freddie yelled. "I can't sit by and watch Sam set herself up to get hurt, and I can't get through to her! I did everything I could to fix her, and I FAILED."

I let out an annoyed grunt. "I'm still hearing Sam, Sam, Sam out of all of this, but dude, come on! You have to have a little respect for yourself! If I hadn't stepped in the other day she would have hauled off and hit you, and she did it today! Come on, dude, you can't let her do that to you..."

Freddie let out a low growl. "You act like I'm some battered wife or something."

"Uh, kinda, yeah!" I replied. "It's the same shit every time! You say something that sets her off, she goes postal, then cries, and then you forgive her, and less than a week later it's another meltdown! Does that make you feel good about yourself, man?"

"I...no!" Freddie yelled. "But...dammit! I...fuck, I don't know what to do...and...Freddie Jr, what about him? Brad, fucking help me, man. I don't know what to do."

I opened my mouth to say something, but stopped when I noticed Carly had risen to her feet and began walking to the door.

"God, Sam's probably a wreck right now," she sighed, stopping when she noticed the look I was giving her. "What?"

"Don't you dare try to make her feel better. She needs to feel like shit right now."

"BRAD!" Freddie yelled.

"She's not going to get better unless she does!" I yelled back.

"I can't do that, Brad," Carly replied, crossing her arms over her chest. "She's my best friend."

I grunted; girl had a point. She had to have Sam's back the same way I had to have Freddie's.

"Fine, go. Don't let her do anything stupid."

"I won't," she replied. "And you really need to stop with this transf-"

"Carly!" I barked. "Enough with t-word! That's not what's going on here!"

"Right," Carly replied with a roll of her eyes. "I'll be back."

With that, she was gone, and Freddie gave me a strange look.

"T-word?"

"Don't worry about it," I said with a wave of my hand, and he nodded. We were silent for a few minutes, and then Freddie looked up at me.

"You're not taking her side over this?"

"No."

"Why not?"

I shrugged. "Because I don't know who the fuck she is any more."

He nodded, his brow furrowed, clearly thinking hard, and looked at me again.

"We were in the same boat with you a few months ago."

"And you guys didn't cut me half the slack you cut Sam."

"She's my wife."

"And she needs to fucking remember that, not...treat you like her punching bag."

"She doesn't," Freddie said firmly. "You don't understand Sam. She has..."

"...issues. Yeah, I know. But how long are you going to let those issues be her get out of jail free card? You have issues. I have issues. Carly has issues. We all have issues. But the one thing we've never done is cut each other slack over it. EXCEPT for Sam. You think that's helping her, man?"

"No," Freddie said with a sigh. "But...I just...you don't understand her. You don't understand us."

"Then why'd you leave, man?" I asked. "If you honestly think there's not a problem, then why'd you leave?"

"Because I can't stand to see it!" he replied, his voice sounding pained. "I can't watch her go down in flames like this! Nothing I can do for her is going to make a bit of difference, and I can't stand by and watch it any more! I fucking failed, man!"

I shook my head. "You didn't fail."

"She's still screwed up!"

"Dude, you were trying to fix sixteen years worth of screwed up, did you think it could be done in three?"

"I don't know," he sighed, shaking his head. "I...I can't do this." He stood up. "I need to go back downstairs."

"Dude, don't do it," I replied. "You just said you can't watch her self-destruct, and that's what's going to happen."

"And I can't let her go through it alone!" he replied, beginning to pace.

"Yeah, because misery needs company, right?" I shot back. "You know what'll happen."

"Maybe...maybe I deserve it," he replied. "Maybe she was right."

I gave him a disgusted look. "I thought we dealt with this, Freddie."

"We did."

"The hell we did!" I yelled. "You're still blaming yourself for what happened to her! The same way you blamed yourself over what happened with your dad!"

"Thanks for bringing that up," he said sarcastically. "It's not like I'm depressed or anything."

"You're not invincible, Freddie! You can't control everything!"

He crossed his arms over his chest. "I'm just gonna have to be tougher. I can handle Sam."

"You shouldn't have to 'handle' her, dude!" I shot back. "It's gonna keep getting worse. Look at you, man! If she would've hit you any harder you'd be at the hospital get stitches right now! Do you really want to put yourself through that? Or...maybe you do."

"What the hell is that supposed to mean?" Freddie growled, narrowing his eyes at me.

"For some reason, somewhere deep down in you, you feel like you deserve it. You're BOTH screwed up."

"No shit. That's why we're good together."

"You think this is good?" I asked. "This isn't good! It's bad!"

"I can't give up on her!"

I paused, trying to think of something to say. Freddie still had blinders on when it came to Sam, after all these years, and I had to get through to him. I couldn't watch this. I didn't want to meddle, but their relationship had morphed from two people who amused themselves with occasional spats to spice things up to a girl who relieved stress by completely emasculating her husband. I didn't even know who either of them were any more.

"How did it make you feel when she went to see Pam?"

"Betrayed," he said in a low voice, looking at the ground.

"Why?"

"Because. I...I did so much, trying to get her out of there, keep her safe, and it's like she's throwing it in my face. I know Sam is really desperate for a mother, but the one she's got...it won't work. And...yeah. I feel like everything I did was for nothing. Like...like maybe she used me."

"Used you?" I asked, my eyebrows going up, and he nodded.

"Yeah," he responded. "Man, I..." I could tell he was really torn right now, the way his facial expressions kept switching, before he finally settled on anger. "She fucking hit me! Like...I don't even fucking matter to her, like I never did...it makes me feel like I'm...I CAN BENCHPRESS TWICE MY BODY WEIGHT! And I let her smack me around and I don't do anything about it! I just kept telling her, don't ever do it again. Don't ever do it again. And you know what? She fucking did it again! And again, and again...and...fuck this. I can't. I can't do it any more. She's never going to change."

I nodded. I wasn't trying to influence Freddie's decision one way or another, but he really need to think about what was going on, and hard.

"So...are you done?" I asked. "Have you completely given up?"

"I don't know," he sighed. "I need to think this shit over. See what she does next."

"She'll apologize."

He shook his head. "It's not enough any more. I feel like I can't trust her. I don't trust her not to lie me, I don't trust her not to hit me, and I don't trust her not to re-hash old shit and rub it in my face."

Well, now he was getting it. As pissed as I was at Sam right now, I loved the girl to death, loved them both, and hated to see them split up, but if it was for the best...

"Where are you going to stay tonight?"

He sighed. "I guess at my mom's. She's going to flip her shit when she sees my face."

"As she should," I grunted. "You have no idea how hard I'm fighting flipping my shit right now. If it wasn't for the fact that Sam and I are still on bad terms...man..."

Freddie glowered at me, shaking his head. "Leave her alone, Brad. I really don't want you involved this time. I really appreciate what you're trying to do and all, but...no."

"I'm not," I replied. "So...what are you going to do?"

He sighed. "I don't know. Call my uncle in the morning."

At the mention of 'call my uncle in the morning' my eyebrows went up. That was completely unexpected!

"But...I thought you were...you know..."

"Brad," he said firmly. "Like I said, she's on a path to self destruction. I'm not going to let her self destruct around my son. I...you know, Sam's worst fear was turning into her mother. And I used to think that would never happen, but now I'm not so sure. And I'm not going to let my son get hurt in all of this. The hell with me. And if she can't get a handle on herself, the hell with her. But...not my boy."

I nodded, I completely got that, and I have to say, it made me have a hell of a lot more respect for Freddie. He had the right idea. If Sam could deal with her issues and Freddie could deal with his, I'd be the first one to tell him to go for it, get back together, but if not? His head was definitely in the right place on this.

I just hoped his head would STAY in the right place.

~*Sam*~

I was so damn hysterical I couldn't get up off the floor. I don't know how long I'd been crying, but it was too long. I felt like my entire soul was going to break apart.

What the fuck did I do?

I pushed away the most important person in my life. I loved Freddie more than life itself, and I'd lied to him, hurt him, HIT HIM, pushed him away. I'd put a wall up, one he couldn't get through, and one final, poorly thought out defense strategy had made him give up.

I don't know why I did it. I just wanted him to back off. He seemed so determined to just...tell me things I didn't want to her.

I'd been hoping against hope, that I could fix things with my mother. Maybe...maybe somehow earn her love, the way I'd never been able to. But...I'd lost Freddie in the process. And I had no idea how I was going to make this up to him.

I sighed as I sat on the floor, hugging my knees to my chest. I was so damn violent. It had never changed. It just got buried somewhere deep inside me, waiting for the opportune moment to come out. And it had definitely come out, tonight.

I was brought out of my miserable thoughts by a loud knock at the door, and I looked at it hopefully, before shaking my head. Freddie wouldn't knock. With a sigh, I stood up, walking over to the front door and pulling it open, revealing Carly.

"Hi," she said softly, walking in.

"Hi," I replied. I stood there awkwardly for a moment, not sure what to say, and trying not to cry.

"Sam, are you okay?"

Well, so much for not crying. The instant she'd asked if I was okay, I wasn't. I burst into tears all over again, not even fighting her as she hugged me tightly.

"Oh, Sam...it's alright. It's alright. Shhh. Don't cry."

"I ruined it, Carly!" I sobbed into her shoulder. "I ruined everything!"

She pulled away, holding onto one my hands, and just shook her head.

"Sam...I...I don't even know where to start. You...you hurt him bad."

"I know..." I cried. "I know. I hit him."

She bit her lip. "I think he would have been able to handle that, if you hadn't..."

"If I hadn't what?"

"You told him it was his fault," she whispered. "How could you have done that?"

"I don't know...he said I kept putting myself in stupid situations, and it made me angry, and...I just snapped."

Carly nodded, and I couldn't help but notice she looked a little angry.

"The night it happened," she began as she pulled me to the couch and we both sat down. "Before you got out of surgery...before we knew you were okay...you should have seen him, Sam. The guilt that he felt for what happened to you...I can't describe it. I have never in my life seen a person look that broken before, and I never want to see that again. And I don't think he ever got past it. So...so you doing that...rubbing it in his face like that..." She trailed off. "I want to be on your side, so bad, Sam. I really do. But...but I can't."

I looked at her in shock. "You're my best friend."

"You were wrong."

"He..."

"You lied to him! And you lied to me!" Carly exclaimed, standing up. "Over...over Pam? You know what? I...before Freddie ever got involved, how many times did I...I was NINE the first time I had to bandage you up, Sam! We all went through this with you! It put ALL OF US through something! So...maybe I'm going out on a limb right now, but I'm guessing Freddie's feeling pretty betrayed, because I SURE AS HELL AM!"

"What?" I cried. "Oh, this is great! Did you just show up to make me feel worse, Carly?"

"You need to fix this, and you need to fix it now," she replied. "You have broken him, Sam. He is a broken man right now."

"I don't need a guilt trip, Carly!"

"No, you need someone to slap some sense into you, Sam! You cannot do this! Forget Freddie, what about you? You're talking to her!"

I shook my head, glaring at her. "You just don't get it."

"No, Sam. I get it. Trust me, nobody could understand wanting a mother more than me, remember?"

"Your mom died! She didn't reject you! She didn't hurt you!"

"Well, it's nice to see that you remember! She hurt you! Over and over and over! She's only going to do it again!"

I shook my head again. "Stop."

"Sam, think. Why, after all these years, after you and everyone you associated with contributed to her going to prison, WHY would she want to talk to you again? She is after something, Sam! I don't know what it is, but it can't be good."

"That's not true! She's changed!" I cried. "I know she has!"

"Look, just because you want to believe she's changed, it doesn't mean she has!" Carly replied.

I stared at Carly for a second, feeling that anger starting to well up all over again. In a way, deep down, I knew Freddie and Carly were right. But I refused to believe it. I couldn't. I wanted to believe she had changed. I wanted to believe she loved me. I NEEDED to believe it.

"Get out."

Carly gave me a surprised look. "What?"

"I said get out. I'm done talking to you."

"Sam!" Carly cried. "I'm just trying to help you!"

"No you're not! You're just trying to hurt me!"

"The truth hurts, Sam! I'm sorry! Okay? But...what you've done...what you're doing...please. Don't go down this road. Come on."

"Just leave, Carly!" I yelled. "I can't deal with this right now!"

"You have to deal with it!" she replied. "You're going to lose him if you don't, and you're going to lose yourself!"

"I ALREADY HAVE!" I screamed. "It's gone!"

Carly shook her head. "It's not, Sam. There's still a chance, but...not if you keep living in denial like this! She will HURT YOU. And you won't have anyone to put you back together this time."

"She's not going to hurt me."

Carly sighed, running a hand through her hair. "I can see I'm not going to be able to get through to you. I...I tried."

"Why do you guys want to keep shoving this down my throat?" I yelled. "Because you guys had to do what you did? That's all this is about!"

"All this is a- ARE YOU SERIOUS?" Carly screamed. "I could have gone to jail! Freddie could have gone to jail! Brad! Spencer! Gibby! My FATHER! After what we did...because of her...and...oh my god, Sam!" She sighed. "I'm done talking about this. I need to mellow out."

I nodded sadly. "Right. You're giving up on me too."

She laughed, shaking her head. "You don't get it. We all gave up. On Sam Puckett. Samantha Benson? I'll never give up on her. But she's not here right now."

With that, she let herself out, not even bothering to say goodbye, and I sighed, running a hand through my hair, feeling like I was falling apart. I reached down to grab my phone, which I hadn't touched since Freddie pulled it out of his pocket and put it on the coffee table. With shaky hands, I dialed my sister's phone number.

"Mel?" I said in a soft voice as she answered the phone.

"Sam? What's wrong?"

"When are you coming to Seattle?" I asked. It was quiet for a second.

"What's wrong, Sam?"

I sniffled. "Freddie and I split up. It's over."

"Oh, god," Melanie said. "Puddin' Pop...I'm so sorry. I...I'll get the next flight out, okay?"

"I'll pay for it," I replied as I started to cry. "Please..."

"Don't worry about the money, it's okay. I'm going to check online for the next flight, and then I'll be there, okay?"

"Okay," I replied. "And...I saw her."

"You did?" she asked. "I mean...like...talked to her?"

"Yeah. And...I lied to Freddie about it, and...we're over."

"God..." Melanie whispered. "Asshole. I mean...because you want to talk to your mother...he's gonna leave you?"

"No."

"Then what?"

"I hit him. Hard. Split his lip."

"Oh, geez, Sam...sweetie, you gotta stop doing that!"

"No kidding!" I cried. "I don't know how to fix this, Mel!"

"Look, just hold it together, okay? I'll be there soon. I love you, Sam."

"I love you too, Mel," I sniffled. "Bye."

"Bye." She clicked off, and I sat in silence for a moment, trying to figure out what to do. I was mentally and emotionally exhausted, and so completely lost.

I stood up, creeping into the baby's room and looking over the side of the crib at his sleeping form. He was such a beautiful baby. A carbon copy of his father. God, how had I screwed things up this bad?

I reached into the crib, picking baby Freddie up and holding him against me. He stirred a little bit, but then sighed a little bit and snuggled against me. Just like his father used to do. Something he'd probably never do again.

"I know I'm not supposed to let you sleep in the bed," I whispered, kissing little Freddie on the top of his head as I carried him to the bedroom, laying down on the bed. "But you're the only part of him I have left."

~*Freddie*~

"Mom, step away from the door," I said firmly as I crossed my arms over my chest and glared at her.

She shook her head. "I'm going to beat that girl senseless."

"Mom!"

"Freddiebear! She split your lip open! Look at you!"

"Well I don't need you to fight my battles for me!" I yelled back. "I just want a night to cool off, maybe get some kind of different perspective on this whole thing."

"After everything you did for that girl...you could have gone to Harvard!" she cried, and I rolled my eyes.

"Yes, mom, this is completely about throwing away my college options. Come on! I told you, I'm not that worried about me right now."

She shook her head sadly. "Freddie, that's part of the problem. You've been so worried about her, for the last three years...you don't even think about yourself any more."

I shrugged. "I love her."

"But you're thinking about leaving her?" my mom replied.

"Yes."

"You're not making any sense, Fredward."

"Sounds about right, because I feel like I'm going crazy," I said quietly. "You have no idea what this is doing to me."

"No, I know. I'm your mother. And I don't like seeing you hurt...and I want to absolutely STRANGLE Sam!"

"Well, that's not going to fix anything," I replied.

"No," she agreed. "It won't."

I'd been going round and round with my mom for the last hour or so, and I truly felt like I was going insane. I was alternating between pacing back and forth angrily and cursing Sam's name, to crying and heading for the door so I could make things right with her, to just sitting on the couch in silence. It was freaking my mom out, and I could tell Robert was seconds away from calling the nuthouse on me. But I couldn't help it.

As strange as it sounded, much of my sanity and ability to just deal was deeply rooted in stability, in the stability of mine and Sam's relationship. Over the last three years, it'd actually became part of my identity. Sam's husband. That was me, that was my job, that was my job. And apparently I'd been shitty at it, because after everything that had happened, she was still willing to go back to someone who'd hurt her incredibly. And she blamed me for what had happened to her, that I hadn't been able to protect her. It was bad enough that I blamed myself, but knowing that she blamed me too? I couldn't deal with it.

And that hit. It had hurt, physically, but it was more than that. It had literally broken my heart. It was the ultimate mark of disrespect. I felt like I didn't even have any worth as a human being right now, and while that was depressing, it was also worrying. What had happened to me over the last three years? My entire being was wrapped up in Sam. Take that away, and I didn't know who I was. When had that happened? When I had become so co-dependent?

Maybe Brad was right. Maybe I needed to think about myself. But...I couldn't. All I could think about was Sam, and my son. I wanted to protect my son by any means necessary, but I didn't know how I'd be able to handle it if it came up that I had to protect him from his own mother. If shit really hit the fan, if Sam truly lost herself, would I be strong enough to take the baby away from her? I wasn't prepared to deal with it.

I gave my mom a Look as she repeated her previous statement about wanting to strangle Sam.

"Mom, stop it," I responded. "Please."

"No, you know what I'd really like to do? Go over there and give Pam Puckett a piece of my mind!"

"You're not the only one," I grumbled. "Too bad we don't know where she's staying now. I don't know what Sam did with the envelope."

I watched my mom's eyes flicker toward the kitchen, before looking back at me, and I immediately stood up.

"You copied the address, didn't you?" I asked as I made a beeline for the 'junk drawer'.

"Fredward Karl Benson..." my mom warned as I began rifling through it.

"Don't start with me mom," I replied.

"I am not going to bail you out of jail if you do something stupid!"

"I'm not," I growled. "Just gonna have a little talk with my mother-in-law, that's all."

"Freddie," Robert said as he stood up. "This isn't a good idea."

I rolled my eyes. "Stay out of this, Robert."

"Freddie..."

I held up a hand to silence her. "There's nothing on earth you could say that's gonna make me rethink this."

"What is Sam going to do when she finds out?" my mom reminded me, and I just growled.

"I don't care. I don't care if she's angry at me, I don't care if she hates me! That woman's gonna hurt her. Even...even if we end up splitting up, I'm not going to let that happen."

"You're still trying to protect her, Freddie!" my mom yelled. "You can't protect that girl forever!"

"Watch me," I replied as I stuffed the address in my pocket, heading for the door. "I made a vow. And I'm gonna keep it."

With that, I left the apartment, slamming the door behind me as I stormed down the hallway. What I was about to do was crazy, but it was obvious. I'd lost it.

Pam Puckett lived on the other side of Seattle, the older, less well-to-do part. The...well, let's be honest, the ghetto. I was half afraid my car would be on concrete blocks when I came back.

She lived in a fifth floor walk-up that looked more than 100 years old, and the building was falling apart. It stunk. It...well, it was bad. But...for that piece of trash woman? Fitting.

I found the apartment door and banged on it loudly, not caring that it was late. I must have banged on the door for five minutes, until I heard someone yelling at me through it.

"Keep your pants on! I'll be right there."

I rolled my eyes as I crossed my arms over my chest. I heard the sound of several locks being undid, before the door jerked open, revealing none other than Pamela Puckett, my wife's mother.

"What the f-" she started, then sneered. "You."

"Me," I replied.

"What the hell are you doing here?"

I shrugged. "So the last time I saw you, you were telling my wife, your daughter, that you should have had an abortion. And now you want to compete for some mother of the year role. That's really funny."

She rolled her eyes. "I'm clean, okay?"

"For how long?" I snapped, and she just sighed.

"I wouldn't expect some perfect little rich kid like you to understand things like this."

"Oh fuck you, Pam!" I hissed. "I came here for one reason and one reason only."

"And what's that?"

"To warn you."

She looked amused, leaning against the doorframe. "Warn me? About what?"

"Drop the act. I know you're up to something."

"I love my daughters," she replied indignantly. "I want to build a relationship with them."

"Yeah, right," I replied. "You're after something. Money? Cuz I'd be more than willing to pay you to fuck off."

"Now why would you think that?" Pam responded.

"Oh, I don't know, past history?" I shot back. "I will do whatever's necessary to protect my wife, especially from you."

"Yeah, she mentioned you didn't want her talking to me. Probably why she lied to you. Does the idea of someone else in Sam's life, having to share her love with someone else, does that bother you?"

I just glared at her, unable to come back with anything.

"I'm back in Sam's life, and I'm going to stay," she replied. "You can either deal with it, or not, but it's happening."

"You know what? I've never in my life hurt a woman before, but if you hurt Sam..." I shook my head. "I will fuck you up, Pam."

"I'll be sure to let her know that," she replied with a sweet smile, before slamming the door in my face, leaving me utterly dismayed.

Shit, why didn't I think of that? She was going to be even more furious with me now! God, why don't I ever think things through? I was seriously, seriously losing it, and I didn't know what to do.

I didn't know what was more important, getting Sam back...or getting myself back.


	76. Chapter 76: This is When

A/N: I know you guys are all probably pissed off at me right now, but everybody calm down! I promise I'm going somewhere with this, somewhere important!

**Chapter Seventy Six**

**This Is When Things Started to Get Rough**

~*Sam*~

It was still dark outside when I woke up, thanks mostly in part to a particular bundle of fussing and crying that I was pretty fond of. My eyes popped up as I slowly came out of my emotional meltdown coma, looking down at my son.

"Hey, my little man," I said in a soft voice, kissing him on the forehead. "What's all that fussing about?"

More crying.

I sighed, sitting up. "Guess you're hungry."

Normally, if Freddie were here, one of us would take care of trying to calm the baby down, and the other one would go and make the bottle, get the diapers, whatever. But he wasn't here any more. He was gone.

It was scary. A man who'd been an integral part of my life for...most of it, and he'd given up on me. It was unimaginable, but then again, it wasn't. After all, I'd pretty much given up on myself. As I picked up my son, carrying him into the kitchen, I had to try with everything I had in me NOT to burst into tears.

I had so many thoughts swirling through my head right now, about what had happened, about the past, the future. But mostly that my worst fears had come true. The one thing I feared the most was being abandoned, and Freddie had done just that.

Freddie had promised he'd never give up on me.

But then again, I had promised I'd never lie to him. Or hit him.

It was my fault, and I knew it. But I didn't know if anything I could do would make a difference. That, and I knew he'd still fight me over the issue with my mom, maybe even give me an ultimatum. I couldn't do that.

But, still. I missed him. I missed him with everything I had in me. I loved Freddie so much, and I'd never thought in a million years this would happen to us. How was I supposed to deal? How was I supposed to get through life...without him? I didn't know if I could do it.

Everything was so up in the air right now, so uncertain. Would he file for divorce immediately? Would we have to go through a huge custody battle over the baby? How would we work together? I wouldn't be able to do the show without bursting into tears every time I looked at him!

As I made up the bottle, I continued to think about everything that had happened. Where had we gone wrong? I felt like there was some kind of huge catalyst to this that I was missing. I couldn't help but wonder...what if Freddie and the others hadn't kept the letter from me? Would I have been able to deal better? Or would I have pushed everyone away anyway?

Oh god, and Carly was mad at me too! She seemed almost as outraged as Freddie by this whole thing, but it irked me that they were making this all about themselves. Again, how many times was I supposed to thank them?

But, still. Freddie. Oh my god. I couldn't, wouldn't do this without him.

I finished making up the bottle, taking the baby with me back into the bedroom, and as I sat on the bed with him, I looked over at my phone, reaching for it so I could pound out a text.

'I'm really sorry.'

He was probably asleep, but...oh god, where was he sleeping tonight? Was he okay? Did he have his meds? Oh god. Not only was I heartbroken, I was worried about him.

I was surprised when a text came back immediately.

Freddie: I don't think sorry's gonna work this time.

'You're awake?'

Freddie: You expect me to be able to sleep after this? Plus my mouth hurts.

Ouch. That stung.

'I lost my temper. I'm sorry.'

Freddie: You lose your temper a lot, and you apologize even more. I can't deal with this any more.

I was powerless to stop the tears from streaming down my face as I read that last statement. I can't deal with this any more. Oh god. He had given up!

'Please, please, please don't give up on me, baby. I love you.'

Freddie: I love you too, but things have just gotten pushed too far. I'm at the breaking point.

'So am I.'

Freddie: I know you are, and I can't pull you back this time.

'You promised you'd never leave me.'

Freddie: You swore you'd never hit me again. I told you what would happen. I know I said it a lot, but this time I meant it. You can't treat me like that.

'Please! I'm sorry!'

It was quiet for a few minutes, no response, and I thought he'd given up on me, until I heard another beep.

Freddie: Are you taking care of my son?

In spite of everything, I rolled my eyes.

'Our son. And yes. I'm feeding him right now.'

Freddie: You let him sleep in the bed, didn't you? What'd I say about that? I really don't care what you do to me at this point, but you will not endanger my son.

Ugh. The way he was talking to me, it really was over. I could tell. But I couldn't give up. I had to do something, anything!

'Please don't do this, baby. I'll do whatever you want. Please. I love you. I promise we can work on this.'

It was quiet again. No response. Oh god, please...please...

Freddie: I'll be downstairs in a minute. I'm at my mom's.

'She wants to kill me, doesn't she?'

Freddie: Understatement of the century. I'll be there in a few minutes...that baby better be in his crib after you feed him!

Ugh. Well, at least I could say Freddie was a good father, that much was true. But what if we couldn't talk through this, and he decided to divorce me? He loved his son enough to go after custody, and with Marissa and his uncle backing him up...I'd be screwed.

God, why was this happening? I just wanted us to make up! To crawl into bed so I could lay my head on his chest and listen to his heartbeat. That was the only thing in the world I wanted right now. I felt horrible, and I knew the only thing that would make me feel better would be Freddie. I needed him. I couldn't let him just walk away.

Little Freddie had drained his bottle quickly, and I laid him on the bed so I could look in the mirror. God, I looked like a wreck, mascara streamed down my face, hair a mess. I quickly wiped my face and fluffed my hair up a bit, and as soon as I finished doing that, I heard the front door creak open. I took a deep breath, leaning down to pick up the baby.

"Daddy's home," I whispered in his ear.

"Sam?" I heard him call.

"In here," I called back. Another deep breath I sucked in, trying to steady myself for this. Go time, Sam. You have to do whatever's necessary to make him forgive you. No matter what.

The door creaked open, revealing Freddie. Oh, god. He was so incredibly gorgeous. No matter what happened, no matter what was going on, that was always the first thing that popped into my head. Even on days when I was furious with him. But...he looked like he was in rough shape too. Like me.

"Hi," I managed to squeak out, fighting the urge to just run into his arms.

"Hi," he replied.

I gestured to his face. "That looks bad."

He shrugged. "It's some of your best work. You should be proud."

I winced, looking at the floor. "I'm not proud. I feel like shit."

"That makes two of us." He held his arms out. "Give me the baby."

"Why?" I barked, alarmed. "What are you going to do with him?"

He rolled his eyes. "I'm putting him in his crib, where he belongs."

I sighed, handing him over, and Freddie cradled him in his arms so carefully, like he'd always done. He was such a good father. And such a good husband. Me, on the other hand? I was a shitty human being.

"Hey buddy," he murmured, kissing him on the head. "Let's put you in bed."

He disappeared for a moment, and I sighed, sitting on the bed, trying to maintain my composure. My legs were shaking, bouncing up and down nervously.

Please god, let him forgive me. Please god, let him forgive me. Please god, let him – I was brought out my silent pleas when Freddie walked back in the room, leaning against the dresser, a few feet away from me, silent as he stared at me.

I stared back, unsure of what to say, but one thing was for sure, I couldn't take my eyes off him.

He looked down at the ground, seeming like he was thinking hard about something.

"I don't know who I am any more, Sam," he said quietly.

"What?"

"I...I got really wrapped up in the identity of being your husband," he replied. "I feel like that's all I am."

"That's not true," I whispered, and he nodded.

"I know it's not true, but that's how I feel. So...so if I take that away, what's left? What's left of me?"

"You don't have to take it away."

"How should we fix this, Sam? How?" he sighed. "I feel like I can't trust you."

"I'm sorry I lied to you..."

"It's not about that. I mean, it is. I'm angry about that, still. But...that's not what I meant. I don't trust you not to hurt me."

"Baby, please..."

"Stop," he held a hand up. "Just stop. This can't be fixed with you trying to butter me up, Sam."

"Then tell me how to fix it."

He shook his head. "I'm not sure you can."

"I'll do anything," I said as I dared to rise to my feet, slowly inching toward him. I could tell he didn't want me anywhere near him, but I didn't care right now. I NEEDED to be near him. I needed him so much. Why had I forgotten that?

"Sam..." he warned, trying to back up, but his back was against the dresser. But him backing up, oh my god, did that sting. He didn't want me to touch him. But I wasn't going to give up.

"Baby, please..."

"Sam..."

"Freddie," I whispered as I touched his arm. "I love you."

He didn't respond, just looked at the ground, his jaw twitching a little bit, like he was really holding back.

"Freddie?" I let my hand trace over his arm lightly, traveling upwards until I touched his shoulder. "I love you."

He shook his head. "Stop," he said, his voice a little choked up, letting out a shaky sigh.

"No. I love you. I won't stop." My hand went to the back of his neck, and I took a step closer, our bodies mere inches apart.

"Please stop."

I could tell his resolve was caving, and that's completely what I was after. Just a few more seconds, and this would all be over. I just had to keep pushing forward. Once I got his mind off everything, he'd go on autopilot, we'd make love, and it would all be over. It had to be over, now. I couldn't deal with this.

"I love you," I whispered again as I kissed his cheek. "Please forgive me."

"Sam..." He reached out to touch me, and then pulled back suddenly, jerking away, a fiery look in his eye. "No."

He was certainly being stubborn this time, and maybe I deserved it, but that didn't mean I was going to give up. I couldn't.

"Yes."

"Sam..." he trailed off, his voice catching in his throat as I kissed his neck, letting out a noise that sounded like pure defeat.

"Forgive me."

I wasn't sure if he'd let me, but it was worth a shot, so I let my lips graze his, on the side of his mouth I hadn't hit.

"Forgive me," I said again. I kissed him again, both hands at the back of his neck. He seemed a little hesitant at first, and I noticed his hands were gripping the dresser behind him so hard his knuckles were turning white. Ugh, I had to break him, had to make him cave. This is how it worked. We would fight, and then we'd end up making up physically before we dealt with the emotional stuff. It could happen again. It would happen again. It would happen now.

Finally, one hand left the dresser and went to my back, pressing me against him, and I kissed him even deeper, one hand leaving his neck to run up and down his chest. He let out a groan against my lips as he kissed me passionately, his other hand creeping into my hair.

We stood there like that for awhile, just kissing, and all I could feel was relief. Despite the fact I had screwed up, he would forgive me. He always did. We'd be okay.

"See?" I whispered as I kissed him. "Everything's okay."

He froze, his body tensing up, and then pulled away from me, staring me down.

"Freddie?"

"Everything is not okay, Sam," he replied with a shake of his head. "Nothing's okay." His voice sounded broken, exhausted. He was still fighting me.

"We can work on it." I reassured him, kissing him again. "We can fix it."

He sighed, looking at the ground, silent for a moment, and then looked back up at me. "You've turned me into a weak man."

"No," I replied, kissing his neck. "No. You're strong."

"Not when it comes to you." He let out a bitter sounding laugh. "Look at me. I...I let you get away with everything."

"Because you love me."

"I do," he whispered. "I love you so fucking much, Sam...I...I don't want this to happen."

"So don't let it happen."

"But I can't keep living like this," he responded with a shake of his head. "You don't understand...I feel like, I feel so..."

"Baby," I whispered in his ear, before nibbling on it. "We can work this stuff out. In the morning. Just...just relax, okay?"

He shook his head. "I can't."

"You can," I murmured, kissing him. He mumbled something against my mouth, something I couldn't make out, but I'm sure it was more of Freddie trying to hold out. However, I wasn't about to let that happen. I needed to ramp things up, and quick.

I kissed him more purposefully this time, my hand at the back of his neck and my body pressed against his, and I let my hand slide down his chest until I reached the hem of his shirt, my hand slipping under it as my fingertips traced lightly over his cut abs. He sucked in a deep gasp of air, groaning against my mouth.

"I love you, baby," I whispered against his mouth as I pulled his shirt over his head and let it drop to the floor, kissing his neck.

He let out a frustrated sounding groan as I kissed lower and lower, over his shoulders, across his chest, over his abs, and then looked up at him.

"Did you hear me, baby? I love you."

I dropped to my knees, my hands going to his belt, and I looked up at him, unbuckling it and then going for the button on his jeans.

"Freddie? I love you."

He sighed, looking away.

"I love you too."

~*Freddie*~

I woke up in sort of a haze as the sun streamed through the window, blinking, and the first thing that went through my mind was 'damn, my jaw hurts.'

Then everything came back to me. What had happened, how she'd hit me...and then what had happened after, when I went to confront her.

I had every intention of having a really hard, deep talk with her, about how she made me feel horrible, how she was hurting herself, everything. But then she did it again. With just a few kisses, she broke me down.

I sighed, running a hand through my hair.

I was completely and totally weak when it came to that girl. In some ways I felt like her slave.

We'd ended up having sex, like we usually did after we had an argument, but this time, I felt like it hadn't solved anything. I wanted to put up more of a fight, but I was powerless. Every time she touched me, I was powerless. I hadn't been able to stop her from kissing me, from getting my clothes off, pushing me onto the bed and then straddling me. Of course, it's not like I had tried.

In a way, it was what I wanted, so desperately. Just to be able to hold her and touch her, kiss her, like we did before. But something was off this time. It hadn't made me feel better, it made me feel worse. Like I said, I felt weak, powerless. But it was something else too.

I felt manipulated.

Sam was a good manipulator, a great one. She always had been. Getting people to do what she wanted them to do, she had a real talent for it. But now she was using it on me, messing with my head, and I didn't like it. I didn't like the way it made me feel. Like a toy, almost.

It was like at that moment, she hadn't cared about how I felt at all, like she was just trying to quell her own guilt over the situation. I didn't want Sam to feel bad, but...I felt bad.

I looked over at Sam's sleeping form, and for the first time ever, I didn't want to just lay in bed and cuddle with her. Part of me did, of course, but a much larger part of me was feeling disgust. Not at her, but at myself. Why couldn't I stand up for myself when it came to her? Why did I let her break me down like this?

I was brought out of my thoughts by the sound of Sam's phone ringing, and I let out a groan, reaching out to shake her shoulder gently.

"Sam...your phone."

She made a sleepy, agitated noise, blindly reaching out to grab it and putting it to her ear.

"Hello?" she murmured sleepily, and then I watched her eyes pop open. "What?" She sat up like a shot, and then she tossed a glare my way.

Ah, fuck. Here we go again. The way she looked at me, I could tell only one person could be on the other end of that phone call.

Pam Puckett.

At that, I stood up to get dressed, because where we were about to go, I didn't want to go there.

"He did what? Why would he...no. No. Don't worry about it. I'm sorry. No, I'll deal with it. No, he's not going to hurt you." she glared at me again. "He's full of shit."

Ouch.

"Yeah, I'll talk to you later. Bye." She hung up, giving me an angry look as she wrapped the sheet around her and stood up.

"You threatened my mother?"

I shrugged. "I told her not to hurt you."

"You THREATENED my mother," she repeated, shaking her head. "What the hell, Freddie? Are you fucking retarded?"

I gave her a surprised look. "What?"

"You heard me."

I shook my head. "I should have known this was going to happen. I...I never should have came back. I knew you were going to do this...toy with me until I pissed you off again."

"Well maybe you should stop pissing me off!" she yelled.

"Maybe you need to get a handle on yourself!" I yelled back. "You're not a fucking kid any more, Sam! Grow up!"

"Fuck you," she growled.

"God, I...you're never going to change, you know that? And as long as I'm around you, neither will I! I'm always gonna be your little bitch-boy!"

"I have every right to be angry about this!"

"And I have every right to be angry about how you just...fucking played me! You think we can solve every problem with sex? That every time you kiss me, everything will just be fine?"

"It worked, didn't it?" she shot back, and I looked away.

Sam was like two different people sometimes, the way she leapt back and forth between angry Sam and my sweet sweet baby. But...my sweet sweet baby was gone. I'd had hope for a moment last night that it had come back, but she was only doing it to get what she wanted. Like I said, I felt played. Manipulated.

Used.

"I don't know who you are any more, Sam," I whispered, biting my lip. "I don't. Yeah, I shouldn't have gone there last night, confronted her, but I was angry and upset, and worried about you."

"Well stop worrying about me, Freddie!" she snapped. "I can take of myself!"

I shook my head. "I'm not worrying about you any more. I...I'm really giving up this time."

"There's a shocker," she spat. "I always knew you would."

I shook my head, heading for the door.

"Where are you going?"

"I'm taking my son for a few hours. I'll bring him back at the end of the day."

She gave me a menacing look. "No, you're not."

"Yes, I AM. He's my son too. I promise I'll bring him back this evening, but if you try to come between and him..." I shook my head, biting my lip. "If this escalates into some physical altercation..."

"What, Freddie? You'd never hit me."

"Yeah, you're right. Too bad you don't have the same restraint," I called over my shoulder, heading for the baby's room. I gathered up the things he would need for the day, stuffing them into his diaper bag, and then picked him up, swinging through the kitchen to grab a can of formula.

Sam stood in the living room, glaring at me, and I glared right back. I was done this time. After the first fight, and then her duping me into sleeping with her...and then going right back to yelling at me and treating me like shit, I was done.

"Sam?"

"What?"

"You're going to need a lawyer," I replied, not even bothering to look at her, as I headed for the front door, shutting it behind me.

My mind was a complete blank as I stood in the elevator with my son, not sure what I was supposed to think or do. A very large part of me wanted to stay behind and help her deal with everything, and not care about the constant shots she took at my ego, but I knew that wasn't good. For one thing, I'd end up going insane, and for another, what kind of example would I be setting for my son? It wasn't right!

I stepped off the elevator, heading for my mom's apartment, and I knocked on the door. A few minutes later it pulled open, revealing my mom.

"Where did you go last night after you came back from talking to Pam?" she asked. "You disappeared."

I ignored her question, walking into the apartment and handing her the baby. "I'm gonna need to stay here for a little while."

She looked at me, shaking her head, and I could tell that she'd figured out everything. She knew how Sam and I were in a physical sense, and she also could look at me and see everything going on in my head. She was, after all, my mother.

"That girl..." my mom shook her head.

"Mom, you don't..."

"I know exactly what she did, Freddie. It's written all over your face. I know you're a young man with hormones, and you two were...very active, but she's hitting you at a weak spot, and she knew it."

I nodded. "I know. That's why...that's why I'm giving up."

She nodded too, not saying anything, and I sighed.

"I gotta call Uncle Milton. And then I have to talk to Brad."

My mom gave me a strange look that I couldn't quite read.

"Be careful who you take advice from, Freddiebear."

"What is that supposed to mean?" I asked. "He's my best friend. He wants what's best for me..."

"I know that, but...I've also noticed Brad's view on things these days are a bit warped."

"He's going through a lot," I argued.

"You all are. And if your issues start bleeding onto each other, it's going to really complicate things even more."

I had to laugh at that.

"I don't think that's possible."

~*Sam*~

Shit. Shit. Shit.

That's all I could say to myself as I paced back and forth angrily. I was so angry I couldn't even see straight.

This wasn't how I wanted to things to go.

I'd lost my temper with him, again. I felt like I couldn't control myself any longer, like there was some kind of fire that had been slowly kindling inside me, but something had sparked it up again, and this time it was so bad that I couldn't control it.

I'd always had a temper, but I'd usually been able to reel it in. But this time? I was completely powerless.

What was I doing? I had hurt him. In more ways than one.

I bit my lip as I paced, thinking back to last night.

"You've turned me into a weak man," he told me.

I'd kissed him again.

He'd tried to pull away, and then relaxed, like he was emotionally torn, like he couldn't control himself either.

I tried to picture in my mind exactly what had happened last night, and then I remembered that look he gave me. It was one of broken desperation, a weak man trying desperately to hold on to one last bit of control...and failing.

I was so upset last night, and I wanted to stop feeling that way. I'd wanted him to forgive me, to make myself feel better.

To make MYSELF feel better.

In all of it, I hadn't even thought about him. I went straight for his weak spot, doing whatever I had to do to get what I wanted.

I'd manipulated him.

And the second I'd gotten upset again, with that phone call from my mother, I snapped.

At that thought, I wanted to throw up, completely disgusted with myself. Who are you, Sam? What happened to you? The person you love more than anything...look what you're doing to him!

I really had hurt him, but I had no idea how to rectify this. I had no idea how to control myself. I was losing myself.

But that phone call? I didn't know what to make of it, the way my mother sobbed to me, saying she couldn't get any sleep last night because she was afraid of what Freddie might do to her. In some ways, I couldn't believe it.

But then, what he'd done to Bill. That had given me a good reason to believe it.

And that was a little scary, to be honest.

I felt like I didn't know either one of us any more.

I jumped a little as my phone beeped at me, hoping it was Freddie as I made a beeline for it, and then frowning.

Oh, who was I kidding? After the way I'd treated him? He'd probably just mail me divorce papers and that would be it.

Melanie: I am about to get on a plane. I will see you in about five hours.

I sighed, oh thank god. With Freddie officially leaving, Carly angry at me, and Brad and I on the outs, I had no one. I was completely alone. Despite all her problems, I certainly had mine, and I needed my sister.

But I was going to have my hands full with her. I thought I had problems regarding my mother? Melanie's were way more compounded than mine, and they'd been simmering for over a decade. She was probably going to have a meltdown. But...maybe it'd be good for her, to get it off her chest.

I just hoped that meltdown wouldn't be too explosive, and that it wouldn't be contagious.

~*Carly*~

"Okay, so..." I said as I leaned against Brad, looking over his shoulder at the computer. We were looking at the website for a 'nanny agency', just to get a better idea of what we were dealing with. I was glad I'd finally managed to talk Brad into it. We desperately needed the help, not to mention some downtime.

Between Heather, Bryson, Leah, and Katie, we had our hands full, but the issue of Sam and Freddie splitting up? That gave us even more to deal with. Brad and I had both acknowledged that we needed to stay out of it, but also that we COULDN'T stay out of this one. Our best friends were going through hell right now, and we needed to be there any way we could.

The thing was, Sam didn't seem to want any of us there. She'd managed to push all of us away, one by one, starting with Brad, then Freddie, then me. I was stunned.

I tried to focus on the more pressing issue, the nanny situation. We needed to get on this, and now!

"I guess it doesn't look too bad," Brad grumbled as he read over the website. "They do a lot of background checks, and that's good."

"Look, and they're all first aid and CPR certified," I pointed out. "That's good, right?"

Brad nodded. "I hope you can understand why I'm a little...hesitant, babe," he said. "I mean, they've been screwed with enough, you know? I don't want to bring anyone else into their lives that could potentially do that..."

"I know, baby," I responded, kissing him on the cheek. "But I really think it's for the best. Wouldn't it be nice for us to be able to like...just go to a movie, alone, or spend time in our room alone without distractions...like we used to?"

He nodded. "That would be nice." I watched the expression on his face change, suddenly looking irritated, as he let out a grumble, drumming his fingers on the counter.

"Brad?"

He sighed, looking up at me. "We haven't worked on the wedding plans AT ALL lately, you know that?" he asked. "We've been so busy..."

"Is that what made you just turn into Mr. Grumpypants?" I asked with a laugh, and he nodded.

"Yeah. We gotta get back on track, babydoll. I mean, it's already October, and..."

I let out a groan as I cut him off, and he looked up at me, perplexed.

"What?"

"Sam and Freddie's birthdays," I replied. "This is gonna be tough."

"I have a feeling he's gonna cave," Brad grumbled. "And it's not going to help either one of them."

"Yeah, I know what you mean," I sighed. "It might fix things for awhile, but their problems are just going to come back later when another big issue comes up. But getting back to the wedding..."

"Have you thought about where you wanna go on our honeymoon?" Brad asked me with a smile, turning around to pull me into his arms.

Oh my gosh, honeymoon? I hadn't really thought about that! It was so exciting!

"Have you?"

He shrugged. "Anywhere I get to see you in a bikini's just fine by me. Hawaii, Tahiti, Mexico..."

"Hmm. Well, we'll check some stuff out," I said with a shrug. "And...I'm guessing your grandparents would watch the kids for us?"

"Absolutely. Grandma already offered."

I gave him a big grin, kissing him. "I can't wait until we're married."

"Me neither," he replied. "I love you so much, Carly."

"I love you too, Brad," I responded, and he smiled, kissing me again. We could be such saps sometimes, but that was okay. I loved it. Despite everything that was going on, I still had Brad, and he still had me. And we were still crazy about each other. Sometimes we just got so busy, we forgot that.

He kissed me a little deeper, pressing me against him, and my arms went around his neck as I continued to kiss him.

"Babe, for the first time ever, all the kids are at school, and Katie's asleep..." he whispered in my ear, kissing my neck.

"So?" I asked with a giggle, and he sighed.

"Babe..." he groaned, as he let one hand slide down to my butt, pulling me against him tighter and squeezing at the same time, making me jump a little. "Come on."

"Something you want?" I teased him.

"You know damn well what I want," he replied, kissing me again.

"Hmm. What do I get out of it?"

"Besides a ton of orgasms?" he replied, laughing when he saw me blush.

"Well, maybe I need a little more convincing," I said, running my fingernails over his scalp, making him purr. He loved when I scratched his head. Depending on how I did it, I could turn him off or relax him, but right now, I could definitely tell I was turning him off.

"Hmm. Well, let's see..." Brad said, kissing me a bit more passionately this time and grinding into me. I couldn't help but sigh.

"Brad..."

At that moment, the front door flung open, and I stopped kissing Brad to find Freddie standing there.

Freddie took one look at us in each other's arms and rolled his eyes, letting out an aggravated sigh. "I'll come back," he sighed, moving to head out the door.

"No, wait! Freddie!" I called. "It's fine. Come on."

He turned around, looking at me, then at Brad. "Are you sure."

I turned to look at my fiance. "Brad?"

Brad sucked in a deep breath, closing his eyes for a second, before snapping out of it, schooling his face into a neutral, non-annoyed expression.

"I'm good," he replied. "What's up, man?"

Freddie sighed, flopping down on the couch.

"Man..."

"What happened this time?" I asked.

Freddie shook his head, thinking for a second. "Have you guys ever...never mind."

"No, tell us," I said, sitting down on the other side of his couch.

"I went to talk to her last night...or...this morning, more like it. She started texting me at like five in the morning. I tried to just...ignore it, or whatever, but...I can't stay away from her. You know how I am."

I nodded, glancing over at Brad, who just shook his head. We both knew how Freddie was, at least when it came to Sam. It was odd how Freddie was a total control freak, but yet Sam had complete and total power over HIM. I couldn't help but wonder if that made Freddie's issue with control even worse.

"So what happened?" I asked, and Freddie just looked at the floor, silent, and then finally looked back up at us.

"It's not like her to be THIS manipulative..."

"Wait." Brad said, standing up from his spot at the counter. "Did she...did you..."

Freddie groaned, covering his face. "I am such a little bitch."

"And then what?"

"We got into another fight this morning," he said with a shrug. "I shouldn't have gone to talk to her, I mean, I knew what was going to happen...I just didn't think I was going to feel like THIS afterwards."

I shot a look over at Brad, who just shook his head.

"She's going too far this time," he grunted, and Freddie nodded.

"I can't deal with it any more," he said softly.

I was absolutely stunned. Freddie hadn't gone into detail about what happened, but it didn't matter. He didn't have to. Sam had obviously pulled one of her tricks on him, broke him down by hitting him at his weakest spot. That kind of thing was fine when it came to stupid things like taking out the trash, but not trying to get away with what she had done! I felt like I didn't even know my best friend any more. She was changing into a person I didn't even recognize.

"So now what?" I asked, and Freddie shrugged.

"I called my uncle, so...things are gonna start happening," he sighed.

I nodded. "Are you sure you're ready for this?"

"No," he replied. He laughed, like he couldn't believe what he was doing. "How could I be? But...Sam...I don't know who she is any more."

"I know what you mean," I replied. "Because I don't know who she is either."

"Where's the kid?" Brad asked suddenly, and Freddie gestured towards the door with his head.

"With my mom. I'm gonna try to see if I can keep him during the day from now on, just in case.."

"In case what?"

"In case she gets some stupid idea in her head about bringing my son around that devil woman," he growled. "I won't stand for it."

"Probably a good idea," I said. "So you're gonna fight her? On custody? I don't think she'll be able to handle that, Freddie..."

He shook his head. "I never said I'd fight her on it, joint custody would be fine. The only way I'd really take him away is if she did something really stupid."

"Something tells me we're not that far off," Brad grumbled, and Freddie nodded.

"That's what really scares me," he said. "And I can't do anything about it."

"What if...what if she manages to pull herself back together? You know? Like...if she's okay again?" I asked, and Freddie shrugged.

"Then I will get on my knees and beg her to take me back," he replied softly. "But I just don't see that happening. You know, we were having problems before the Pam issue. She started having those body issues, and pushing me away, and...occasionally things would be like they were before, but...she's been pulling away from me for awhile now. I could feel it, I just...didn't want to believe it."

I nodded, not really sure what to say, and then looked back at him.

"I don't mean to pry but, have you taken..."

"Yep," Freddie said with a nod. "I'm not gonna space on my meds, Carly. I'm good. I can't space on them, you know? My son needs me."

I had to smile at that, and Freddie looked at me.

"What?"

"You think being Sam's husband is all you are, but...you're a father too. As long as you keep that in mind, you'll be okay."

He nodded. "I know. I just...I wish she was okay. I wish we were okay together. I don't want this. I want the old Sam back."

I shook my head. "Freddie...I...I don't know if the old Sam will ever come back."

He nodded sadly. "Me either."


	77. Chapter 77: Stay On Solid Ground

**A/N: Not much to say about this chapter, other than be nice! I'm getting a lot of flack right now just for trying to tell a story, and that really sucks. **

**Chapter Seventy Seven  
>Stay on Solid Ground<strong>

~*Sam*~

I stood outside the airport terminal, looking down at my phone. I'd been doing that all day, for some stupid reason hoping Freddie would text me or call me. He hadn't. And I had a feeling he wouldn't. I felt really bad for what had happened, both last night and this morning, but a lame apology wouldn't fix it. If anything, it would make it worse!

Things were certainly screwed up, that was for sure, and I didn't know how to fix it. And the fact that Freddie had insisted taking the baby this morning, that worried me. Would he keep his word about bringing him back? I wasn't sure. And that made me nervous as hell.

But right now, I didn't want to think about that. Mel would come walking down that terminal any second. I prayed I could hold it together and not burst into tears in a public place, but as it were I felt like I might break down any second. I was really losing it. I didn't know what to think, how to feel, how to fix or change anything. And I wasn't sure if Melanie and her proverbial traveling circus of insanity would help, or make it worse. I just had to keep my head on straight, that was all.

I glanced down at my phone again, and when I looked back up, I spotted a petite blonde headed my way, dragging her suitcase behind her like a wounded seal in a fashionable looking leather jacket, skinny jeans, and tall boots, her face partially obscured by a pair of large sunglasses. What struck me was her hair though, same shade as mine, but cropped shorter, just above the shoulders.

Was that my sister?

"Melanie?" I called, and the blonde stopped, giving me a big grin and pulling the glasses off her face. It WAS my sister!

"Spam!" she yelled, bounding over to me and pulling me into a huge hug. "Oh god, I missed you Puddin' Pop!"

"I missed you too, Mel," I said softly.

She pulled away, staring at me. "You're not okay, are you?"

I sighed, my bottom lip beginning to tremble despite my best efforts. "No."

Melanie shook her head. "I was afraid of that," she said. "Okay, come on, let's get out of here. I'm starving."

"You cut your hair?" I asked, and she nodded.

"I got a job for this custom lingerie company back in Raleigh, and I felt like my look was a little too young, like they wouldn't take me seriously. So I cut my hair, changed my look. I mean, I like it. Do you?"

"Yeah," I said with a nod. "You look...like you're 24, 25."

"Awesome," Mel replied. "That's what I'm going for. Okay, seriously, starving. I need something good, like...salmon. And a martini, stat."

I gave her the hairy eyeball. "You're still drinking," I said with a sigh.

She shrugged. "I've cut back."

"And the pill-popping?"

"Well, it's not considered pill-popping if it's prescribed by a doctor, you know. And...the internet does really offer a wealth of knowledge on symptoms..."

"Melanie..." I said, giving her a look. "You lied to get prescriptions?"

"Well, at least you can't accuse me of stealing your husband's meds this time."

I couldn't help it, at the mention of the word 'husband', I let out a sob, immediately bursting into tears, and Melanie gave me a sympathetic look.

"Shh, Sam..." she said, hugging me. "It's okay. Maybe...maybe you guys can work it out."

I shook my head. "I don't think so, and...I'm honestly starting to think he'd be better off without me."

Melanie's brow furrowed. "What do you mean, Sam? You've been telling me for the last three years how perfect you two are together, now you're saying you think he'd be better off without you?"

I shrugged. "He's still perfect. I mean, he's got his faults, we all do, but...my god. I...I really screwed up, Mel. He doesn't deserve to get put through all the stuff I put him through. I yell at him, I insult him, I hit him...and...last night..."

"Last night what?"

"He...you should've seen him, Mel. He looked exhausted. Broken. I really hurt him, and he was trying to tell me how he felt, how I made him feel, and I wouldn't listen. Because I didn't want to hear it. So...I, you know, I seduced him. I kept pushing until he just broke. And then...I don't know. We got in another fight this morning, he left. He's got the baby for the day..."

Mel's eyes narrowed. "If you guys split, is he going to go after custody?"

"I don't know," I replied honestly.

"That bastard," she grunted.

"MELANIE!" I shouted. "Don't EVER call him that!"

"Why not? He's acting like one!"

"I don't care!" I shot back. "You can call him anything else, douchebag, asshole, whatever, but don't EVER say that about him."

"Why are you defending him, Sam?" Melanie asked with a roll of her eyes. "If he left you..."

"Because I love him," I said softly. "I'll never stop. I just...I can't control myself. He deserves better."

"Sam..."

"Mel, there's something wrong with me," I whispered. "I don't know what it is, but...I feel like I'm going crazy! I can't control my emotions!"

"There's a lot going on right now, Puddin' Pop. You're just stressed."

"No," I told her. "You don't get it, I...I don't know. Never mind."

"Look, let's just go get some food, okay?" Melanie replied. "We have a lot to talk about."

I nodded. "We do." I paused. "You know, you're not going to be able to get a drink in any of the restaurants here. The only place I know of that doesn't card is the pool hall, and you won't be able to get food there."

Melanie laughed, shaking her head as she perched her sunglasses on top of her head. "I've got a fake."

I rolled my eyes. "Of course."

"You don't have yours any more?" she asked, and I shrugged.

"I threw it out during freshman year. I didn't really have need for it any more."

"Oh," Melanie replied, making a face. "Well, that's okay. I had a feeling you'd say that. So I got one for you too."

I gave her a Look. "Melanie..."

"I figured you'd need it, because...well...you need to blow off some steam, Sam."

I shook my head. "No. I don't wanna do that."

"Why not?"

"I just don't think it's a good idea, that's all."

"Oh, come on! I need to blow off steam before I see..." she took a deep my breath. "My...mother. God...that's so weird."

I nodded. "I talked to her before I came and picked you up. She wants to have dinner with us tomorrow night."

Melanie sighed, shaking her head. "I'm so not ready for this."

"You'll be fine, Mel," I replied, squeezing her arm. "I'm here, remember? And...she's gotten better. A lot better."

"Yeah?" Melanie replied. "What if she's still angry with me?"

I shook my head. "Number one, it wasn't your fault, she didn't have the right to be angry. Two, she's off all that shit, Mel. She's bound to be more clear-headed this time."

Melanie nodded.

"Okay, well...I still need a drink," she responded. "And then...tonight? We burn off some steam, in true Puckett fashion."

I shook my head. "Mel, I...I'm not a Puckett any more, remember?"

Melanie gave me a sympathetic smile, squeezing my hand. "Yes you are. Once a Puckett, always a Puckett."

In my opinion, being a Puckett? It wasn't something to be proud of. Pucketts were sneaky, manipulative, liars who couldn't be trusted. There was no way around it. I knew she was trying to make me feel better, but that made me feel even worse.

'Once a Puckett, always a Puckett,' she'd said.

She was right.

~*Brad*~

"Ugh, what time is it?" I grumbled as I looked down at my watch, pacing back and forth across the living room.

"Baby, relax!" Carly told me as she sat on the couch with Leah, brushing her hair. "He'll be here!"

"He's always late," I grunted. "And this is really important. And where's your stupid brother?"

"Don't call Spencer stupid!" Carly cried. "He's actually pretty...well, he's...he...the thing about Spencer is..." she trailed off, sighing. "He'll be here soon."

I nodded. "Have you talked to Sam at all?"

Carly shook her head. "I sent her a text this morning, but she didn't respond. I don't know, Brad. I HAVE to be there for her, so I will be, if she lets me. But I don't want to. She's wrong. And she's...scary these days."

"No doubt," I replied with a nod, thinking hard.

"What?"

I shook my head. "I'm furious with her."

"I know."

"But I still want to talk to her."

"I know."

"I mean, yeah, she's being a bitch right now, but she's going through a lot, and..."

"Brad?" Carly interrupted me.

"What?"

She hesitated, looking down at my sister. "Leah, can you go upstairs in me and Brad's room for a minute? I left the cartoons on. Brad and I have to talk."

"Otay," Leah replied, standing up. She stared at Carly for a second, before leaning forward and kissing her on the cheek. "Lub you."

I had to smile at that. It was absolutely adorable. In the beginning, I'd worried about Carly not being able to really bond with my siblings, and vice-versa, but she and Leah had really latched onto each other, and it was pretty cool. Jury was still out on Bryson, but he'd always been like that, just naturally a very removed person, and Heather was...well...Heather.

Carly watched Leah walk away, stunned, before looking up at me.

"Did...did you see that?" she asked, smiling a little.

"Yep," I replied, sitting down next to her. "Told you that you were good at this."

"Just not when it comes to Katie," Carly grumbled.

"Babe, it's colic. She's not old enough to form an opinion about you...she doesn't even have a personality yet!"

"She doesn't scream half as loud when you hold her."

"Well, that's because I have these big beefy arms to hold her with," I cracked, and she glared at me. "Aw c'mon, babe! Lighten up!"

She shook her head. "I don't understand how you can be so calm through everything that's going on...and making jokes no less!"

"Because that's what I do, Carly! It's how I deal with shit. Would you prefer I go back to drinking?"

"Well, no..." she sighed. "It's just...I can't make jokes like you do."

"I know that," I replied, kissing her on the side of the head. "That's why I do it. I gotta get you to lighten up too, you know."

She nodded.

"Sorry, just...the Sam and Freddie thing..."

"I know. It sucks. But what'd you want to talk about?"

Carly hesitated. "Never mind. I'm just being silly."

"Tell me."

"No, don't worry about it, I don't want to upset you."

"Babe," I gave her a firm look. "Tell me what's going on in your pretty brunette head, right now. Or..."

"Or what?"

"Or I'll tickle you."

She glared at me. "Don't you dare."

"Then tell me."

She sighed. "Brad, I don't wanna talk about this! I've changed my mind! I don't want to make you mad!"

"Okay, now you've piqued my interest, so you have to tell me!"

"If they split up for good..."

"Yeah?"

"I just...I worry. That's all. I know how you two...are."

"CARLY!" I yelled. "Come on! Give me a break! I love you! I'm marrying you! I don't want Sam! Give me some credit!" I rolled my eyes. "This is the main reason I don't want to go talk to Sam. I knew you or Freddie were going to play this card eventually."

She shook her head. "I know. I'm sorry. I'm being stupid. I just...I don't know her right now. I don't know what she'd do..."

"She wouldn't intentionally hurt you like that, I know that. And neither would I," I replied.

"She hurt Freddie. Intentionally."

I sighed. "Okay, listen, if we can do anything to get them to a point of even marginal mental stability, after that, I want you to back off this whole thing."

"What do you mean?"

"We have to stay out of it, Carly. We've got enough going on."

"They're our best friends," she replied softly.

"Did you ever think maybe this is for the best?" I replied. "I mean...those two...yeah, they had a good run, but when you've got a relationship that...passionate, that fiery? It'll burn out quick."

"So you don't think they'll get back together?"

"Not unless they work on their issues," I replied. "But...right now, I just don't want Freddie doing anything stupid. So we're gonna try to...take his mind off it."

"Don't take him to a bar," Carly warned me. "I don't want you drinking, and he can't."

"I know that. But...he needs to get out and be around people other than Sam and the baby. They started cutting themselves off from other people again, and look what it did."

"Yeah, I just think -" Carly was cut off by a loud knock at the door and she rose to her feet, unlocking it and pulling it open. Ah, just who we were waiting for.

"AHHH!" she shrieked. "GIBBY!"

"GIBB-AY!" he yelled back, laughing as Carly threw her arms around him and hugged him. "How's it going Carly?"

"It's been better, that's for sure, but...I can't believe you're here! You just...jumped on a plane, just like that?"

"The second Brad texted me, I got the first flight out," he replied.

"How'd you afford that?"

"I uh...do promotional work," he replied.

"Well you look AMAZING!" she cried. "I think you're more in shape than Brad and Freddie combined..."

"Hey!" I yelled, offended, and she turned around.

"What? Look at him? He looks like a professional wrestler or something."

"I do look good," Gibby replied with a shrug. "Okay, so...what are we doing? Where's Spencer?"

"Uh, let me text him," I replied. "And...just...I don't know, man. Get his mind off it. By any means necessary."

"Right," Gibby said with a nod.

I shot a quick text off to Spencer, and he sent me one back not much later, letting me know he'd meet us where were going. I hadn't really known what to do about the mental state Freddie was in, so I did the only thing I could do – I called in for back up, courtesy of Spencer and Gibby. If Freddie truly didn't have his girl in his life any more, then he needed his boys to help him out, and we were going to do just that. Take him out, get his mind off things.

Even before the huge disaster with him and Sam, he and I hadn't been hanging out as much as we should have, and that bothered me. It also probably lended itself well to Freddie feeling alone and isolated right now. He wasn't, and we needed to remind him of that.

I just wish I could be there for Sam, but that was a tricky situation. For one thing, she was probably still angry with me for that altercation we'd gotten into, and for another, Carly's brief but very pointed reaction told me it wasn't a good idea. It wasn't like I worried about anything happening, because it certainly wouldn't on my side, but I didn't want my sweet fiance to fret about it. So I was going to stay out of it, unless Sam went completely mental.

I just hoped it wouldn't come to that.

I sighed, trying to get a handle on the situation, and I turned back to Carly.

"You sure you're gonna be okay by yourself, babe?"

She nodded. "Yeah, April's coming over, so...we'll be fine."

"Okay," I replied, kissing her. "Well, I have my phone, of course, text me whether it's going good or going bad. I love you."

"I love you too. Just try to make him feel better, okay?" she said. "He's really bad right now, Brad."

"I know," I said with a nod. "Don't worry, we got this."

"Yeah, Operation Bring Back Freddie is officially underway," Gibby replied. "Let me go knock on the door and freak him out!"

I laughed. "Alright, let's go do it."

"Gibb-ay!"

With one last kiss to Carly, Gibby and I headed across the hall to Freddie's mom's apartment, and I leaned against the wall out of sight while Gibby knocked on the door.

"Coming!" I heard Freddie yell.

"Open the door now!" Gibby yelled in a deep, fake voice that sounded like a mobster from a 1930's movie. "Or else!"

"What the..." I heard Freddie grumble through the door, yanking it open with an angry expression on his face. "Look, man, I will kick your...uh..."

I wanted to fall over with laughter. Ever since Gibs had gotten all super pumped up, he was almost unrecognizable, and yeah, he was a BIG, muscular guy now. He was taller than me, and I was a good four inches taller than Freddie, so opening his front door and then yelling at a big guy had to have caught him off guard.

"You'll kick my what?"

I peeked around the corner to find Freddie studying Gibby intently, a perplexed look on his face.

"Gibby?"

"GIBB-AY!"

"Dude!" Freddie yelled. "You scared the shit out of me, man!"

"Sorry, just wanted to mess with you," he said with a laugh.

"What are you doing here?" Freddie asked, and I chose that moment to come around the corner.

"I called him," I said. "I needed some back up on this."

"Well, I don't..."

"So grab a jacket, we're going out," I replied. "Spencer's meeting us downtown, for an epic lasertag fest unlike the world has ever seen."

Freddie sighed, shaking his head.

"Look, guys, I really appreciate what you're trying to do, but I'm fine. And anyway, I gotta stay with my son."

"Freddiebear, just go." Marissa appeared behind him, pushing him out the door.

"But, mom..."

"No buts. I'm not going to open this door for you until at least midnight, so you might as well go out."

Freddie sighed. "I don't want to go out."

"Come on, man. It'll be fun. You need it."

He grumbled to himself for a minute, and then finally let out a groan of resignation. "Fine. But only because I'm being forced into it."

I shrugged, grabbing his arm and yanking him out of the apartment. "Fine by me. Now let's go."

"Yeah, man, come on. You gotta get your mind off all this shit," Gibby said as he pushed him down the hall. "A little bit of chill time with your boys will be good for you."

"If you say so," Freddie grumbled. "I'd rather just sit on the couch and mope."

"Yeah, I figured as much," I replied. "Did you have class today or did you blow it off?"

He shook his head. "I didn't have class today. Usually Sam and I would spend the day together, but..." he trailed off, biting his lip.

I sighed. "Alright, that's it. The S-word is officially not allowed for the rest of the night, do you hear me?"

"What?"

"Just take a night off from your problems, man," I said as we got on the elevator. "Just one."

He nodded. "I'll try. It's the best I can do right now."

"Good. Now let's get ready to blast each other with lasers, I'm really looking forward to it."

"As long as Spencer doesn't set the place on fire," Gibby asked. "We're not going to that one on Sixth St. are we? Because you know Spencer's permanently banned from there."

"No, the one in the club district," I replied, and Freddie and Gibby both gave me looks.

"There's no alcohol there," I snapped, annoyed.

"Just checking man," Freddie replied with a shrug. "There's enough drama going on here, the last thing we need is somebody getting completely wasted and having to deal with that."

"Right," I replied. "Well, I'm good." I punched him in the shoulder. "And you will be too."

He nodded. "I hope you're right."

~*Sam*~

I stared down at my reflection, which was gazing back at me from the bar I was sitting at.

Oh god, why had I let my sister talk me into this? I so did not want to be out right now. I just wanted to be home, in sweats, curled up into a ball with a pint of Fat Cake Ice Cream and sobbing. Instead I was babysitting my lush of a sister. This was no fun.

Going out didn't make me feel better, it made me feel worse. I kept looking around and seeing all these guys and girls flirting with each other, dancing, kissing. That used to be me and Freddie. And now it was gone.

Plus, I'd already been through three Peppy Colas tonight, because I kept having to splash them in guys' faces for hitting on me! I didn't care if Freddie and I were splitting up, I would NEVER let myself be with anyone else. If I had to be alone forever, so be it. I loved Freddie, and I would hold onto that for the rest of my life.

To make matters worse, I was starting to feel pretty weird. Not like, depressed weird, but...physically weird. Strange. Slightly woozy.

I lifted my head, blinking several times to clear my vision. I seemed to be in even more of a fog right now than I'd been before. I couldn't keep my thoughts straight, couldn't focus on one thing for too long. The only thought I was able to keep in my head was how much I missed Freddie.

"Hey, Puddin' Pop, how you feeling?" Melanie asked as she saddled up next to me on an empty barstool.

"Where were you?"

She shrugged. "There's some very hot property walking around this place tonight, and I'm a single girl. What can I say?" she paused. "Do you want me to get you another soda?" I was silent. "Sam?"

"This is a Peppy Cola?" I asked, and she laughed.

"Relax Sam, it's not Diet."

"That's not what I meant," I replied, still trying to keep my head on straight. God, I felt like I was going to fall over. "It's JUST a Peppy Cola?"

"There's ice in it."

"And what else, Melanie?" I barked.

She sighed, rolling her eyes. "Look, I just thought you needed something to take the edge off, so there may be a shot or two of rum in there. It's fine!"

"Melanie!" I cried. "I told you I DIDN'T WANT TO DRINK! I don't drink!"

"Yeah, because of Freddie," she said with a roll of her eyes. "You don't do a lot of things because of him."

"Ever think maybe that's not such a bad thing?" I shot back, and Melanie sighed.

"Look, Sam, I know you love him, but...Freddie...he...he's a control freak. It's not good for you. He's gone, okay? So...you've gotta move on. Don't you want that? Sam! You're a hot busty blonde, you're not even twenty yet! You'll meet someone else! You've got your whole life ahead of you, you can't just mope over one guy, come on!"

"No," I said with a shake of my head, trying to hold onto my composure. "You don't get it. There IS no one else. There never had been. I love him."

"You guys are over, Sam," Melanie replied. "Come on. You know it's true. You need to just...let it go."

"I'm never going to let go," I whispered.

"Sam, you're going through all this shit and he LEFT YOU."

"Because I screwed up!" I cried. "So if I...if I get better, if I stop screwing up, he'll take me back!"

"Sam, you're just drunk, and you're not at that good drunk point either. You're still in the feelings drunk category. Come on."

I shook my head slowly. "I don't know."

"It hurts, doesn't it?"

"Like hell."

"Then here," Melanie replied, pushing a shot glass my way. "Drink this."

"What is it?"

"Tequila. Always gets rid of my problems."

I stared at the shot glass for a minute, thinking. It hurt. It hurt so bad. I just wanted him back. But what if he never came back? I didn't want to deal with it. It hurt, and I didn't want to hurt any more. I didn't want to feel anything.

With a sigh, I grabbed the shot, throwing it back quickly and then slamming it down on the table, making a face.

"Ugh," I grunted, then looked back up at Melanie. "Give me another."

~*Freddie*~

"You know, I don't wanna say I told you so or anything, but I told you so!" I said, pointing at Brad. "I told you we were going to get kicked out!"

At that statement, we all turned and glared at Spencer, who looked like he wanted to disappear.

"What?" he squeaked.

Brad shook his head. "You've officially managed to get us banned from every laser tag place in Seattle, man! How do you do that?"

"I didn't do it on purpose!" Spencer argued. "How was I to know that if I touched that switch..."

"That's why you're not supposed to touch it," I said with a roll of my eyes as we walked down the sidewalk. "And I was actually having a good time too."

"Really?" Brad asked, his eyebrows going up, and I nodded.

"I mean, all things considered," I replied, shrugging.

The last few days had been absolute hell on me, last night and today especially. Being without Sam was hard. Knowing we were over, that was harder. And despite everything she'd put me through in the last forty eight hours, I missed her. I missed her laugh, her smile, the way her hair smelled. The way she'd cuddle against me and tuck her head under my chin as I held her. I missed all of it.

I knew the really hard part was about to come, something I hadn't dealt with, and that was sleeping without Sam next to me. I'd slept with her last night, after she'd broke me down and pulled me into bed with her. A very large part of me wanted to just forget everything that happened, go back to the way we were, but I knew it wouldn't happen.

But still, I had to keep my mind off it. It was pretty cool of Brad to assemble all the guys, just to help me keep my mind off it. And Gibby had flown out with practically zero notice. I was surprised. Usually when shit happened between me and Sam, I was the one who got blamed, for upsetting her, whatever. But I guess everyone else had realized that Sam needed to be able to control herself, stop taking her anger out on me. Even I was starting to realize it.

I just didn't know if I had the strength to go through with this. I loved her, more than I'd ever loved anyone or anything, and the fact that we were splitting up, that I was losing her, it was absolutely heart-wrenching. But I had to hold it together, for my son's sake as much as mine.

I had to say, it hadn't been a bad night overall. Of course I missed Sam, but there were brief little five minute spurts I was able to get her out of my head, mostly thanks to Brad, Gibby, and Spencer. They seemed hellbent on making sure I didn't lose it, have a mental breakdown. It was nice. It was a reminder that I still had people who cared about me.

Of course, everyone still cared about Sam, that was obvious. We just didn't know how to help her, and with her pushing everyone away, we couldn't help her. She wouldn't let us. I was worried the only person she would let in would be her sister, and if that happened, we'd really be screwed. I knew what Melanie thought of me, that I was a controlling asshole.

Okay, so maybe I had an issue with control. I couldn't help it. I worried all the time about bad things happening, so yeah, maybe I tried to control the goings-on around me a little too much. But nothing I had ever done was with the intention of hurting Sam, or even feeding my ego. I just wanted to keep her safe. That was all. I'd succeeded in keeping her safe physically, but mentally? Emotionally? I'd failed miserably. Sam needed help, help I couldn't give her. Help she wouldn't take. I had no choice but to give up. There's only so many times you get hurt, pushed away, before you just lose the faith.

And I had definitely lost the faith. I kept thinking back, trying to figure out where I had gone wrong, and I think I'd figured it out. It wasn't hiding the letter from Sam, it wasn't having a control issue. No, I'd screwed up from the very beginning, by thinking I could handle all of it myself. Fix her, by myself. She'd tried counseling, it had made her uncomfortable, and so she stopped going. And I let her. I never thought once that maybe she needed to be a little uncomfortable, just to deal with her issues, her past. And I just kept letting her get away with everything she did, just offering a "it's okay, baby" and then acting like nothing ever happened. Who was I kidding? Of course it hadn't fixed anything.

As Brad and Gibby continued to make fun of Spencer for setting something on fire YET AGAIN, Brad looked over at me and noticed I'd quieted down, nudging me with his shoulder.

"Dude," he said. "Get out of your head."

"Sorry," I sighed. "I'm really trying."

"I know you are. It'll be okay, man."

I shook my head. "No, it won't. This is the hardest thing I've ever had to-" I stopped talking suddenly as something caught my eye.

"What?" Brad asked I stopped in my tracks, looking across the street.

"Oh, hell no," I grunted, walking away from my friends and heading across the street.

"FREDDIE!" I heard Brad yell. "Shit, he's on the lamb!"

I didn't even bother to look both ways as I ran across the street, narrowly avoiding a car that slammed on the brakes. The driver stuck his head out the window, flipping me off.

"Fuck you!" he yelled.

"Fuck off!" I yelled back as I crossed the street.

I recognized that hair, that body, and yes, I recognized that she could barely stand up straight. I hadn't seen it in a few years, but I recognized it nonetheless. Just like I recognized the girl next to her.

It was Sam, she was drunk, and so was her sister.

I caught up to her quickly, grabbing her arm and spinning her around.

"Get the hell off – Freddie?"

"What the hell are you doing, Sam?" I barked at her, not letting go of her arm. "Are you drunk?"

She didn't respond, just looked down at the ground. I looked at her companion, giving her an angry glare.

"Have you lost your mind, Melanie?"

Melanie leered at me. "I was trying to help my sister. Make her feel better."

"You think this is helping her?" I yelled back.

"Why don't you just fuck off, Freddie? You left her, remember? Just stay out of it."

"How are you getting her home?" I responded, and Melanie rolled her eyes.

"Relax, I can drive. I haven't had near as much as she had."

My eyes narrowed as I looked at Sam.

"How much did you drink, Sam?"

Sam shrugged, looking down at the ground, and then back up at me. "Baby, I'm sorry..."

I let out a sigh, focusing my attention back on Melanie. "How much did she drink?"

"I gave her a few rum and cokes, and then she threw back like...I dunno...five or six shots."

"What?" I yelled. "What do you mean you 'gave her' a few rum and cokes? Did you put that shit in there without telling her? What's wrong with you?"

"I was trying to make her feel better!"

"Dude!" Brad yelled as he ran across the street, flanked by Spencer and Gibby. "What's the big...oh. Oh shit." I turned to look at Brad to find him giving Melanie a glare so nasty if he would have laser beams for eyes, she would have disintegrated right there. She scowled right back at him, and he rolled his eyes, looking over at Sam.

"Are you drunk?" he asked, surprised, but Sam wouldn't look at his eyes.

"Leave me alone," she slurred, and then pressed against me, her face going in my shoulder. She was putting all her weight on me, like she couldn't even stand up on her own.

I took a deep breath, trying to maintain my composure. Part of me wanted to scream at Melanie for pulling Sam into her bullshit. Another part of me wanted to yell at Sam for being so irresponsible. Yet another part of me just wanted to kiss her on the forehead, tell her everything would be alright, take her home and take care of her. And then there was another part of me that wanted to just say 'fuck it' and walk away from everything. I didn't know what to do.

"Why am I not surprised you had something to do with Sam getting absolutely plastered?" Brad yelled at Melanie. "Look at her! She can't even stand up!"

Melanie rolled her eyes. "We were just having a little fun."

"You're underage, you idiot!" Brad yelled.

"Oh, that's rich, coming from you, you fucking alcoholic!" Melanie yelled.

Brad made a face. "Oh wait, I'm sorry, is the pill-popping lesbian judging me? Oooh, I think my feelings are hurt!"

"You had no business getting her drunk, Melanie!" I yelled at her. "Look at this shit! How's she supposed to take care of our child if she's hungover?"

"I didn't force the shots down her throat, asshole," she replied, then reached for Sam, grabbing her arm. "Sam, let's go."

"Hell no," I growled, pulling Sam back. "You are not driving anywhere with her! Not like this!"

"She doesn't need you anymore, Freddie!" Melanie shot back.

"Melanie! Shut the fuck up!" Brad yelled.

"Hey hey hey!" Spencer yelled, stepping between Brad and Melanie. "You guys wanna quit this shit in the middle of the street? If a cop rolls up we're all going to jail!"

"I don't think Melanie would mind being locked up with a bunch of chicks," Brad growled, glaring at Melanie. "Have I mentioned how much I fucking hate you?"

"That's enough!" Spencer yelled, grabbing him by the shirt collar and yanking him back. "Knock it off! Dammit!" He turned to me. "Freddie, take Sam back to the apartment."

I nodded. "Sam? Where's your keys?"

"In my purse," she mumbled. "Freddie...don't leave me."

Oh, my god. I thought things were bad enough, now they've reached a whole new level of fucked up. What the hell do I do now?

"Okay, I'm gonna take you home, sweetheart. Okay? It's alright."

"Dude..." Brad warned me, and I understood. Don't cave just because she's having a weak moment, that's not going to help her.

"What am I supposed to do, Brad? Look at her!" I looked over at Spencer, gesturing towards Melanie with a look of disgust. "Do something with...that."

"Hey!" Melanie yelled.

"I am not riding in the same car with you, forget it," I growled at her.

"Dude, don't stick her with us!" Brad yelled. "I don't wanna deal with her either!"

"I can deal with her," Gibby said, and we all looked at him strangely.

"Gibby?" Melanie asked, staring at him, obviously just as surprised at the transformation as we were.

"Gibb-ay," he replied, gesturing to himself.

"Oh my god!" she exclaimed. "It is you! You look awesome!"

"As do you," he said with a grin, oblivious to the way the rest of us were looking at him with horrified expressions on our faces. Is he serious? Melanie? Melanie Puckett?

"You're wasting your time, Gibs," Brad warned him. "She doesn't bark up our tree, remember?"

"Well somebody has to keep her away from you guys! You all hate her!"

"And there's a good reason for that!" I yelled. "Sam, come on. Let me take you home."

"You see what I have to put up with?" Melanie asked, looking over at Gibby, who just shook his head.

"It's okay, Melanie. Come on, we'll sober you up. Let's go get coffee."

"DUDE!" Brad yelled. "Come on! Bros before hoes, man!"

"I am not a ho, you idiot!"

"It's fine!" Gibby yelled over his shoulder as he dragged Melanie away. "I'm trying to do you guys a solid! We'll see you later."

Brad shot a perplexed look over Spencer, who looked equally confused. "The hell just happened?"

"I don't know! One minute it's laser tag and then it's...west side story! This is too much, you guys! I'll see you guys tomorrow when I stop by, but I gotta get home," Spencer replied, reaching for his keys. "Freddie take care of that girl, she's going downhill fast."

"Yeah, no shit," I grumbled.

Brad gave me a concerned look. "Are you SURE you can handle this?"

"Yeah. I got it."

"I could call Carly, she could meet you at the apartment, take care of Sam."

I shook my head. "No. I got it."

"Dude, don't...don't lose yourself, alright? And call me once you've gotten her...sorted out."

"Yeah," I said. "Thanks. Sorry things got so fucked up..."

Brad shrugged. "There are Pucketts in the city again. This is what happens."

"No kidding." I replied, grabbing Sam's bag and pulling her keys out. "Baby, where'd you park?" I winced when I realized I'd just called her 'baby'. I'd probably never be able to stop doing that.

"The parking garage," she slurred.

"Okay. Come on, let's walk."

I more or less had to carry Sam to the car, she was so wasted she couldn't even stand up, let alone walk. I was absolutely furious. Even though I felt like I barely knew Sam these days, I knew that the whole drinking thing hadn't been her idea, that Melanie had just slipped a few shots in her drink and given it to her. I didn't understand who Sam was these days, but I understood Melanie even less. I didn't understand how she could possibly think that getting Sam drunk would help her. It would only make the situation worse.

Yeah, I could definitely tell that having Melanie back in town was not going to be good.

I put Sam in the car, leaning the seat all the way back so she could lay down, and then got in the driver's seat, pulling out of the garage and heading back to Bushwell. The entire time, Sam was silent, and if it weren't for the fact that her eyes were half open, I would have thought she passed out.

It was a little difficult, getting her out of the car and into the apartment complex, but I managed to do it, pretty much dragging her into the elevator.

"Sam," I said, leaning down to look at her in the face. "Snap out of it."

"I'm sorry," she whispered. "I'm sorry."

"Okay," I sighed. "Let's just get you in the apartment, okay? Get you in bed."

I got her inside our apartment, pulling her towards the bedroom, and then she stopped suddenly, grabbing my arm.

"Freddie..." she managed to get out, and I could tell by the look on her face she was about to throw up.

"You gonna be sick?" I asked. "Huh?"

"Yes..."

"Okay, come on. Bathroom."

She fell to her knees in front of the commode and without any lead up began puking furiously. I didn't know what to do. I couldn't just stand there. I couldn't walk away. So I just knelt down next to her, holding her hair back with one hand and rubbing her back with the other.

I was still coddling her. I'd hear about it from Brad tomorrow. But I didn't care. She needed my help, and I needed to help her.

"It's okay, sweetheart," I said as I continued to rub her back. "It's okay."

After a good ten minutes, she finally stopped, pulling away and sitting back, looking exhausted. I stood up, getting her a cup of water and handing it to her.

"Feel better?"

She shook her head. "No."

"Okay. Let's put you in bed, alright?"

"Don't leave me."

Oh my god. Was this some kind of test from the universe? See how far I could be pushed before I lost it completely? Why was this happening? I bent down, picking Sam up, and carried her into the bedroom, laying her down on her back so I could pull her jeans off, then covering her up.

"There you go."

"Please..." she whispered. "Stay."

"Sam..."

"Please..." she started to cry. "Don't leave me."

I couldn't. Not like this. I sighed, somewhat defeated, before sitting down on the bed next to her, and she automatically rolled over and laid her head on my chest. I couldn't stop myself from stroking her hair. I couldn't stop myself from kissing her on the top of her head. I couldn't stop myself from loving her. No matter what, I'd never be able to stop.

But I couldn't keep doing this. I couldn't deal with the constant drama, the fight that was sure to follow in the morning when Melanie got ahold of her and accused me of being controlling. I didn't know what to do. I felt like I was going crazy. I felt like she was going crazy. I felt like we'd both lost our minds.

"Do you love me?" she whispered, and I sighed.

"You know I love you."

"But I hurt you."

"Yes."

"I'm sorry," she whispered. "I don't understand why I'm...I don't know what's happening to me."

"I don't either, baby."

"I need you. Don't give up on me."

"I need you to be strong, Sam," I whispered. "We can't keep doing this. We have a child to think about."

"I can't control it, Freddie," she sobbed. "I'm losing myself. I'm going crazy." She paused. "Am I crazy?"

I shook my head. "I don't know, baby. I don't know."

And that was the truth. I truly felt like she was losing her mind, but crazy? That was a tough call.

And the scary part? If she was crazy, then so was I.


	78. Chapter 78: Untitled

A/N: Sorry for the lack of updates. For those of you who don't follow me on twitter or tumblr, I had a little cancer scare when I had a sudden outbreak of polyps in my throat and on my tongue. Didn't turn out to be cancer, but I DO have pre-cancerous cells, and on Monday I had surgery to get the polyps removed. I'm still a little out of it, but slowly getting better. Enjoy the chapter!

Chapter Seventy Eight

~*Freddie*~

I don't know how long I'd been awake, just sitting there staring at the television but not really watching it. I knew it had been awhile though, because the sun had been up for over an hour. Of course I hadn't been able to sleep, I had too much on my mind. So I just sat there, staring at the tv while Sam slept, her head on my chest the entire time. I knew she was going to feel horrible when she woke up, so I wasn't in any hurry to wake her. As much as I was at the end of my rope with her, the last thing I wanted was for her to hurt.

I loved Sam, with every single part of me, and I'd been going over everything for hours. I didn't want things to be over, I just didn't know what else to do! I didn't want to fight all the time, I didn't want to deal with her hitting me or taking her anger out on me, and I worried about her mental state...and the effect it could have on our son. But the fact that Sam knew she had a problem, that gave me some hope. Now, figuring out how to fix that problem? That was going to be tricky.

I didn't know how I was supposed to go into fix-it mode without doing my usual control freak thing either. Sam's latest foray into instability was obviously due to her mother getting out, seeing her, all of that, but I couldn't demand that she didn't see her...it certainly didn't work last time, and I'd rather be aware of what she was doing than be lied to again. The only thing I WOULD put my foot down over would be letting that woman around my son. I wasn't going to give in there, no matter what.

Another problem? Melanie. After all, she'd managed to get Sam plastered after being in town for less than a day...what else could she possibly do? Melanie had her own problems, and I didn't want them rubbing off on Sam! But again, what could I do? Forbid my wife to see her twin sister? No, that wouldn't happen.

It was frustrating as hell, and yes, Sam was an absolute basket case right now. But even though I'd said it, walked out, called my uncle to have him send separation papers, I wasn't ready to end things with Sam. I loved her too much, and the idea of being alone, without her? That was scary. I needed her just like she needed me.

But Sam and I were going to have to have a long talk. Probably more than one. As much as she had pushed me on the issue of therapy three years ago, I knew she'd push harder this time, but it needed to happen. For her as much as for me.

I felt Sam stir a little bit, nuzzling against my chest, one arm creeping around my waist and locking on. I looked down at her, brushing the hair away from her face, unable to stop from curling it around my fingers, and she let out a miserable groan.

"Urggg...my fucking head," she grunted, her eyes fluttering open. She laid there for a moment, eyes open, and then seemed to regain her bearings, lifting her head up to look at me. She stared at me for quite some time, not speaking, just blinking a few times.

"You stayed?" she finally said, and I nodded.

"I stayed."

"But..." she sighed, sitting up, running a hand through her hair and then hugging her knees to her chest. "You...you said you were done."

"I know."

She looked up at me, a strand of hair falling in her face, and then quickly looked away, as if it was difficult for her to make eye contact. Couldn't blame her, I was having trouble with the same time. I knew the second I locked on those big beautiful eyes of hers, I'd be a goner.

"If you're done, then you're done. Don't toy with me, Freddie."

"I'm not."

She shook her head. "I don't need to be pitied."

"Sam..." I reached out to brush the hair off her face. "I'm not toying with you. I feel like you're toying with me."

She bit her lip. "I feel like I am too."

I didn't know what to say to that, and I leaned back against the headboard, sighing.

"I don't mean to," she added, turning to look at me. "I don't. I don't know what I'm doing any more, Freddie."

I was silent for a moment, toying with a loose thread on my jeans.

"Do you love me?" I couldn't even look up at her when I asked that. It was too hard. If she said yes, I'd end up forgetting everything that happened and we'd be right back where we started. But if she said no...I'd lose it.

"More than anything," she said softly.

My heart caught in my throat, but I managed a nod, still looking down, still unsure of where I wanted this conversation to go, what I wanted out of it. I honestly didn't know. I didn't know if the right thing was to be there for her, support her in everything that was going on, or try thinking about myself for a change. These past three years, only one thought had been in the front of my mind.

Protect Sam. Take care of Sam.

I hated to say it, but what about me? I didn't even know who I was any more, outside of...protecting Sam. Taking care of Sam.

"Freddie, I..." Sam started, reaching out to touch me, then pulled back, hugging her knees to her chest again. "I hate what I'm doing to you."

"I hate what you're doing to me too," I replied. "I hate what you're doing to us. I hate what you're doing to yourself."

"I wish I knew how to stop it," Sam said softly.

"Me too, Sam."

We were both silent, afraid to speak, afraid to touch. Afraid of each other. When had that happened?

I finally pulled something out of the air to break the awkward silence.

"How you feeling?"

"Horrible," she sighed. "I feel so sick. My head...it's killing me."

Yeah, so much for thinking about myself for a change. The minute I heard her say that, my brain went on autopilot. Sam? Pain? Must fix. Before I even knew what I was doing, I shifted my position on the bed, getting behind her and stretching my legs out around her.

"What are you...oh god," she groaned as my hands went to her temples, rubbing them slowly in a circular motion. She leaned back against me, her hands resting on my legs, and let out a shaky sigh.

"Feel a little better?" I asked.

"Yes...but no," she replied softly. "I..."

"What, Sam?"

She pulled away from me so fast I didn't even have a chance to pull her back, and honestly, even though things were falling apart right now, the feel of her laying against me was comforting, and I wasn't ready to pull away.

"What is this?" she asked as she backed away from me. "Why are you doing this to me?"

I gaped at her. "What am I doing to you?"

"You say you're done, you leave...you let me completely break down...I...you saw me last night! You saw how out of it I was! I just wanted to stop hurting! I just wanted to stop feeling everything! And then I wake up, and you're here, and then..." she shook her head. "I can't, Freddie. You know I can't handle this."

"And you think I can?" I shot back. "You think I like this? Do you think I like the back and forth? Because I don't, Sam! I don't know what's going on either! I feel like...like I HAVE to pull away from you, but I CAN'T."

"If you think I'm so bad for you, then maybe you should," she snapped, and my eyebrows went up.

"WHAT?" I yelled. "First it's don't leave me, then you tell me to leave? What's the matter with you?"

"I DON'T KNOW!" she shrieked. "That's the problem, I don't know!" She turned around suddenly, her back to me, and I could see she was literally shaking, she was so upset.

In spite of myself, I reached out to touch her shoulder.

"Baby..."

"Just go, Freddie!" she yelled, jerking away from me and not bothering to turn around.

"But..."

"GO!"

I sighed, my head hanging in defeat. I guess it had just been wishful thinking on my part, that we'd be able to get through this. It was heartbreaking. I immediately tried to push my feelings out of my head, instead focusing on all the steps I had to take as I walked out of the bedroom.

Thing is, I didn't make it very far. Actually, I didn't even make it past the bedroom door, before I felt a pair of arms lock around me from behind, so tight I could barely breathe.

"Don't leave," Sam whispered in my ear. "I'm sorry. I'm so sorry."

"Sam..." I whispered back in a hoarse voice, feeling like I was being pulled in a million different directions. Still, I couldn't stop myself from letting a hand drift down to her arms. "Let go."

"I will never let go."

"Sam..."

Before I'd even known it was happening, she'd spun me around, pressing me against the wall.

"I've always been crazy," she said in a pleading voice. "Remember? Please, Freddie..."

I couldn't come back with a response, just stared at her. She was inches from me, her hands on my biceps, and I could feel them shaking. Without warning, she grabbed me by the back of the neck, pressing her lips against me as she kissed me intensely. The feeling nearly brought me to my knees, I was so overwhelmed by the raw power and passion of it. I don't think Sam had EVER kissed me like that before, like she was trying to breathe life into me. For a minute, I thought it might have been another one of her manipulation tactics, but the truth lay in the execution. Normally, if she wanted to me to do something, a kiss from her would be masterful, measured out inch by devastating inch while still holding onto that element of control. But not this. It was desperate, frantic, and she pressed against me so hard it was squeezing the air out of my lungs. I gasped for breath, trying to control myself, get a handle on the situation, but it was to no avail. Every minute movement of her mouth, the slow flick of her tongue across my bottom lip, the melodic tones of her desperate whispers and gasps...it drove me crazy. I could live for nothing but this. I DID live for nothing but this.

"I love you," she gasped out hoarsely against my lips.

"I love you too, Sam," I whispered back, powerless to stop myself from kissing her again.

"I don't want us to end."

"Neither do I," I replied. "But you gotta come back to me, my baby." I kissed her again. "My sweet, sweet baby, don't do this to us."

"Help me," she responded softly. "Freddie...you have to help me. I can't go through this alone."

I kissed her one last time, pulling away to stare at her, my hand on her cheek.

"You won't."

I watched a parade of emotions play across her face. Joy and relief were first, but they were quickly replaced by fear and suspicion. She pulled away from me a little, but her arms stayed around my neck.

"How do I know you're not just going to leave again?"

"I won't. I promise you, baby. It was a mistake."

"I wanted to die," she whispered. "I...I know I screwed up, but...you have no idea how bad it hurt."

"I do, though. It hurt me too!" I replied. "I just didn't know what else to do, Sam! I felt like I was losing you...I still feel that way! But I can't! I can't lose you!" Suddenly overcome by a rush of emotion, I hugged her tightly. "I love you so much...I can't do it, Sam. I can't."

"What about..."

"We have a lot to talk about," I said, brushing a piece of hair off her face.

"I know," she said softly, looking down.

"And don't drink any more just to deal with your problems," I scolded her, and she looked up at me, one eyebrow going up.

"I'm not telling you not to drink, Sam. You know I don't care about that, I never have."

"But..."

"I know, you don't do it because you don't want me to feel bad, and I appreciate that. But if you decide you ARE gonna drink, don't do it when you're upset! Obviously it ended badly, right?"

"Uh-huh." She growled suddenly. "I'm gonna kill Melanie."

"I wanted to do it myself last night. Do you remember anything about last night, Sam?"

"A little," she replied. "Everything between like...the second shot and you taking me home was a blur." She paused. "Where IS Melanie?"

I shrugged. "She walked off with Gibby, and that's the last place I saw her."

Sam's brow furrowed. "Gibby? He's back in town?"

"Yeah. Brad called him."

"Well, that's good..." she replied. "I mean, at least you haven't pushed everyone away...like I have."

"Sam..." I trailed off for a moment, trying to figure out whether or not what I was about to say was a bad idea, then basically thought 'fuck it'. So what if she got angry? She'd get angry over something else eventually anyway... "You need help."

"I know," she sighed. "I don't know what's happened to me. It just happened so abruptly. One day I woke up...and I wasn't happy any more."

"Is it something I did?"

Sam shook her head. "No. You're amazing. You always have been. I just...I can't explain it."

We were silent for a few minutes, not sure what to say, and I cleared my throat.

"I need to get the baby," I replied. "He's been at my mom's all night."

"Will you come back?" she asked hopefully, and I nodded.

"Yeah," I replied. "And then...I'll...take care of your head. Okay?"

"You promise?"

"I promise I'll come back, Sam."

She nodded, still seeming a little unsure.

"Lay back down. You need the rest."

She eyed me carefully, shaking her head.

"What?"

"Have you slept? At all?"

I shook my head. "Couldn't."

"I'm sorry."

"Me too, Sam," I responded. "Lay back down, I'll be back in a few minutes."

What had just happened? In less than twelve hours we'd gone from over to...what exactly? I wasn't sure. I wasn't ready to give up, but I wasn't so sure I wanted to just put everything out there and then get crushed all over again. We definitely weren't done talking about this, but for the time being, at least until Sam was feeling better, it could wait.

I'd just stepped off the elevator when I saw the window to the fire escape open and a figure slide through it, shaking out her hair and fixing the leather jacket she was wearing, and I rolled my eyes. You've got to be kidding me.

"Heather!" I barked sharply, and she jumped, her shoulders slumping in defeat as she slowly turned around.

"Aw, man..." she groaned, her head hanging down.

"Yeah, busted," I replied with a raise of one eyebrow. "You snuck out?"

"I was...going for a walk?" Heather replied, and I shook my head.

"Nice try," I responded with a shake of my head, grabbing her arm and dragging her to her own apartment.

"Freddie, come on! Don't rat me out, man! I thought you were cool!"

I laughed. "I've been called a lot of things Heather, and cool has never been one of them, so you're not gonna get on my good side with that."

She rolled her eyes. "Ugh, you're more of a stick-in-the-mud than your best friend."

"Yeah, we're lame like that. Speaking of lame, enjoy being grounded."

"I'm already grounded."

"Well, have fun with the extension," I responded as I banged on Carly and Brad's apartment door loudly. It creaked open about a minute later, revealing Brad in only a pair of pajama pants, looking very tired and obviously just rolled out of bed.

"Dude, it's like...seven AM. Have you no soul?"

"Lose something?" I shot back as I positioned Heather in front of the door.

"What the...Heather!" Brad yelled. "Are you serious right now? You snuck out?"

"Like you've never snuck out before," Heather grumbled as Brad dragged her into the apartment. I walked in behind them, slightly entertained to be watching drama that didn't directly involve me.

"That's not the point!" Brad barked. "What am I gonna do with you? You're hellbent on..." he shook his head. "Never mind."

"Hellbent on what?" Heather pressed, and Brad just shook his head.

"Never mind. Go to your room. Get ready for school."

"I can't go to school!" she shot back. "I haven't slept all night!"

"Number one, wrong thing to tell your custodial guardian. Number two, tough shit. You screw up, you man up and take your punishment like a big girl, got it?"

"I hate you," Heather hissed, before turning on her heel and heading to her room, slamming the door behind her.

"I hate me too!" Brad yelled back and then let out an agitated grunt, turning to face me. "She doesn't understand how much trouble she's gonna get all of us in if she doesn't chill out."

"What do you mean?"

"It means this custody thing's still not fully set yet," Brad responded. "I wouldn't be a bit surprised if I got a call from the lawyer one day saying a social worker is gonna start checking up on us." He stopped suddenly, narrowing his eyes at me. "Where'd you sleep last night?"

"Didn't."

"Oh?" he asked. "I can tell. So what'd you do, man?"

"Nothing," I said with a shrug. "Stared at the television all night while Sam slept off the drunk. I mean, after she puked her brains out."

"You know, I don't miss that part at all," Brad replied. "So she feels pretty bad, huh?"

"Yep, I..." I trailed off, pursing my lips. Hmm, lightbulb! "Hey, you wanna do me a favor?"

"Dude, if I go anywhere near Sam, she'll probably hit me. Or bite me."

"Nah, she's too hungover right now," I replied. "Come on. You did say you wanted to be okay with her again."

"Before she started acting like a crazy bitch."

"DUDE!" I yelled, hitting him in the chest. "What'd I say about that shit?"

"Damn, fine, sorry," Brad grunted. "Fine, I'll come over, do the miracle hangover concoction, on one condition."

"What's that?"

"You make sure she keeps a three foot distance from me, and do not block my way out. Got it?"

I rolled my eyes. "I think you're being a little dramatic, but yeah, I got it."

"K," Brad replied, going to the bottom of the stairs. "Carly!"

No answer.

"CARLY!"

"WHAT?" she yelled back.

"Can you take the kids to school? I gotta go do the hangover cure for Sam!"

"What?" Carly cried. "But I was going to get another half hour of sleep! This sucks!"

"Love you too, babydoll!" Brad called, then turned to me. "Okay, let me gather up all my secret ingredients, and then I'll be off. You guys got eggs and other protein loaded shit? Cuz she's gonna need it. And a tranquilizer."

"Brad..." I growled in warning, and his hands went up.

"Cheap shot, sorry. I'm getting a move on. So were you coming to talk to me before you busted Heather, or were you just picking up the kid?"

"Getting the baby," I replied. "Really shouldn't have left him with my mom overnight, but...Sam needed me."

"And you need Sam to need you."

"What is that supposed to mean?" I asked, and Brad rolled his eyes.

"Nothing. Look, go get the baby, I'll deal with Sam. See you in a few minutes."

"Fine," I grumbled, heading for the door and across the hall, knocking on my mom's door. She pulled it open a few seconds later, my son in her arms.

"Freddie," she said. "It's about time you came home."

I sighed. "I just came to get the baby, Mom."

Her eyebrow went up. "What happened between you leaving with your friends and you standing in front of me, Fredward?"

"Look, Sam's got...issues, okay? She needs help. I can't give up on her. She needs me to take care of her."

"And who will take care of you?"

"Sam will," I replied. "When she gets better."

My mom shook her head, sighing. "Freddie, we've always known Sam has problems. I'm not so sure they can be fixed."

I shrugged. "It's worth a shot. She's my wife, mom. I love her. I can't walk away."

"Freddie..." she trailed off, biting her lip. "You're turning into an emotional ping-pong ball, do you know that?"

"Yeah, well, I...I can't help it, okay? One second I'm ready to throw in the towel with her, because she makes me so angry sometimes. But the next? I look at her, and all I can think about is that night...three and half years ago, when I found her all beaten up."

"You said it yourself, you can't protect Sam from herself."

"Well, maybe I was wrong," I replied. "I...I made a promise to her. I promised her, in front of God and everyone, that I would always be there for her."

"I just worry about you, Freddie."

"And I appreciate that, mom, but I worry about Sam."

My mom just shook her head. "You can't fix Sam all by yourself, Freddiebear. You know that, right?"

"I know. She needs professional help."

"She wasn't very receptive to it last time."

"Well it's worth a shot, mom!" I exclaimed. "What else am I supposed to do? It's obvious that I physically CANNOT walk away from that girl!"

My mom muttered something under her breath that I didn't quite catch, and my eyes narrowed.

"What'd you just say?"

"Nothing, Fredward."

"No! What did you say?"

"I said both of you need professional help!" she snipped. "You're both completely dependent on each other! That's unhealthy!"

"No, mom, that's LOVE, okay? This is how we work. This is how we've always worked."

"And it's not working any more, do you not understand that?" my mom shot back. "Freddie, I love you. You're my son. I don't want you to be unhappy! Or hurt!"

"Being away from Sam makes me unhappy. Being away from Sam hurts me."

"More than what she did to cause that mark on your face?"

I looked down at the floor, unable to make eye contact with my mother. "She didn't mean it. She was just angry."

"She's always angry!" my mom shot back. "What are you going to do when she snaps one day and hurts the baby?"

"She would never hurt little Freddie!" I roared. "You're being ridiculous!"

"Am I? The apple never falls far from the tree..."

I stared at my mom, completely shocked by what she was saying.

"You were one of Sam's biggest supporters...what happened?"

"How she treats you. That happened," my mom said with a shrug. "And I don't want my son or my grandson getting hurt! But you, you seem hellbent on putting yourself in harm's way...sometimes I think you LIKE the way she treats you, Freddie!"

I shook my head. "I'm not talking about this with you. Give me the baby."

"Freddie..."

"Look, I have to take my son to see his mother. She hasn't seen him in nearly twenty four hours."

"So that's it, then?" my mom responded as she handed off my son. "You're just going to go right back into it like nothing happened, continue to let her treat you like she does."

I shook my head. "No. I'm going to fix her. She will get better. She will." I headed to the door. "I'll see you later, mom."

With that, I headed out, walking down the hallway with my son, who began to babble at me. I looked down, smiling at him as he gave me a big grin.

"Hey buddy," I said. "You have fun with grandma? I hope so. Cuz your mommy and daddy had a real rough night."

And it was obvious, by the state of things right now, that things weren't going to get easier any time soon...

~*Brad*~

I banged on the door to Freddie and Sam's apartment loudly, my arms full off all the supplies I'd need to create the patented hangover cure. Funnily enough, the last time I had to make this was for Sam's stupid sister, and her sister was the reason why she needed it now.

I continued to bang on the door, and it finally jerked open, revealing Sam in the shirt she was wearing last night and a hastily thrown on pair of sweats. She gave me a death glare, rolled her eyes, and moved to shut the door in my face, but I wasn't having it today. I stuck my foot in the door, and she growled at me.

"Go away, Brad!" she hollered. "I don't want to talk to you!"

"Tough shit, Sam," I responded, pushing the door open and letting myself inside, shutting the door behind me.

"Why are you here?" she asked.

"Well, Freddie snagged Heather sneaking back in, so after he handed her off, he asked me to stop by, try to fix your hangover."

She sneered at me. "I don't need your help," she replied, turning around to head back to her room.

I rolled my eyes, and as my eyes fell on the stereo remote sitting on the counter, I grabbed it, turning it on and raising the volume level to full blast. Instantly, Sam clapped her hands over her ears, sinking to the floor.

"Oh my god! Turn that shit off!" she screamed. "I HATE YOU BRAD! I HATE YOU SO MUCH!"

I shut the music off. "Well, now that I've got your attention...first sign of noise, you hit the ground. Still think you're not hung over?"

She stared at me for a second before finally sighing in resignation. "Fine. You have three minutes."

"Cool, thanks," I responded, setting the paper bag with the supplies on the counter and then began busying myself with pulling out the rest of the things I'd need from her kitchen. She sat at the bar, a weary but annoyed look on her face as she watched me like a hawk.

Finally having gathered all the ingredients, I stood on the other side of the counter across her, and she watched with fascination and slight disgust as I prepared the foul brew.

"Alright, look, Sam," I said as I cracked an egg and let it slide into the glass. "Maybe what I did the other day wasn't the most well thought out plan -"

"You think?" she interrupted with a growl, and I glared at her.

"BUT, I didn't know what else to do, and clearly nothing else was going to get your attention." I paused. "Freddie loves you, you know that right?"

She nodded.

"Then why do you ALWAYS have to take out your anger on him? You know what that does to the poor guy, don't you?"

"I know," she sighed. "But...I can't always control it. Not even half of the time. I just...I've been losing it a lot lately, haven't I?"

"You think?" I quipped, echoing back what she had hit me with not seconds ago. She scowled. "You're not stable right now, and you need to fix that."

"How do I do that?"

"Whatever it takes, do it. Because if you don't, you're going to lose yourself, and you're definitely going to lose Freddie."

"I know that."

"You need help, Sam," I said as I dumped more ingredients into the glass, and I looked up at her. "Professional help."

She looked absolutely panic-stricken by that. "I can't. I can't do that, Brad."

"Why not?" I asked. "I did it..."

"AA's not the same thing as counseling!"

I stared at her for a second, trying to think.

"What are you so afraid of, Sam?"

"I'm not. I'm not afraid."

"Yes you are. You started going back when you and Freddie first got married, what changed?" I asked. "Why'd you stop going?"

She looked away. "The shrink was always...she pushed too hard. She wanted me to talk about everything that happened..."

"That's how you get through it, Sam!"

"It's too hard," she replied softly. "And what if...never mind."

"What if what?"

"What if I can't be fixed?" Sam asked. "What if there's something really wrong with me that can't be fixed?"

"You'll never know unless you try," I encouraged her, and she shrugged.

"Did you finish that thing yet?"

"Yep," I replied, pushing the concoction her way. "Bottoms up."

She sighed, making a face, as she surveyed the glass critically, and then picked it up.

"Here's to you..." she said, downing the liquid in one fell swoop. She gagged, slamming it down on the table. "God, that's disgusting!"

"You're welcome."

"I didn't say thank you," she snarled, and I rolled my eyes. She stared at me for a minute, and then looked away, shaking her head.

"What?"

"You really..." she stopped suddenly, taking a breath. "You freaked me out, you know that?"

"I know. It wasn't my best idea, Sam. I'm sorry."

"Guess I'm just at odds with everyone these days..." she said with a shrug. "You, Carly, Freddie..."

I shook my head. "It doesn't have to be like that, Sam. But we can't help you or be there for you if you keep pushing everyone away."

"I know, but...I can't. I can't stop."

"Which is why you need professional help."

"Brad!" she snapped. "Stop with the professional help thing!"

"Fine, I'll stop," I replied, holding my hands up. "But you know I'm right. You're losing it. And you have to think about, in all of this, what it's doing to Freddie. You losing it is making him lose it."

"I know," she said sadly.

"He deserves better, Sam," I replied. "So give him better. Give yourself better."

As if on cue, at that moment, the front door swung open, and in walked Freddie with the baby.

"Hey," he said, giving me a nod. "Everything go okay?"

"Everything's fine," Sam said with a shrug. "Other than the actual flavor of Brad's hangover concoction." She glanced over at me in a way that told me everything would eventually be fine between the two of us, and I just hoped everything would be fine between the two of them as well.

I shrugged at her statement. "Good medicine never goes down easy, you know." I looked at her pointedly, and she rolled her eyes.

"Why do I think you meant something else by that?"

"Because I did, blondie," I replied, patting her on her head. "So...we're cool, right?"

She sighed. "I guess."

"Sweet," I replied. "Well, on that note, let me get back upstairs so I can go drop the kids off at school, otherwise I'll hear about it from Carly later. See you guys later. You two should...talk."

"Oh, we're gonna," Freddie replied, glancing over Sam, who had gained a little more color back in her face, but still looked a little under the weather.

"Good luck with that," I replied, and with that, let myself out, heading down the hallway. I passed my mother's apartment without so much as a glance, and shook my head. I didn't understand how Sam could, after all these years, forgive her mother for what she had done. I certainly never would forgive my own mother. The woman could die and rot in hell, as far as I was concerned.

I walked further down the hallway, and coming around the corner, I was met with none other than Gibby and Melanie.

"Hey man!" Gibby greeted me.

"Yo," I replied, then glared at Melanie. "You don't look half as tore up as your identical counterpart."

"Well, she had quite a lot," Melanie said with a laugh.

"And you did nothing to encourage it," I said flatly. "You knew exactly what you were doing when you slipped those shots in her drink."

"I was trying to make her feel better!" she responded indignantly. "And it worked, until she just had too many shots."

"What would have made her feel better is talking to her husband, not getting wasted, Melanie," I responded. "Not everyone can feel better just from a little bit of liquid."

"People who live in glass houses..." she reminded me, and I scowled.

"Look..." I started, but Gibby suddenly stepped between us.

"Alright, you two," he said. "Knock it off! Geez, why do guys hate each other so much?"

"He's a douchebag."

"She's a bitch."

"Never mind," Gibby said with a roll of his eyes. "I've just never seen a personality conflict this bad in my entire life!"

"He'd have to have a personality for there to be a conflict," Melanie fired off, and I just gave her a withering stare. "Well, on that note, I'm gonna go see my sister..."

"Uh, no you're not," I replied, and she looked at me like I'd just announced I was part walrus.

"Excuse me?"

"Freddie and Sam are talking, trying to work everything out. They don't need you walking in and making everything worse."

Her expression changed from mildly annoyed to angry. "He's just screwing with her," she said, her voice dripping with venom.

"Yeah, because you know Freddie," I replied with a roll of my eyes. "He loves her. He just doesn't know how to handle her."

"She doesn't need to be handled, and she doesn't need him trying to control everything she does! Like last night! He stepped in, going straight into dictator mode! It ruined the whole night! We could have..."

"Died in a horrific car accident!" I snapped, irritated. "Did you think he was just going to let your drunken ass drive off with her? He stepped in because he loves her and doesn't want her to get hurt! You're just lucky Gibby was there or you would have been on your own!"

With the statement 'been on your own', I must have struck a nerve, because she practically hissed at me. Still pissed at her for...whatever reason, I don't know, I've just never liked that girl, I decided to go forward with that, crossing my arms over my chest and glaring at her.

"I think I've got you all figured out, Melanie. You hate me and Carly because we're happy, you hate Freddie because he makes Sam happy, and meanwhile, you're just...alone. And you can't stand it."

"Asshole," she hissed, shoving at my chest and walking past, heading right to Freddie and Sam's apartment. I didn't stop her this time, feeling slightly victorious that I'd finally gotten to the little bitch.

"Wait, Melanie!" Gibby called, only to be met with the sound of a slamming apartment door, and he glared at me. "You know, you really are a dick sometimes!"

"Oh come on, dude! She's a brat! She needs somebody to shake some sense into her!"

"She's not a brat," Gibby replied as he followed me down the hall to the stairs.

I stopped, turning around to look at him. "What happened between you and Melanie last night?"

He shrugged. "Spent quite a few hours in a coffeehouse, talking about her problems. You guys have definitely got the wrong impression about her, you know that?"

I shook my head. "Please. She's spoiled, manipulative, and I gotta say, I think she's absolutely thrilled about the idea of Freddie and Sam splitting up, and will do whatever she can to push it."

Gibby nodded. "You're right, she does want Freddie and Sam to split up. And she IS jealous. She IS lonely. She doesn't know how to let anybody in. It's...it's really sad, honestly."

I gave him a suspicious look, shaking my head. "If I didn't know, I'd say you were hard up." I turned around and began walking up the stairs.

"What if I was?" he called, and I turned around again.

"You can't be serious, Gibby," I replied. "I mean...for starters, she's a lesbian, and for another, she's Melanie fucking Puckett! That girl's the devil!"

"She's really not," Gibby replied. "She's actually pretty...sweet."

I snorted, rolling my eyes. "Oh, great. Man, wait until I tell Carly, I'm sure she needs a good laugh this morning."

"Whatever, man," Gibby replied. "If you decide to stop being a dick and Freddie's not too occupied, it'd be cool if we could go to the gym tonight, like before things started getting all screwy."

I shrugged. "Sounds cool, if we can get Freddie away from Sam. Something tells me it might be difficult."

"Right. Well, I'm gonna head back to my mom's, I've been up all night."

"Later, Gibs."

I headed the rest of the way upstairs, too many things going through my head right now. Carly and I were supposed to go meet with that nanny agency in the afternoon, Sam and Freddie's drama showed no sign of slowing down any time soon, and Gibby may or may not have feelings for Melanie.

Fantastic.

~*Sam*~

I stared at Freddie holding the baby for a long second, an awkward silence filling the air.

"So...so how'd it go with Brad?" Freddie stammered. I guess he was feeling a little awkward too.

"It went fine," I said quietly, then held my arms out. "Can I have him?"

"Sure," he replied, placing the baby in my arms, and I pressed a tender kiss to my son's head.

"Hey, my sweet little man..." I cooed, bouncing him a little. "Mama missed you so, so much..." I paused. "And your daddy."

"His daddy missed you too," Freddie said softly. He bit his lip. "Sam..."

At that moment, the front door flung open, and in stalked my sister. I was fully prepared to yell at her for the stunt she pulled last night, until I saw the look on her face, like she was going to burst into tears any second.

"Melanie?"

"Your friend Brad's an asshole," she hissed, wiping her face and heading in the direction of the guest room/Freddie's office, the door slamming shut with a resounding bang. Little Freddie made a whimper, but I just held him against me, pressing his little face against my neck, and he quieted down pretty quick.

I looked between the direction of my sister, and where my husband stood.

"Melanie!" I called, starting to walk towards the guest bedroom, then thought better of it, turning around to look at Freddie, who was staring at the floor with his hands in his pockets. I took a step toward him, grabbing one of his arms and pulling his hand out of his pocket so I could take his hand, and he looked at me in surprise.

"She can wait," I said softly. "We need to talk, don't we?"

He nodded. "Yes."

"And then you need to sleep."

Freddie shrugged. "I'm not tired, Sam."

I ignored his statement, going into the kitchen to make up a bottle for the baby. Both my men needed some rest. I could look at my baby and tell that he'd been up for much of the night, the way his hands kept rubbing his little eyes, and as for his father? I'd been putting him through hell lately. We were BOTH going through hell right now, and knowing that, it'd be stupid to go through it alone.

I didn't know what was happening to be, and I certainly didn't like it. And while Brad's comments about professional help had made sense, at the same time it scared me. Like I had said, what if I went through all of that and I STILL wasn't better? What if I just couldn't be fixed?

I finished making up the bottle, walking toward the bedroom and motioning for Freddie to come with me. He did, shutting the door behind him, and sat next to me on the bed.

"Are you feeling better?" he asked.

"Not one hundred percent, but I guess that's what you get when you drink, right?" I asked. He shrugged. I sat there for a moment in silence, feeding the baby, and I looked up at him. "Okay, make your demands."

"What?" he asked as he looked over at me, somewhat perplexed.

"We have problems, Freddie. I know that. I...I have problems. But...I don't wanna let this go. I can't. I'll do whatever I have to do. So...what do you want me to do?"

He sighed. "I don't have any demands. I just...I just want you to be happy. Healthy. That's all. I...I miss you, Sam." He paused. "You've been pulling away from me. Way before any of this stuff with your mom happened."

I nodded. "I'm sorry."

"I know you are," he replied. "Baby...you've gotta get some help, you know that, right? I can't fix you all by myself. I thought I could, but...I failed."

"You didn't fail!" I responded. "You did the best you could with me, okay? I'm screwed up, it's not your fault."

"I just wish I could have done more."

"Stop it," I said. "I...it's not your fault, Freddie."

He nodded, opening his mouth to say something, but then looked over at the baby and shut his mouth. I got why he did it. We had a lot to talk about, there was a risk of things getting intense, and he didn't want to go down that road in front of the baby.

"He's almost gone," I reassured him, gesturing to the half-empty bottle, along with the baby's half-shut eyes. "See?"

He nodded. "I worry about what all of this is going to do to him, Sam. He deserves two parents. Two parents who are together."

That was the thing, I couldn't tell if we were together right now or not. Freddie was still wearing his ring, and I was still wearing mine, and we were talking, but the stuff we'd been saying and doing to each other lately...it wasn't how two people who were together and in love acted. Still, it was clear. We couldn't pull away from each other. We were completely addicted to each other. Maybe we both needed professional help.

We sat on the bed in silence while we waited for the baby to drift off, and once he had, I picked him up and carried him to the nursery, laying him down in his crib and covering him up and then slowly creeping out of the room so as not to wake him.

Freddie was still sitting on the edge of the bed, looking down at his ring and spinning it around his finger with his other hand, and he looked up at me as I shut the door behind me.

"He go down okay?"

I nodded, then walked over to him, standing in front of him. I hesitated for a second, but only a second, as my hand went to the back of his head and claimed his mouth in a searing kiss. I pulled away a few moments later, resting my forehead against his.

"I'll do whatever I can to keep you."

"I'm the one who's losing you," he croaked out. "I just want you back, Sam. I just want things to be the way they were before!"

"I do too!" I cried. "Baby, I do...I don't know what to do."

"I don't either," he said softly.

I was quiet for a moment.

"We have to talk about my mother," I said, and he sighed, falling back onto the bed and staring at the ceiling.

"I don't want you seeing her, Sam..." he began.

"Freddie..."

"...but I'm not going to tell you what to do," he finished, giving me a Look for interrupting him.

I nodded, playing with a strand of my hair. "I'm supposed to take Melanie to see her tonight."

"I...I don't think it's a good idea, and I still think she's going to hurt you."

"She's not going to hurt me."

"You don't know that," he replied. "But I guess I'd rather know what you're up to than be lied to again."

I winced. "I really am sorry about that."

"I know you are," he replied. "And I'm sorry I lied to you about the letter. I mean, maybe if I hadn't...I dunno, maybe things wouldn't be the way they are right now."

But he and I both knew that was a lie too. I'd been feeling like I was losing it for awhile now, I just didn't know how to vocalize it. Unfortunately, it got to the point where I didn't have to vocalize anything, my actions had spoken for themselves. I was losing it. I was crazy.

"So what now?" I asked, and he sighed.

"I don't know, Sam," he replied. "All I know is I love you, and I'm not ready to throw in the towel."

"Then the rest...we can deal with," I said softly, and he nodded, stretching out on the bed, looking up at me.

"Come here?" he asked hopefully, and I nodded.

"One sec," I replied, reaching for his belt buckle and swiftly popping it open, before doing the same with the button and zipper on his jeans and inching them over his hips.

"What are you doing?"

"Getting you comfortable so you'll sleep better."

He sighed, squeezing his eyes shut. "I'm supposed to be taking care of you right now."

"Well, maybe you need to be taken care of for a change," I replied, finally getting his jeans off. "Sit up," I told him. He did, and I pulled his shirt over his head. "Better?"

"Not quite," he replied, reaching for my hand and pulling me down with him. I laid my head down on his chest, throwing a leg over his hips, and he let out a deep sigh, one of his hands going into my hair and tangling it around his fingers. "I love you so much, Sam."

"I love you too."

"I don't know what I was thinking...I can't leave you."

"I pushed you too far."

He nodded. "You did, but...I can't stay away," he sighed. "I don't care if that makes me weak or not, but...I just can't do it."

"You're not weak," I told him. "It takes a really strong person to put up with all my shit...and keep coming back."

"Because I love you," he said again. "I'm sorry...leaving you alone to deal with all that shit, it was wrong. But...but this doesn't change anything. I need you to get help, baby. For me. For you. For the baby."

I tensed up, and he noticed, sending a comforting hand down my back.

"The idea of therapy is really scary to me."

"I know. But I'll help you."

"What if I can't be fixed?"

"You can."

I nodded. "I hope you're right, Freddie."

"I know I'm right, my sweet sweet baby," he responded, and I wanted to burst into tears, not out of sadness, but happiness, and relief. Those four words, that little nickname for me, could easily bring me to my knees. He lifted his head, catching my chin with his fingertips and tilting my head to brush his lips across mine. It was a sweet, comforting kiss that seemed to say 'I love you. I'm here.'

I pulled away, reaching up to run my fingertips lightly over his eyelids, closing them.

"Get some sleep, honey."

"Okay," he replied, letting out a yawn, and then pulled me tighter against him.

The stress and being up all night must have really gotten to my sweet husband, because he went down in a matter of seconds. With a sigh, I sat up, slowly disentangling myself from his arms, and then got up to go find out what was going on with my sister.


	79. Chapter 79

**A/N: Sorry for not updating for awhile, hours at work got extended from 30 a week to 40. Great for my bank account, bad for my writing. Enjoy!**

**Chapter Seventy Nine**

~*Sam*~

After Freddie had drifted off to sleep, I pulled myself out of his arms, quietly creeping out the room, and then headed in the direction of the guest room. I tapped on the door gently, pushing it open.

"Mel?"

"Hey," she said, sniffling and wiping her face. "What's up?"

"Are you crying?" I asked worriedly, and she shook her head.

"Nope. Just allergies."

I rolled my eyes. That was MY line, when I was upset and crying and didn't want anyone to call me out on it. I sat down on the futon next to her, pulling one knee up to my chest.

"So what did Brad say to you, exactly?"

"Typical douchebag stuff from a typical douchebag," she grunted. "I don't want to talk about it."

"Fine, we won't talk about it," I replied, leaning back. I stared at the wall for a second, before turning my head to look at her. "You know what you did last night was fucked up, right?"

She sighed. "I'm sorry, Sam. I was just trying to help, and I figured, you know, take your mind off things."

"Maybe I didn't need to take my mind off things," I replied. "I was wrong. I've really been treating Freddie like shit lately." She opened her mouth to say something, but I cut her off quickly. "And I don't care what you say about that, it's the truth. I love him. I don't want to hurt him. And I will do ANYTHING to keep him."

"Even letting him control you?" she replied, and I rolled my eyes.

"He doesn't control me, Melanie!"

"He freaked out about you talking to our MOTHER. That's controlling."

"He was WORRIED, and he didn't really make too big a fuss when I told him we were going to see her tonight," I replied, and she gave me a look that was a mix of emotions, surprise and something else.

"About that," she said quietly, toying with her nails. "I...I don't think I can do it, Sam."

"You don't want to?" I asked, and she shook her head.

"It's not that. I do. But..." she trailed off, biting her lip, and then lifted her head to look at me. "I'm really scared, Sam," she said softly, her voice trembling a little.

"Aw, Mel..." I said, hugging her. "It's okay! She's different now! And...and I'll be there!"

"I know, but..." she wiped her face. "I just never thought this day would come."

"Well, it's here," I replied. "We're doing it, tonight."

"I know," Melanie replied quietly. "It's just really weird. And scary."

"I know, Mel," I replied. "But don't worry, it'll be fine."

She nodded, letting out a deep breath. "Sorry for getting you wasted."

"It's cool...I guess. I mean, in a way, I guess you kind of helped. Freddie was...well, he was angry with me, and then I guess seeing me like that brought out his protective instinct."

"He's a little bit too protective, don't you think?" she asked, and I shrugged.

"We've been through a lot. And we love each other. A lot."

"I know you do," she replied, looking away. "I wish...never mind." She changed the subject. "So, have you seen Gibby all pumped out yet?"

"No, not yet...hopefully he'll be in town for a few days, you know? I'd like to see him," I replied. "So...you just hung out with Gibby all night? What'd you guys do?"

"We talked," she replied with a shrug. "He's really sweet. You know, out of everyone back here in Seattle, he's the only one who I felt like...I don't know, never really judged me."

"Gibby's definitely NOT a judgemental person," I replied. "He's always kind of accepted people the way they are, because...well...you know, he's Gibby. And Gibby's pretty different himself."

"Yeah, he is," she said with a smile, and I gave her a strange look.

"Mel?" I asked. "Did you..."

"God no!" she laughed. "Come on, I like girls, remember? I'm just saying, Gibby's a really good person. He's sweet. He listens. He's a good friend."

I nodded. "Yeah, he is. I mean, he hopped on a plane with like zero notice when he found out Freddie and I were having problems."

She nodded, leaning back against the wall, and closed her eyes. "I'm exhausted. I think you're the only one who got ANY sleep."

"Probably," I agreed, but all the while, I was going over things in my head. Dinner tonight with my mother. Mine and Freddie's relationship. Possible therapy.

And what was this business between Gibby and my sister? She'd denied it, sure, but...she seemed a little more at peace after talking to Gibby, and that really stuck out to me. It kind of reminded me of how things were in the beginning with Freddie. I mean, my sister was a lesbian, but she was a mixed-up one. Would it be completely outside of the realm of expectations for her to have feelings for a guy? For Gibby?

I couldn't be sure, and I didn't want to press it. Besides, I had way too much other stuff going on.

I left Melanie to get some sleep while I tried to clean up somewhat quietly. After the first fight with Freddie, when he'd told me he was done, I'd really started to neglect the place, especially the kitchen. The place was a disaster area! It took me about two hours to finish, and even though I wasn't really tired, after I finished, I went into the bedroom and laid down next to Freddie. My poor, sweet husband. He was so tired, so stressed out, so out of it. He deserved so much better. I pressed a kiss to his temple and he stirred a bit.

"Sam..." he whispered in his sleep, and I moved closer to him.

"I'm here, baby."

He quieted down then, back to a peaceful slumber, and I curled up next to him, laying my head on his chest, until I drifted off too.

Six hours later, I was running around the apartment like a crazy person, trying to keep three other people calm. Melanie was a basket case over seeing our mother for the first time in years, Freddie had a headache because he'd slept right through the alarm he had on his phone to remind him to take his insulin, and my son seemed to be the observant type who wailed any time there was even an ounce of stress in the room. Ugh, how was I supposed to get a grip on what was left of my sanity?

"Melanie, just calm down, okay?" I yelled as I bounced baby Freddie up and down on my hip. "It'll be fine."

"Easy for you to say!" she shouted. "Oh my god, I have to go do my hair..."

"Then go!" I replied, shooing her in the direction of the bathroom. "Geez..." I turned to Freddie, who was sitting on the couch with his head in his hands. "Hey, baby, how you feeling?"

"Horrible," he grumbled. "My head hurts so bad."

"I should've woken you up earlier, I'm sorry," I replied. I sat the baby down in his bouncy seat, dropping to my knees in front of Freddie. "Let me see."

He pulled his hands away from his head, and I brushed his hair off his forehead. "The sides, the front, behind the eyes, or the bridge of your nose, what hurts?"

"Forehead and behind the eyes," he grunted, and I nodded, rising to my feet and plopping down on the couch next to him.

"Put your head in my lap," I told him, and he obeyed, laying back and looking up at me. I began rubbing my fingers across his brow and just underneath, finding the spot I was looking for and applying some pressure, and he squeezed his eyes shut, letting out an uncomfortable sounding grunt, but he soon became accustomed to the pressure I was putting on his head and laid there silently.

"How's that?"

"Better," he said softly. "Don't stop, okay?"

"K," I replied, continuing my ministrations. "Are you still going to the gym with Brad and Gibby? If your head stops hurting I mean?"

"I mean, I dunno. I've been dumping the baby on my mom a lot lately, and asking Carly to watch him is out of the question. She's got her hands full right now, you know?"

"Yeah, I know," I replied, wincing at the thought of Carly. I really needed to go and talk to her. "Well, if you don't want to do that...you still need to hang out with the boys, you know? Hang out here. You, Brad, Gibby, Spencer, and our little man. Play cards or something."

"I could do that," he said with a shrug. "Assuming this headache eases off."

"Take something for it," I replied. "And eat, okay? You want me to make you something before I leave?"

"You don't have to, Sam..."

"I'm still your wife, so it's kind of my job," I replied. "So, do you want something?"

"I'd rather you just keep rubbing my head while I order a pizza on my phone," he replied, and I shrugged.

"As long as you eat."

Even though I was sort of nagging him right now, he looked up at me and gave me a smile, and I could read it pretty easily. Lately, I hadn't been doing my job as his wife, but I was determined to step my game up, starting now, and he was noticing. I loved him so much, I'd do anything to keep him.

Even therapy, I thought with a shudder.

With the pizza on its way, Freddie's headache finally beginning to wear off, and Melanie officially dressed and ready to go, it was time. I had to say, I was a little nervous about this myself, the thought of my mother seeing Melanie for the first time in years. I hoped they wouldn't fight.

Mel was nervous, constantly fidgeting with her jewelry and anything else she could get her hands on as she waited for me to put my shoes on. I finished, standing up, and then walked over to my son in his bouncy seat, kissing him on his tiny forehead.

"Bye, my sweet little man. Have fun with Daddy and Uncle Brad and Uncle Gibby and Uncle Spencer."

With that, I turned around, heading toward the couch and leaned down to press my lips against Freddie's, surprised when his hand went to the back of my head, forcing me to kiss him longer than I'd intended. We finally pulled away, and I gave him a smile, kissing him.

"I love you," I told him. "Have fun with the boys, okay?"

"I'll try," he replied. "I love you too. Hurry back." He tossed a look over at Melanie. "Good luck."

She looked surprised. "Thanks," she replied, and he just shrugged.

"Come on, it's go time, Mel," I said as I grabbed her arm.

"Well, that was...weird," Melanie commented as we walked down the hall. I shook my head.

"I told you, Melanie, he doesn't hate you..."

"He almost ripped my throat out last night!"

"Yeah, well, you did get me plastered, and then you tried to drive me home while you were drunk," I offered. "Of course he'd be a little upset by that."

"A little upset?" she laughed bitterly. "Okay, you were out of it, but he and Brad both cornered me and started screaming at me. Spencer had to break it up!"

"Fun," I replied, ignoring what she'd said. "So, you sure you can handle this, Mel?"

"I hope so," she replied, letting out a deep breath.

The entire ride to my mom's apartment, my sister was an absolute basket case, to the point that she was making me seem like a mentally sound human being, which wasn't easy. She fidgeted, kicking her legs, picking at her nails, constantly begging me to turn the car around, occasionally behaving like she was going to burst into tears at any second. I'd never seen her like this. I considered myself to be a champ when it came to masking my emotions, but my skill at hiding how I felt had never held a candle to how good Melanie was at it. With a sweet smile and a clever turn of phrase, you'd never be able to guess what was really going on in Mel's head.

So this suddenly display of emotion, not only a display but a complete lack of control, was disconcerting. There wasn't much I could do to calm her down, but this needed to happen. Melanie needed to deal with her issues with our mom more than I did!

We finally pulled up outside the apartment complex, and Melanie looked around at the surroundings.

"She lives here?" she said in a soft voice, and I shrugged.

"What's wrong, Mel? Is there no ghetto in Raleigh?" I asked.

"Well, there's Garner..." she replied with a laugh. "And I guess the trailer wasn't much better..."

"No, not really," I replied with a shrug, thinking back to what it was like living in that place, with its leaky roof and bits of insulation sticking out through holes in the walls, how the carpet always smelled like mildew...I was lucky I'd gotten out of that place. I was lucky Freddie had gotten me out. What the hell was wrong with me, treating him like this?

I sighed, trying to get my mind off Freddie for a little while and back on my sister. I flung the door open, getting out, and I looked at her expectantly.

"Get out, Mel."

"I can't."

"Melanie, come on."

"No, I literally can't. Maybe something's wrong with my legs...it's arthritis! Brought on by years of gymnastics!"

"Melanie!" I snapped, annoyed. "Do NOT make me carry your ass up those steps, because you know I can, and you know I will!"

She was silent, looking down, and I gave her a threatening glare.

"Mel..."

"Okay!" she shot back. "Give me...give me a second." Slowly she climbed out of the car. Okay, clearly she was bullshitting about the whole arthritis thing, but her legs DID look a little shaky. I put a hand on her shoulder, squeezing a little.

"It'll be okay, Mel."

She nodded. "Okay. I think...I think I'm ready."

I gave her a reassuring smile as we walked inside the apartment complex and began walking up the stairs. I was moving quickly, eager to get out of this place so we could just go to dinner, but Melanie was quite slow to follow. I reached the top before she had even made it to the the final flight. Impatient, I knocked on my mother's apartment door. It creaked open a few moments later, revealing my mom.

"Hi, Sam!" she said. "How are you?"

"Good," I replied.

She frowned suddenly. "Where's Melanie? She didn't want to come?"

I turned around, my brow furrowed as I searched for my sister. "Mel? Where are you?" My gaze fell on her as she stood at the bottom of the flight of stairs, arms crossed over her chest, like she was preparing to protect herself from something. I sighed.

"It's alright. Come on." I held my hand out and motioned for her to come, and she did so slowly, one step at a time, like with every inch closer to my mother she got, the more afraid she became.

Finally she reached the top step, and I reached out and grabbed her arm, dragging her toward me and placing her squarely in front of me, my hands on her shoulders.

They stared at each other for what seemed like a century, and I stepped aside to better view the expressions on their faces. My mom looked like a deer caught in headlights, and as for my sister, I didn't know what she was thinking. It looked like a mixture of things.

Finally my mom spoke. "Hi, Melanie," she said, and we both waited for Melanie to respond.

Almost instantly, Melanie burst into tears.

"Hi, mommy," she sobbed, quickly escalating from upset to outer limits.

"Melly..." my mom said, using a nickname for Melanie she hadn't used since we were four, and dared to touch her, resting a hand on her arm. "I'm sorry. I'm so sorry."

Melanie nodded, still unable to speak, just continuing to cry.

"I shouldn't have sent you away, Melly...I'm so sorry..."

"You left me all alone!" Melanie screamed. "You left me alone forever! I'm still alone!"

"No, no, Melanie...no. You're not alone," I told her, rubbing her back. "It's okay. I promise it's okay."

She ignored me, focusing all of her attention on my mom.

"Why didn't you love me?" she yelled. "Why? I did everything you wanted! I got straight A's! I won State for my gymnastics team! I was perfect and you didn't love me and now I'm not perfect any more!"

"Yes, you are," my mom replied, rubbing her arm. "You're still my sweet, perfect little Melly."

I couldn't help it, but I felt a spark of jealousy hit me. An old jealousy, one that I hadn't felt it years. She was sweet, perfect little Melly? What did that make me? Bad apple Sam, who couldn't do anything right? I was completely taken aback by those sudden thoughts, and I hadn't a clue what to do with them.

I was so wrapped up in those unexpected thoughts that I didn't notice the series of events that led to my mom hugging Melanie, or Melanie letting her, but then my mom looked at me.

"Come here, Sam," she said.

I shook my head, backing up. "I...I can't. Not yet."

My mom nodded. "It's okay. I get it." She gave me a smile. "You were always the tough one, never really all that affectionate."

But the thing was, I was affectionate. I was affectionate with my son, and when I wasn't being an absolute terror, I was pretty affectionate with Carly, my best friend. There were even times I could be affectionate with Brad, though we tried to keep physical touching between us to a minimum to spare the feelings of our significant others. And let's not even talk about how affectionate I was with Freddie. But her? Something was holding me back.

I didn't know what it was, old resentment, feelings that had never been dealt with, or just more signs that I was losing my mind, but something inside me was physically preventing me from hugging my mother. And watching her hug Melanie, I wasn't getting a good feeling.

My mom cleared her throat, trying to break the awkward silence.

"Okay, well, dinner?" she asked brightly, and Melanie nodded. The scared little girl that had been walking upstairs with me had swiftly vanished, and in her place stood something that more closely resembled my sister.

"Right, Sam?" she asked.

"Yep," I said with a nod. "Let's go."

~*Freddie*~

"Bryson, get your butt over to this table right now so I can teach you to play poker," Brad called over to his little brother, who was currently poised at my coffee table, drawing up a storm. Since last night had been 'interrupted' with a bit of drama, Brad, Spencer, Gibby and I were hanging out in my apartment, along with my son, and Brad had basically forced Bryson to come along, insisting he needed 'guy time'.

Bryson shook his head, never looking up from his artwork. "No. I'm busy."

"Dude!" Brad yelled. "You HAVE to learn to play cards, it's a fundamental part of being a guy!"

"Then how come when you guys play Sam she always takes all your money?" he shot back, and I laughed.

"He does have a point," I said to Brad, who just rolled his eyes.

"I told you, we're still not sure about Sam – OW!" Brad rubbed the back of his head where I'd smacked him and glared at me.

"You are not funny," I told him, giving him a Look. "And trust me, I am 100% sure, she's all woman."

"So what's going on with you two now?" Spencer asked as he threw down two cards and waited for Gibby to hand him two more.

I shrugged. "We're working things out. I mean, I can't give up, you know?"

"Yeah, I knew you wouldn't," Spencer replied, and I gave him a Look.

"What is that supposed to mean?" I barked, and he just gave me a smile.

"It means you did exactly what you were supposed to do, as her husband," Spencer replied. Obviously I was still looking a little confused, so he continued. "Look, I know you guys are having problems, Sam's losing her shit, she smacked you, whatever, but...these are old problems."

My brow furrowed, and he continued. "You forget how long I've known both of you. The first time I saw you two together, I told Carly you guys would end up together. She just laughed and said I was crazy because you guys hated each other, but I turned out to be right, didn't I?"

"What were they doing to make you think that?" Gibby asked, and Spencer shrugged.

"It was at the park. They were arguing about something, and then Sam jumped on top of him and made him eat a clump of dirt."

"Oh my god, I remember that!" Gibby laughed, pointing at me. "You ate like an entire box of tic-tacs after that!"

I rolled my eyes at Gibby's comment, focusing my attention on Spencer.

"So, she made me eat a clump of dirt, and that made you think we were meant to be?"

"Well, no, but the fact that even though she was picking on you, she made you the whole center of her world, and you pretended to hate it, but you just kept coming back for more. Not much has changed."

"Hmm..."

"Not that that's bad," he added quickly. "I mean, you guys fit each other. You guys have always fought, but it works. I knew you weren't going to stick with this whole leaving her bit, and that's what you're supposed to do, man! You don't just give up!"

I nodded. I guess as the only other married man in the room, Spencer got how I felt.

"How often do you and April argue?"

Spencer shrugged. "Sometimes, but April's more of a crier than an arguer, which can be worse."

"Carly's a crier too," Brad grunted, and he let out a yelp suddenly, reaching under the table to rub his leg. "Don't kick me, dude."

"Haven't heard any wedding noises out of you two for awhile," Spencer replied, ignoring Brad's reprimand. "What's going on? Don't tell me it got called off again."

"Oh no, it's still on," Brad replied. "It's way on. We've just had our hands full...half the time Heather's driving me crazy, and the other half, Katie is. But I mean, she bought the dress already, location's been booked..."

"There's a hell of a lot more to it than that!" Spencer replied, and Brad nodded.

"I know, but in case you haven't noticed, we're a little bit busy...with a litter of Harrisons."

"Did you meet up with that nanny agency today?" I asked him, and he nodded.

"I don't like the idea of it, but they're all background checked, first aid certified, all that. And it would be nice to get some free time once in a while instead of being on diaper detail all the time."

"Not all of us are in diapers, Brad!" Bryson yelled.

"Yeah, feel lucky bro, I consider you the low-maintenance one!" Brad replied as he threw down a card and gave a nod to Gibby, who handed him another one. "Now get your butt over here!"

"No!"

"Why not?"

"I am drawing a picture for Riley," Bryson said in a flat tone of voice that implied he wasn't budging.

"Oh lord," I said with a groan. "He's really into that Riley girl, isn't he?"

"Yep," Brad replied.

"But he's ten."

"And you met your wife when you were eleven," Spencer reminded me. "So you don't have much room to talk."

"I guess that's true," I replied with a shrug. "So, Gibs..."

Gibby didn't miss the fact that three pairs of eyes slid over to him, and he looked at me suspiciously.

"What?"

"What up with you and my crazy sister-in-law?"

Gibby rolled his eyes. "She's not crazy. She's nice."

Brad chose that exact moment to lift his soda to his lips, and then there was Peppy-Cola all over my table as Brad coughed and Spencer slapped him on the back, trying to help him out. Brad gasped for breath, glaring at Gibby.

"Don't do that while I'm drinking something!"

"I'm serious!" Gibby said. "She's not so bad! She's just always on the defense because she knows you guys hate her!"

"I don't hate her, I..." I trailed off. "Okay, fine. But maybe if she wasn't such a brat..."

Gibby glowered at me. "Your wife's a brat."

"Hey!"

"What? She is! And you overlook it because you love her!"

Spencer gave Gibby a horrified look, one that Gibby caught.

"What?"

"You LIKE Melanie!" he yelled. "Oh my god, it's the 'roids! They're affecting your brain!"

"First of all, I am not taking steroids!" Gibby barked. "Secondly, I don't LIKE Melanie...I just...I feel bad for her. We're just friends."

"Yeah, and I used to be just friends with her sister," I grumbled. "And look how that ended up."

Gibby glared at me. "You wanna see how hard I can punch?"

"Not with those new guns of yours," I replied, inching my chair away from him. "So are we gonna show cards, or..."

"Yeah, yeah," Brad replied. "Everybody lay it down."

I was definitely in a better mood now. Thankfully, my headache had gone away, and I was having a pretty good time hanging out with the guys. The last forty eight hours had been Drama City, but things had cooled off a little. I was just glad that Sam and I were working things out. The idea of not having Sam in my life...it was terrifying.

I still wasn't thrilled at the idea of Sam out with her mother and sister right now, two people who were actually crazier than she was acting these days, but I definitely wasn't going to start a fight over it. Not with everything we'd been through already. I didn't know how it would go, but either way, I had to be there for her.

I just hoped she would take what I said about therapy seriously, because she definitely needed it. To be honest, a little bit of marriage counseling probably wouldn't hurt us either. I was willing to do whatever it took to get things to work, to make sure she stayed happy and healthy. To keep us together.

"Dude?" Brad snapped his fingers in front of my face. "Pay attention."

"Huh?" I asked, snapping out of my thoughts and quickly laying my cards down. "Sorry...was just thinking."

"Aw, man!" Spencer groaned. "That's not fair, you can't not pay attention and still win!"

"Oh, I won?" I looked down at the cards. "Sweet! Pay up, boys."

"Geez," Gibby grumbled, forking over a wad of cash as the other guys followed suit. "Alright, re-deal."

"Where you getting all your money from?" Spencer asked Gibby, who made a face. I was wondering the same thing myself. It was no secret, Spencer and April were loaded, and of course, Brad, Carly, Sam, and myself did well with iCarly, but what about Gibby? He was just a college student...come to think of it, how was he here and not in school? Wouldn't he get in trouble for that?

Gibby shifted in his seat uncomfortably. "Just promotional stuff," he mumbled, and Brad and I exchanged looks.

"Okay, you've been saying that, and then you just change the subject!" Brad replied. "Are you slingin' drugs or something?"

"What?" Gibby exclaimed. "What would give you that idea?"

"Uh, the fact that you can drop everything and come here with no mention of having to go to work...and you still seem to making good money."

"That doesn't mean I'm a drug dealer!" Gibby shot back.

"Oh, leave him alone," I replied with a wave of my hand. "If Gibs wants to be all mysterious about his job, let him. It's not like he's a stripper or something."

Brad and Spencer laughed at that, but Gibby was quiet, staring down at the table, and our looks quickly changed from entertained to horrified.

"DUDE!" Brad exclaimed. "Please don't tell me..."

Gibby sighed. "It seemed like a good idea at the time, and I really do make good money."

We were silent.

Until, of course, I managed to make eye contact with Spencer and Brad, and then it was all over as we exploded into hysterical laughter.

"Shut up!" Gibby laughed, turning a little red. "Who cares?"

"What happened to not taking your shirt off for entertainment any more?" Brad asked, and Gibby glared at him.

"Yeah, that was back when I was a fat kid. Now I look like...well, THIS. I figured I could use it to my advantage."

"And you do seem to enjoy dancing...with your shirt off," I noted, and he nodded.

"Always have."

"Aw, Gibby found his dream job!" Spencer cooed, and Gibby glared at him.

"Whatever. You know what? I'm the one who has thirty chicks a night trying to stuff twenties AND their phone numbers down my pants! I should be making fun of you guys!"

"Whatever, man," I said with a wave of my hand. "Keep your thirty chicks a night, Sam is all I can handle, and I can barely handle that."

"Look, just do me a favor, okay? DON'T tell Sam and Carly, okay? They'll just make fun of me."

"But we just made fun of you," Spencer replied.

"Come on! Just promise me you won't tell the girls, okay? ANY of the girls."

"I think he means don't tell Melanie," Brad muttered in my direction, and I nodded.

"I don't like Mel like that," Gibby replied.

"Yeah, okay," I replied with a roll of my eyes. "But fine, you got a deal, we won't tell the girls about your job."

"Thank you," Gibby replied, and that was that. We went right back into playing, until the front door opened, and in walked Sam and Melanie. Melanie looked happy as hell, but something seemed to be off about Sam.

"Hey..." I said to her as she sat her bag down, and she walked around behind me. My head went back, looking up at her, and she seemed to hesitate for a moment, until she bent down and brushed her lips across mine.

"Hi, baby," she said softly, kissing me on the forehead. "Winning us some money?"

I snorted. "I've been stomping them all night."

"Hey!"

"Oh, excuse me, Brad won one hand. How'd it go?"

"It was great," Melanie said with a smile, and then her eyes landed on Gibby. "Hey."

"Hey, Melanie," Gibby said. "So...so things went okay?"

"Yeah," she said with a grin. "You know...you were right, Gibby."

"Cool," he said with a nod. I felt Brad elbow me, but I just shooed him away, focusing my attention on Sam.

"Baby, are you okay?" I asked, and she nodded.

"I'm good," she replied. "Are you guys about done?"

"Why?" I responded. "Are you ready for bed already?"

"No," she said hastily. "No rush, I was just thinking, if you guys were gonna play for a little while longer, I'd go upstairs and talk to Carly." Her eyes slid over to Brad, and he shrugged, seeming to get it. Sam had fixed things with me, and with Brad for the most part, but she still needed to deal with Carly.

"Uh, yeah, I guess I'd be down with playing for a little while longer," he replied. "Spence?"

"Yeah, I'm good, it's not too late yet," Spencer responded.

Melanie cleared her throat. "Hey, Gibby? Did you wanna go get some coffee, and...you know, talk some more?"

He stood up almost immediately, grabbing his jacket off the back of the chair. "Sure."

They left without so much as a goodbye, leaving the rest of us stunned.

"And that's the first sign of the apocalypse..." Brad muttered. "Seriously, am I the only one who sees the makings of a disaster here?" He looked at Sam. "Your sister has to know that he has a thing for her. And she'll probably use it to her advantage."

Sam shrugged. "You know, I'd be on the same page as you if I had any clue what was going on in my sister's head right now, but I don't." She sat down where Gibby had sat before, and I gave her a Look.

"Are you telling me that you think Melanie likes Gibby?" I asked. "I mean...he's...well, he's a guy, and Melanie's a lesbian..."

She shook her head. "We both know Melanie's screwed up, baby."

"Well, that's the understatement of the century...OW!" Brad grumbled as he reached under the table to rub his shin. "Everyone can stop hitting Brad now!"

"Then stop being so...Brad!" Sam shot back. "I have no idea what's going on with those two, but whatever it is, it's best to not interfere, to just let things run their course. It's not like we really have time to deal with that anyway."

"That is true," I replied, then looked down at my watch. "Honey, if you wanna go talk to Carly, you'd better get a move on."

"Yeah, you've got about...thirty minutes before Katie wakes up in a screaming fit," Brad added as he looked down at his own watch.

"Okay," she replied as she stood up, leaning down to kiss me. "I'll be back, baby. Don't bankrupt everyone."

"I'll do my best."

She flashed me a smile that made my knees weak. Good thing I was sitting down.

"Love you," she replied.

"Love you more."

With that, she walked out the door, leaving me with Brad and Spencer.

"What?" I asked, noticing the way they were staring at me.

"Oh, Brad, I love you," Spencer said in a high-pitched voice, fluttering his eyelashes.

"Oh, Spencer, I love you more," Brad said in an equally high tone, and I rolled my eyes.

"Shut up," I replied as I felt my cheeks heat up. I snatched the deck of cards off the table and began to shuffle them.

~*Carly*~

I was in a pouting mood.

It wasn't that I had a problem with Brad having a little guy time once in awhile, after all, he certainly needed it with how busy he always stayed. The problem was that he was out having guy time, and I had NO girl time to speak of.

Sam and I were still on the outs, and I was pretty miserable about it. I didn't even know how to reach out to her, if she'd be receptive at all. Brad had told me when he'd come home last night how she was absolutely trashed, and I was shocked. Sam didn't really drink, because Freddie couldn't, due to his diabetes, so it was out of character for her.

I was really worried about her, and about Freddie too. It wasn't out of the realm of possibilities for Sam to just be toying with Freddie, and with the way she'd been so unstable lately, there was even a possibility she wasn't making a conscious effort to do so, she was just doing it.

I tried to put it out of the mind as I crept into the kitchen like a mouse towards the fridge. I hated doing this, but I hated waking Katie up even more. I was constantly walking on eggshells in my own home.

I had just gotten to the fridge and began pawing through it when I heard a light tap at the front door. I straightened up, putting my food back, and tried to quietly run across the apartment before whoever it was knocked again. I did NOT want to wake the baby up.

I was shocked to see Sam standing at the door as I pulled it open, her arm poised to knock again.

"Hi," she said, and I leaned against the doorframe.

"Hey," I replied softly. We were both silent for a moment, and I just stared at her. "What are you doing here, Sam?"

"I came to talk," she replied, looking at the ground. "Do you mind if I come in?"

I shook my head. "No, of course not. Come in..."

Sam walked into the apartment and settled down on my couch, pulling her knees up to her chest, and stared off into space for a long, awkward moment. Long enough, and awkward enough that I felt like I needed something to fill the air with.

"So..."

She bit her lip. "I'm really sorry, Carly. For flipping out on you like I did..."

"It's okay, Sam..."

"No, it's really not," she replied with a shake of her head. "It's anything but okay. I mean, you're my best friend, and you were upset because of how I was treating Freddie, and because you were just concerned about me, and I go and do that?" She shook her head again. "I don't even know who I am any more. Like, I don't even know where that came from..."

"Well, I mean..." I trailed off. I didn't really know what to say. How Sam had acted WASN'T okay, she knew it, and I knew it. But I didn't want us to be at odds either! I missed my best friend! I paused, trying to redirect. "So...how are things between you and Freddie right now?"

"Still weird, so I'm desperately trying to overcompensate for it," Sam grumbled. "I mean, if it weren't for Melanie, I wouldn't even have seen my mom tonight, because I know it bothers him..."

"You do get WHY it bothers him, don't you?" I asked, sitting down next to her. "I mean, the last time you dealt with her and she wasn't behind bars, she ended up getting the both of you shot at...not to mention everything that happened before..."

"I know..." she replied. "But...I'm really hoping that things will be different now, you know?"

"I hope you're right, Sam," I responded, even though I had an overwhelming feeling that they wouldn't, and Sam was just setting herself up to get hurt again. "So how'd Melanie take it? Seeing her for the first time in years?"

Sam sighed, leaning against the couch and looking up at the ceiling. "She was a little bit hysterical at first, but then I guess got it out of her system, and then...I dunno, it was fine. They were fine." She said it with a touch of bitterness in her voice, and my eyebrows went up.

"Sam, are you...are you jealous?" I asked quietly, and she gave me a look of warning.

"Why would I be jealous?" she shot back. "What's there to be jealous of? She...she loves me too...as much as Melanie..."

But the tail end of her sentence came out a little bit weak, and I put a hand on her shoulder.

"Sam..."

"Anyway," she said, interrupting me and changing the subject. "She did buy me a bunch of stuff for the baby."

"Well that's good, I guess..." I replied with a shrug. "So are we okay now?"

She nodded. "Yeah. I'm sorry."

"I'm just worried about you, Sam. We all are. Something's up with you, and none of us can figure out what it is."

"I know." She bit her lip. "I can't figure it out either."

"You know it's going to drive your husband insane," I pointed out, and she sighed.

"That's why I've decided to go all Stepford Wife. I can't lose him, Carly..."

"I don't think you need to take it that far, Sam, just...don't lie to the boy. And don't hit him! If you gotta hit something...I dunno, hit Melanie."

"I see you're as big a fan of my sister as ever," Sam grumbled, and I rolled my eyes.

"She tried to sabotage everything last time she was here! And Brad told me all about what happened last night...if Freddie hadn't been there, and she HAD tried to drive...you could be in jail, or the hospital...or the morgue."

"I know," Sam replied softly. "She's got a problem. But we all do."

"I know, I just...I really don't like her, Sam. I'm sorry. I know she's your sister and all, but something's off about her."

"Believe me, I know," Sam said with a roll of her eyes. "But as long as you and I are cool, and no fights or anything with my sister erupt, I don't care. I'm sick of the drama. I just want some...normality." With that, she stood up, heading for the door.

"Can you come over tomorrow?" she asked. "I really wanna stay but...I've got a LOT of making up to do with Freddie right now."

"Understandable," I replied with a nod. "And I'll see what I can do. We're supposed to have the trial-run with the new nanny tomorrow." I stood up too, and Sam seemed to weigh her options for a second, and then hugged me.

"I love you, Carls. I'm sorry."

"It's okay, Sam," I replied, hugging her back. "Really. Send Brad up here when you get down there, would ya? I'm getting bored."

"Will do," she replied. "See you tomorrow."

With that, she was gone, leaving me alone to ponder a few things. I was still really, really worried about Sam. Especially when she was describing how things went between her mom and Melanie. Sam's jealousy over Melanie had been an issue when she was younger, so fierce that it ended up destroying their relationship for a few years, and I was beginning to worry she'd go right back into that.


	80. Chapter 80

Chapter Eighty

~*Freddie*~

I'd had a good time hanging out with the boys, but as soon as Sam had gotten back into the apartment after talking to Carly, I was all but ready to shoo them out, desperate to have a little bit of alone time with my wife. It was the first chance we'd gotten all day to really talk and not have either one of us in agonizing pain, her from a hangover, and me from sleeping through my insulin alarm. We were both level-headed, not in pain, and not angry, so it seemed like a pretty damn good time to talk, if you ask me.

Fortunately, Brad and Spencer are both pretty observant guys, and they knew a whole lot of shit was going on, so they cleared out pretty quickly. Not so fortunately, my son decided that he needed his mother's attention more than I did, and pretty much started to fuss as soon as Sam walked inside and he laid his eyes on her.

"Aw, boo-bear," she said, scooping him out of his bouncy seat. "What's wrong? Did you miss mama?"

"I'm sure he did," I replied as I settled down on the couch. I watched Sam rifle around the apartment for a few minutes, grabbing stuff to change him with and then going into the kitchen to prepare a bottle. "You want some help?" I called.

"No, I got it, just sit there. Watch tv or something, as soon as he goes down, I guess we'll...talk?" she replied. "Are you hungry? I could make you some food..."

"I'm fine, baby."

She came out of the kitchen, still holding the baby, looking at me. "Are you sure? How's your head? Did you take your other shot? What about your..."

"Sam!" I responded, interrupting her. "Baby, I'm fine. Really. Just finish up with him, okay? We really do need to talk..." I trailed off when I noticed the nervous expression on her face, and sighed. "I just want to know how it went tonight, okay? I promise we're fine."

Sam was behaving a little unusually ever since she got back from having dinner with her mom and sister. Come to think of it, she'd been acting like that all day, but she'd been all over the place lately with her mental state, so I hadn't given her behavior today much thought. Still, I could tell something was a little off.

She bit her lip, and then finally managed a nod. "Okay," she said softly. "Can you...can you hold this for me? So I can change his clothes and everything?"

"Sure, baby." I took the bottle from her and watched as she spread one of his little baby blankets on the floor and laid him down on it. "So..."

"So?" she glanced up at me, quickly redirecting her attention to the baby as he squawked at her. Kid may have looked identical to me, but he was developing his mother's personality rapidly.

"How'd it go tonight?"

"It was...should we be talking about this?" she asked as she looked back up at me. "I mean, I know it's a sore subject for you..."

I refrained from pointing out why it was a sore subject, because she already knew why. That wasn't going to help anything, and like I said, I had to be there for her, regardless of what was going on.

"It's fine, sweetheart."

She nodded, letting out a sigh. "It was fine."

My eyebrow went up. "Fine?"

"Yep," she replied as she finished changing the baby and then picked him up, sitting down next to me on the couch and taking the bottle out of his hands. "Fine."

"Sam..." I gave her a Look.

"What?" she replied. "It was. They got along fine. It was like...it was like nothing ever happened. Like everything's the way it was before...it's fine."

"It wasn't fine before, and you know it," I said quietly, and she sighed.

"I am trying to pretend like it was. Please don't burst my bubble."

"It's not like you to want to believe things that aren't real..."

"Well maybe it is real!" she snapped, glaring at me, and then her eyes widened. "I'm sorry...I didn't mean that...I..."

She started to go into panic-stricken, fix-it mode, rambling off a lengthy apology that had neither rhyme nor reason, and I just put a hand on her leg, squeezing a little.

"Relax, okay?" I replied. "What's up with you? It's like you're walking on eggshells around me today!"

"I don't want you to leave again!" she blurted out, and then her eyes lowered. "I'm sorry."

My eyes squeezed themselves shut as I sighed, laying my head back for a second. I'd thought about how to piece things back together after I'd given up in a moment of absolute frustration, but I hadn't thought about how just walking away like that would affect her, even if I DID come back.

"Baby..." I said, turning to face her and putting both hands on her leg. "I'm really sorry. Really. I shouldn't have...I just...I didn't know what else to do. I thought I'd lost you already...and I just gave up."

"I don't deserve you," she said softly, and I shook my head.

"That's not true. We've been over this, we're perfect for each other, just...it's been really stressful around here, you know?"

She nodded, and I continued.

"But I'm not giving up. And I'll never walk away again."

"What if I lose it?" she asked. "Or if I hit you again..."

"Try very hard not to," I replied with a raise of my eyebrows. "And you're going to a therapist, whether you like it or not."

She sighed, tensing up a little, and I knew it was over the whole therapy issue. Sam didn't like the idea of it. She was a pretty private person, and the idea of laying all her issues bare for a total stranger really freaked her out. I understood, but she really needed help.

Still, I decided to not have an in depth conversation about that right now, not when things had the potential to be good right now. I simply put an arm around her, scooting closer to her as she fed the baby, and pressed a kiss to the side of her head.

"But we'll talk about that later, okay?"

She nodded.

"Stop walking on eggshells, baby. I'm not going anywhere this time, okay?"

She nodded again. "I hope you're right."

Shit. Great job, Freddie, you've sparked yet another insecurity issue in your sweet, mixed-up wife. I sighed, leaning my head back.

As soon as the baby had drained his bottle, he pretty much drifted off straight away. Yeah, that kid was definitely a lot like Sam. Full belly and ready to pass out. She looked down at him, a slight smile on her face.

"He's so perfect," she said softly. "Like his father."

"I'm not perfect, Sam," I replied, and she shook her head.

"I'm gonna go put him down. Are you sure you're not hungry? I don't mind, I..."

"Sam." I gave her a Look.

"Sorry," she said sheepishly as she rose to her feet with Freddie Jr. in tow. With that, she headed to the nursery, and a few moments later she walked out, shutting the door behind her softly.

"Come here, sweetheart," I said, and she approached me somewhat nervously, settling down on the couch next to me. As soon as she did, I reached for her, my hand going to the back of her head and kissing her intensely. Her eyebrows lifted in surprise, a soft moan escaping her lips.

"Freddie..." she whimpered against my mouth as I kissed her.

"I love you so much, Samantha. Don't forget that."

"I love you too..." she whispered. "I'm so, so sorry."

"Stop," I replied, pulling away and smoothing her hair back. "I'm here now, aren't I?"

"For how long?"

"I'm not leaving!" I replied, then realizing my voice had just risen about two octaves, pulled back, leaning back against the couch. "I'm sorry, okay? I know it's going to take a little time for us to recover from this, but I'm willing to put in the time."

She nodded, and I knew that was the best I was going to get out of her, so I decided to change the subject. "So how'd it go tonight? For real. Not your pat answer."

"It went okay I guess," she replied. "Mel was really emotional at first, but then she just kind of morphed back into normal. And I don't mean normal for Melanie right now...you know, batshit crazy, but like...how she was back in high school. Little Miss Perfect."

That made me nervous. It was obvious seeing Pam after all these years had pushed Melanie right back into that role she'd tried so desperately to play to appease her mother, and I wondered if the situation had the potential to do that to Sam. It wouldn't be good, that's for sure.

Sam continued to talk, breaking me out of my thoughts. "But she did buy us some stuff for the baby." With that, she leaned over the arm of the couch, where she always left her purse, and grabbed the gift bag sitting next to it. "See?" She pulled the stuff out, and I looked over it. Honestly, I wasn't thrilled about the idea of Pam Puckett giving ANYTHING to my son, but I could always pull the whole 'the laundry ate it' thing again. Or maybe if it wasn't too boy-ish, Brad could take it off my hands for Katie.

"Uh...it's...nice," I replied, turning one of the outfits over. They WERE nice, but fact was, they came from Pam, and I didn't want anything from her. Sam's brow furrowed as she noticed something on the outfit looked amiss.

"What..." she trailed off, running her finger over the piece of plastic she'd found, and then let out a sigh. "It's the security tag."

We were both silent for a few minutes, and I cleared my throat.

"I'm sure the cashier at the store just forgot to take them off," I said, trying to make her feel better, even though I knew better. Changed, huh? Changed my ass!

"Right," Sam replied with a nod, suddenly grabbing the clothes and shoving them back into the bag. She dropped the bag on the other side of the couch, and then without warning tackled me, sending me onto my back.

"Wha-" I began, but didn't get the words out of my mouth, because she suddenly pressed her mouth against me, kissing me deeply. After a few minutes, she pulled away to kiss my neck, and I couldn't help but let out a groan.

"Baby..." I managed to get out as she kissed lower and lower, her fingers unbuttoning my shirt. "Not that I'm complaining or anything, but...damn!" I hissed as she suddenly let her teeth scrape across one of my ribs. "What's gotten into you all of a sudden?"

She didn't respond, she seemed a little too focused on getting me out of my clothes to do that, pushing my shirt off my shoulders and frantically trying to unhook my belt.

"Baby, slow down!" I said. "What's got you so worked up?"

"Nothing," she replied as she unzipped my jeans and slid them off, followed my boxers. "I love you."

"I love you too, but I think there's something on your...oh, GOD..." I groaned as she took me into her mouth, my eyes rolling into the back of my head.

Shit, she'd done it again. She was upset about something, and she'd managed to take the focus off herself. She was damn talented at it, I'd give her that, but it wasn't going to help her. And between all the drama spreading around, she'd need all the help she could get.

~*Sam*~

I stretched in my half-sleeping, half-awake state as the bright sun streamed through the bedroom window, hitting me right in the face. My aching muscles screamed at me as I did this, but I didn't care, all the muscle strain in the world would be worth it after what happened last night.

Okay, so yeah, I did kinda bamboozle Freddie into sleeping with me again, but I was just tired of talking about my mom and Melanie. Especially in conjunction with each other. Still, I was pretty sure he hadn't minded. After all, a man who minded having sex with his wife would not have suggested we go for round two, and definitely not round three. In short, it was an absolutely amazing night.

I rolled over, and my eyes popped open when I realized all I felt was air, not the warm, solid body of my husband. Oh my god! I sat up, looking around in a panic.

He'd left again!

"Freddie!" I yelled, getting out of bed. "FREDDIE!"

The bathroom door swung open, and there stood Freddie with a towel around his waist, drying his hair. "What's up, baby?"

I just stared at him for a moment, partially because he was standing there half-naked and I couldn't look away from that beautiful man, and partially because I realized I'd completely overreacted again. I couldn't help it though, Freddie leaving had really put the fear of God in me, and I was determined not to let it happen again.

Freddie gave me a Look, letting out a sigh. "You thought I'd left again?" When I nodded, he sighed again. "Dammit. No, sweetheart, I'm not leaving, but I DO have class today...and I will be back after that, okay? I promise."

I nodded, biting my lip, and he gave me an encouraging smile, taking a step toward me and kissing me.

"Trust me, sweetheart. You used to trust me, remember?"

He kissed me again, and then pulled away, giving me a smile. The 'I'm up to something' smile. Uh-oh. What did that mean? I got my answer as he suddenly shook his head back and forth, and water went everywhere.

"Aah!" I squeaked as water droplets hit me. I laughed, giving him a light shove. "That wasn't very nice."

"Why not? I like getting you wet," he replied, kissing me on my neck. "In more ways than one."

I couldn't help blush, thinking about how intense last night ended up being.

"Do you want me to make you some coffee?" I asked, and he nodded.

"If you don't mind," Freddie replied.

"Of course I don't mind," I responded. "And you need to eat something too. I'll go make you some food."

"Sam, you don't have to..." Freddie began, but it was too late, I'd already walked out of the bedroom and shut the door behind me.

I was absolutely shocked to find Melanie sitting on my couch, fully dressed and looking quite pulled together, hunched over her laptop, notebooks and papers spread across the coffee table and a pile of random pieces of fabric sitting there too. I also noticed she had a full cup of coffee, and I looked up to see she'd already made coffee for the day. I was in shock! Did I have a triplet I didn't know about? I watched her curiously as she chatted on her cell phone.

"Okay, I realize that you're outsourcing your dye lots to another country now, but you have to understand where I'm coming from. The dye lot isn't even the same shade! I ordered 50 bolts of raspberry satin brocade, and what I got was nothing CLOSE to raspberry! This is tea rose! And let's not even talk about the ecru silk you botched last month! You fix this, or I'm sure my boss will be happy to take our ten year account somewhere else!" Melanie barked into her phone. She finally seemed to notice me standing there, and greeted me with a nod.

'Who are you talking to?' I mouthed.

'Work stuff,' she mouthed back, before rolling her eyes.

"I don't care if the price on the bolts came down! We are not a bargain basement company! You think we can get away with charging five hundred bucks per corset with shitty materials? I'm not kidding, Josephine, if you can't nail this dye lot, you're going to either create a new one exclusive to our company, or find another account! You have four days! No, I want it sent TO ME personally! I'm in Seattle right now, I will email you the address. Four days!" she hung up the phone, shaking her head, and then her anger seemed to melt away, looking up at me. "Good morning."

I just gaped at her. "Why are you up this early?"

She shrugged. "The East Coast has already been up for three hours, Sam. Just because I'm out here doesn't mean I can take a break from work."

I looked over at the pile of fabrics setting on our table, then back at my sister, hair and makeup perfectly done, wearing a stylish blazer. She looked good. She looked professional. She looked like a businesswoman. I looked down at my own pajama bottoms and tank top and frowned. My sister looked like a businesswoman, I looked like a housewife.

"So, Mel...what do you do, exactly?"

"I'm the textile manager for Le Coquette Couture," she replied, referring to the lingerie house she worked for, and my eyebrows went up.

"How'd you get a management job so young, Mel?" And so...crazy?

She shrugged. "Because I'm damn good at my job."

"So, you're still worried about work, but...not about school?"

Melanie shrugged again. "I mean, I got my associate's already, in Fashion Merchandising."

"But I thought you were going for a Bachelor's."

"Until they offered me a job at Coquette. I mean, the pay alone..."

"If you don't mind me asking, how much, exactly?"

"Fifty two thousand," she replied without even blinking.

Oh my god. My crazy sister had managed to get a job making that much money all on her own. Not with the help of her sweet but silly best friend, or a technically brilliant husband to figure out all the details. Not from making a spectacle of herself on the internet. She'd already gotten her associate's! I was so, so incredibly behind.

I was suddenly beginning to feel inferior to my sister again, and I definitely didn't like it.

"So, how long are you planning on staying in Seattle?" I asked, and Melanie shrugged, taking a sip of her coffee.

"A few weeks, probably..."

"Oh," I said flatly. "Well, maybe..."

Her brow furrowed as she looked across the table at me.

"Maybe what?"

"I...I just don't want to baby to keep you up at night, that's all. Sometimes he cries a lot," I lied.

She laughed, shaking her head.

"Did Freddie send you out here to tell me to leave? Because he doesn't want me staying here?"

"Well, no..."

"So it's YOU who doesn't want me staying here?" Melanie shot back, sounded offended.

"Well, I...no. Not at all," I replied. For some reason, I wasn't willing to get in any arguments today. "Melanie, I didn't mean anything by it, I just...obviously your work is important, I'd hate for anything to get in the way of it. You can stay here...I mean, if it's okay with Freddie."

"Of course," she said with a roll of her eyes.

"Shut up!" I barked. "If you don't like it..."

"I don't like it, Sam! You know that!"

"You know what? At least I HAVE somebody who loves me!" I shot back. As I took stock of the hurt look on my face, I instantly regretted saying it, but I just couldn't help it. Something about Melanie was eating at me today.

The wounded look disappeared as Melanie schooled her face into a more neutral expression, and she gave me a sad smile.

"You're very lucky, Sam. Well, on that note," she said, standing up and shutting down her laptop. "I gotta head out."

"Where are you going?"

"I've had it up to here with this textile company I've been dealing with, so I'm off to go downtown to browse some of the textile houses, see if there's anyone worth setting up an account with."

"By yourself?"

"Well, no, I'm gonna go have breakfast first, I haven't seen Megan or Kristen in awhile, and then I'm gonna go meet up with Gibby again..."

"Gibby?" I replied. "Again?"

"Why not?" she replied with a shrug. "He's fun."

"I guess," I replied.

"I'll see you later, okay? And don't plan anything for tonight, we're gonna go have dinner with mom again."

I blinked, looking at her quizzically. "You talked to mom?"

"About half an hour ago, before she went to work."

Oh, great. Melanie's got an awesome job, Freddie and Brad and Carly all have school, even my former drug addict mother was getting up and going to work, and I was stuck in the apartment all day. As a housewife. Fabulous.

I heard the bedroom door swing open, and Freddie walked out, fully dressed and ready to go. He stopped in his tracks as he looked at Melanie.

"You look awfully...human today," he commented, and Melanie rolled her eyes. "So I'm guessing you slept here last night? Came in while we were...occupied?"

"I don't know how your son manages to sleep at all with all that noise. It sounded like you were killing my sister."

"Well, she's standing right here, so obviously she's fine," Freddie grunted. "Dare I ask why you're up at a normal hour?"

"Uh, work?" she shot back. "I've gotta go check out some textile houses downtown."

"Yeah," I said slowly, turning to look at Freddie. "Apparently she's all...super businesswoman now. While I'm here."

Freddie gave me confused look, his eyebrows knitting together and eyes narrowing. "What does that mean?" he asked.

"Nothing," I replied. "Guess you both better go, and I've got...cleaning to do."

Freddie leaned forward and kissed me, rubbing my lower back softly. "I only have the two classes today, so I'll see you around one, okay?"

"Anything you want me to make you for lunch?"

"I like everything you make, sweetheart," he replied as he kissed me again, both of us ignoring Melanie's disgusted-sounding groan.

"Yeah, but...anything in particular?"

"Hmm," Freddie said, and a grin spread across his face. "A SAMwich."

Melanie groaned, and I couldn't help but groan too.

"Baby, I love you and all, but..."

"Yeah, I know, that was lame, I'll give you that," he said with a grin.

"But still sweet," I replied, standing up on my tiptoes to kiss him. "I love you. Hurry home, okay?"

"Sure thing, baby," he replied. "I'm guessing little man's not up yet?"

I shook my head. "Sleeping in."

"Slacker," Freddie replied with a grin. "Love you, see you in a few hours."

With that, he grabbed his backpack and the travel mug I'd sat out for him and let himself out, leaving me alone with Melanie.

"Well," she said after an uncomfortable silence. "Guess I'd better go too."

"Don't you need someone to drive you?" I asked as I followed her to the door. She shrugged.

"Nah, I'm just taking a cab to the cafe and then Gibby's gonna pick me up from there. Later."

And then she was gone too. And I was alone in the apartment, with nobody to keep me company except my sleeping, infant son, and a head full of problems I was desperately trying NOT to think about. I just hoped Carly would be here soon.

~*Carly*~

"Okay, you three," Brad stated as he paced back and forth in front of the couch where Leah, Bryson, and Heather sat. "I am dead serious today. If you even THINK about trying to scare off the nanny...we're really lucky, you know that? The agency's child limit is three, but since Heather's age is right on the edge..." he trailed off, shaking his finger at them. "Be on your best behavior today!"

"How do you know this whole thing isn't going to turn into some Hand That Rocks the Cradle business?" Heather asked, and Brad glared at her.

"Don't even think that. And you, especially, do NOT be a brat!" He turned to Leah. "And the three cookie a day limit still stands!"

Leah poked her bottom lip out and crossed her arms over her chest, pouting. "Meanie."

"Aargh," Brad said. "I am not mean! I don't want you hopped up on sugar and getting cavities!" When Leah just stared at him blankly, he gave up, switching his attention to Bryson.

"Alright, what's your thoughts?"

"Well, actually," Bryson began, turning pages in his notebook, and lifting something to his eye, "I do have some notes. Or...more like...an artist's rendering of some notes. See, here's what I think -"

"Is that a monocle?" I asked, gesturing to the thing he had held up to his eye.

"Yeah," Bryson replied with a roll of his eyes. "It makes me feel more mature."

"Well you look like Mr. Peanut!" Brad shot back. "Okay, so what's your thoughts?"

Bryson said nothing, just held up his notebook, and Brad glared at him, shaking his head.

"What is that, and why did you draw a picture of it eating me?"

"It's a Manticore."

"A what?" Brad shot back, confused.

"It's a creature of legend. And this picture is a metaphor."

"Of what?"

Bryson shrugged. "You figure it out."

"Ugh!" Brad responded. "Anyway, back to the original conversation. We need the help, you guys, and we need it bad! I know you guys don't like seeing me and Carly all stressed out like this, so we need the help. PLEASE, do not scare her off!"

"What if she turns out to be a whackjob?" Heather shot back.

"Then we'll take care of it, Heather," I spoke up. "But this is the best nanny agency in the city, and we've got money to throw around, so I'm sure it'll be fine."

I was really, really nervous about the new nanny starting today. None of us had met her, the agency just sends over nannies for their clients to try until they've found a right fit. Today was the first test run. I was worried, because obviously Heather, Bryson, Leah, and Katie were a real handful. I hoped whoever it was could handle it. It just so happened that today was one of those "teacher work days" in the Seattle school system, so today would be the perfect opportunity to test her out.

"Alright, so...she'll be here soon," Brad said, and turned to me. "What's her name again?"

"Paula Cortez," I replied, reading over the paper from the agency. "She's forty two, and she's been a nanny for fifteen years. Apparently she's used to dealing with large families, according to this."

Brad nodded. "Good." He turned back to the kids, sitting on the coffee table in front of them. "Look, I know this kinda sucks, but we're really running low on options, you know?"

Bryson nodded. "I know. We don't mean to be so much trouble..."

Brad gave his little brother a grin. "You're not any trouble, Bry."

"Yeah, right! You say that like four times a day!" Heather spoke up, and Brad rolled his eyes.

"I never said YOU weren't trouble. You're gonna put me in an early grave!"

"Well, I'm fourteen! I don't need a nanny!"

"You need a zookeeper, but they were all booked up," Brad replied without missing a beat. I rolled my eyes and Brad and Heather's banter. They argued more than Spencer and I ever did. Maybe it was because they were much closer in age and I wasn't a total wildchild when I was her age. Growing up with Spencer was more like having a playmate that could get away with a lot more stuff.

I really wanted to try and squeeze in a little alone time with Brad today, but best friend duties were calling me, and besides, Brad was all in a tizzy today, between the new nanny and an impromptu conference call he was having with his management agency today. Plus he had class. Poor guy, he worked so hard, plus he constantly threw himself in everyone's drama, just trying to help. A lot of people had the wrong idea about Brad, because he was constantly making jokes about everything, but he was the sweetest, most considerate guy I'd ever met. He really could use a break, and I hoped the new nanny could help somewhat.

Brad and Heather continued to trade insults back and forth, and I was about to start fussing at both of them, but we were interrupted by a knock at the front door. Brad stopped arguing with Heather and looked over at me.

"Well, I think that's her," he said, straightening up. "I'll get it. Everybody just...act normal, okay?"

"We're not normal, Brad," Bryson replied. "Remember?"

"I said act like it!" Brad barked back, heading to the door.

"Brad, I swear to god, if this is a guy in an old lady costume with a fake British accent..."

"Heather, enough!" I replied, annoyed at their constant bickering. I was starting to understand Freddie's issue with migraines now...

Brad ignored Heather's latest comment as he trudged to the door, pulling it open and staring at whoever was on the other side.

"Paula?"

I craned my head around Brad so I could get a better look. She was a little shorter than me, and while not fat, she was one of those you could consider "stout". Above all, she looked like she meant business.

"Are you Bradley?" she replied. She had a touch of a Spanish accent, that part was obvious, but I couldn't tell if she had grown up here in America or moved here later in life, because the accent was very faint.

Brad nodded, shaking her hand. "Just Brad's fine," he replied. "Come on in."

"Thank you." She was polite, but there was no hint of nervousness in her voice at all, nor in her walk as she followed Brad inside. He shut the door behind him, and glanced over at me. I stood up, walking over to shake her hand.

"Hi, I'm Carly, I'm Brad's fiance."

"It's very nice to meet you, Carly," she replied. "So, these are my new charges?"

"Well, three of the four," Brad replied. "Katie-cat's still asleep. But yeah, this is Leah, Bryson, and Heather."

Leah looked a little shy and uncertain, which was normal for her around new people, Bryson seemed to regard her with a cool, reserved demeanor, but still a sense of curiosity, as was typical for him, and typically Heather, she just merely scowled.

"I don't need a nanny."

"Noted," Paula replied, sounding like she didn't care one way or the other, and Brad's eyebrows went up as he looked over at me, and I could tell he was trying not to grin.

I just shook my head, focusing on the new nanny. "So, how many families have you done this for?"

"Three."

Brad frowned. "Just three? But it says on your bio sheet that you've been doing this for fifteen years..."

"And I have, but they were all long-term. I prefer that, I don't like jumping from family to family, it becomes difficult to really bond with the children."

I glanced over in Brad's direction, and then back over at Paula. "So that's important to you? Bonding?"

"It's very important, especially for the kids."

Another pointed look at Brad, who just shrugged, as if to say, 'Okay, you win, we'll go through with it.'

"Well, it's good that you actually care, and it's not just a job for you," I said with a smile, and she nodded.

"Of course. Alright, well, I guess this is the part where we do the whole trial run..." I began, but of course, I had to be cut off by Heather.

"Wait, you're leaving us alone with her?"

I rolled my eyes. "Yeah, Heather. That's the general idea."

Paula seemed to ignore Heather completely, looking over at me. "They're in the public school system, right?" I nodded, and she continued. "Excellent, teacher work day. Mind if I take them to the park?"

"Oh, not at all!" I replied. "Leah, you like the park, don't you? This nice lady, Miss Paula is going to take you to the park."

Leah just studied her carefully, as if she were trying to make up her mind, and then looked over at her brother.

"Bwad?"

"She's okay, Lee-lee," Brad reassured her. "She's nice."

"Leah," Paula said, walking over to her and dropping down to her level. "Have you ever played hopscotch before?"

"What's hob-gotch?" Leah replied, and Paula just smiled.

"I'll take that as a no. I'll teach you, it's fun." She straightened up. "Any rules about food? Allergies?"

"Leah's on a strict three cookie per day limit, otherwise...the sugar monster comes out," Brad replied. "And Bryson doesn't really handle milk products that well, but he knows that. And Heather's picky and eats like a bird."

"I do not eat like a bird!" she responded.

"Okay, well, I guess I'll get Katie ready to go," I said, standing up. "Her diaper bag and stroller and everything. The only thing that you should know is Katie's a colicky baby. She cries pretty much all the time."

Paula just waved me off. "I've dealt with a few colicky babies in my time. There's a few tricks."

"For the love of god, show us!" Brad replied, his arms going up. "Because we're more confused than...a nun on a honeymoon."

"Nice visual, Brad," I stated, making a face, and he shrugged.

"I need to grab my art supplies," Bryson said. "I have wanted to work on my nature landscapes for awhile." He headed up the stairs, and Paula gave us a quizzical look.

"Bry's an artist, and a pretty prolific one at that. He's been like this since he could hold a crayon," Brad replied.

Paula nodded, looking down at Leah and giving her a smile, then her attention drifted to Heather. After ignoring most of Heather's snarky comments, Paula turned to her and looked her up and down. "Well, I suppose you need to change."

I had to agree on that. We'd all but given up on the way that Heather dressed, crop tops and short skirts a plenty, because she'd just end up sneaking out and changing anyway. But if Paula wanted to take a whack at it, she could be my guest.

"Why?" Heather shot back.

"Well, unless you want men to walk up to you and start asking your hourly rate," Paula replied.

"BURN!" Brad yelled. When Paula and I both gave him a Look, his gaze dropped to the floor, arms behind his back. "Just saying..."

Heather just gaped at Paula, like she couldn't believe a total stranger had the guts to say that to her.

"What did you just say to me?"

"You're dressed inappropriately. Besides that, it's October, no business dressing like you're going to the beach."

"Wha..." Heather looked to Brad for help, but he just grinned at her.

"Better do what she says, sis. She's in charge, apparently."

"Have I mentioned how much I hate you?" she responded, glaring at him as she stomped off to her bedroom, slamming the door behind her.

"Whoa!" I said, looking over at Brad and unable to stop the smile creeping across my face. Neither of us could get Heather to do anything without bribing her! What kind of voodoo had this woman pulled?

After we got Leah and Katie ready to go to the park, Brad seemed comfortable enough with Paula to let her take them off somewhere alone, which surprised me. But I liked her too. I liked how she handled Leah, the way she dealt with Heather was absolutely hilarious, and Bryson didn't seem to have too much of a problem with her.

"Well?" I asked Brad after they'd cleared out, and he just shook her head.

"I kind of love her," he muttered. "I mean, she told Heather she looked like a streetwalker, and in the nicest possible way! And if she can handle Katie...oh my god." He turned to me, grabbing one of my hands. "Do you realize what this means?"

"What's that?"

"I will actually have time to like...sleep. Eat. Shower. This is awesome!" He tried to hug me, but my hand went to his chest.

"Uh, I'm really excited about that last part."

"What?" he looked confused for a second, and then lifted his arm and sniffed, making a face. "Dammit. I'll be right back." He headed for the stairs, presumably to go shower, and then stopped in his tracks, turning around and giving me a smile. THE smile. The "I have a very dirty idea" smile. I just shook my head.

"Brad..."

"Carly..."

"Brad," I laughed. "No."

"Why not?" he replied. "Give me one reason why not."

"Because I need to catch up on some work," I replied. I was totally surprised when he bent down and threw me over his shoulder, letting out a squeal as he carried me up the stairs.

"I got some work to catch up on too," he replied with a light smack on my butt. "Lots and LOTS of work."

~*Brad*~

For the first time in awhile, I was so damn happy I was literally bouncing as I walked down the hall to Freddie and Sam's apartment. Carly had turned out to be right about this whole nanny thing, it appeared, at least for now, and after they'd gone to the park, I spent a little bit...okay, a lot of time, wearing out Carly, in the best way possible, had a pretty decent conference call, and now I was on my way to see if I could manage to drag Freddie away to the gym for a little while. I'd tried to get ahold of Gibby, but he wasn't answering his phone, so I figured he busy or something.

I was in such a good mood that I strolled right past my mother's apartment without doing my usual flipping off the door thing, went straight to Sam and Freddie's, and knocked on the door. I wasn't sure where they were at right now, whether I ran the risk of walking into an argument or them going at it like animals, so I decided to stick with knocking. It creaked open a minute later, revealing Sam.

"Hey," she said.

"Hey, Sam, what – are you wearing?" I asked, and she shrugged, pulling her shirt down a little.

"I look okay, right?"

"Uh..." I tried to avert my eyes somewhere else, as the polite thing to do, but it definitely wasn't easy. "Trying to give your husband a heart attack?"

She shrugged again, smiling. "Something like that, but...not really working..."

My brow furrowed. "Why not?" That kid better not be acting like an ass now that Sam was stepping her game up!

"I think he's getting sick. Come in," she replied, grabbing my arm and jerking me inside. I walked in to find Freddie laid out on the couch, an arm thrown over his eyes.

"Uh, hey man," I said.

"Hey," he grunted, not moving his arm.

"What's wrong with you?"

"Well, he had a really bad headache yesterday, and we thought it was because he was late taking his insulin, but then the headache came back today...and I think he has a fever," Sam replied as she sat down on the couch, pressing a hand to his forehead. "He's getting sick."

I inched away from the couch, as if I expected some sort of mutant Benson virus to suddenly attack me. "Well, that sucks...I was going to see if you wanted to go to the gym, but..."

"I don't think I have it in me today, man," Freddie grunted. "Sorry. My head feels like it's about to split open, and..." he lifted his arm off his eyes suddenly, and then... "Achooooo!" He grimaced as he sneezed, laying his head back down. "Dammit! I AM getting sick!"

I just couldn't help myself. "So, that miracle flu shot..."

"Brad!" Sam yelled, throwing a decorative pillow at me. "Stop! If it's just a regular cold the flu shot won't stop that."

"Chill, blondie. Just messing with the guy."

"Well, DON'T mess with him right now," she practically growled as she stroked Freddie's head and then leaned forward to kiss him, but his hand went up, stopping her.

"Don't. I don't want you getting sick." She bit her lip, a hurt look on her face, and he sighed. "Baby, I just don't want you to get sick! Please, stop acting like this..."

It took me a minute to figure out what "like this" meant, but it didn't take a rocket scientist. Freddie leaving and then coming back probably resulted in a very insecure Sam. Like the girl wasn't insecure enough already. Struggling for a subject change, I looked around the apartment.

"So where's your evil twin?"

"She's looking at textiles for work or something..."

"Somebody actually pays her to do actual work?" I asked, and Sam shrugged.

"Apparently she's really good at her job. So yeah, apparently her and Gibby are downtown looking at fabric..."

"Wait, Gibby?" I asked, and she nodded with a roll of her eyes. "Man, this...this is just weird, you know that?"

"Yeah, I know," she replied. "And she's kind of hogging him."

"No shit! She better not hog him all day, I've gotta go to the gym with somebody!"

"What about Tom?" Freddie asked as he threw his arm back over his eyes, and I shook my head.

"Nope."

"Why not?"

"Because it's after 4:20, and you know what that means."

"Of course," Freddie grumbled. "Well, I dunno what to tell you man..."

"Well, she can't hog him forever, she's supposed to have dinner with my mom tonight."

Freddie lifted his head again to look at her. "I thought you were going too."

"Well, not when you're all sick like this, baby," she replied. "I'm going to stay home and take care of you."

I definitely didn't miss the smirk Freddie made, but he quickly wiped it away. He was absolutely THRILLED his wife was choosing to spend time with him and not her mother. I couldn't help but wonder if he was actually sick or just faking, but it didn't seem like his style, and Sam would definitely be able to see through it.

"You don't have to, sweetheart..."

"No, I want to..." she replied. "What, you don't want me to play nurse with you?"

"Well, when you put it like that..."

"Alright, well, on that note, I'm gonna bounce out and see how things are upstairs...you guys should SEE this nanny we've got...she totally put Heather in her place AND made Katie stop crying."

"Whoa," Sam said, her eyes wide. "She sounds like a miracle worker..."

"Yeah, I kinda feel like...I dunno, paying penance to her or something," I replied. "Well, I'll just go then, hang in there man."

"I'll try," Freddie grumbled, and I nodded, glancing over at Sam and motioning with my head.

"What?"

"Come talk to me for a second," I replied as I headed to the front door. She followed me out, shutting the door behind her.

"What's up?"

"How's it going?" I asked, and she shrugged.

"Fine."

"Fine?" I replied. "Is that why you're overcompensating?"

"I'm not overcompensating."

"You won't stay more than a few feet away from him, the apartment is...well, the cleanest I've ever seen it, and the thing you've got on..."

"What's wrong with what I've got on?" she barked.

"Well, if you want me to be honest, I forgot what color your eyes are."

She rolled her eyes, but got my point, fixing her shirt collar so the "twins" were constantly out.

"I'm not overcompensating."

"He's not going to leave again, Sam."

"As long as I don't screw up again..."

"Sam!" I exclaimed, exasperated. "Come on! He loves you, he was just at the end of his rope. He didn't even make it forty eight hours before he caved."

"Yeah, but...if I screw up, if I lose my temper again..."

"And you know what you have to do to keep that from happening...it rhymes with schmerapy?"

She rolled her eyes again. "You're ridiculous," she laughed.

"But I'm right."

She sighed, running a hand through her hair.

"So what if you are? Like I have time for all of that?"

"Sam, you're in the apartment pretty much all day except for the meetings we have for the show! You have time!"

She glared at me. "Thanks for pointing THAT out."

"What? What'd I do this time?"

"Nothing. I know my schedule can't hold a candle to yours, Mr. Big Time Filmmaker, or my sister the businesswoman, or my technology-wizard husband...cuz I'm just a lowly housewife."

"Oh, come on!" I shot back with a roll of my eyes. "That's not what I meant at all! Are you on the rag or something?"

She growled, pointing at me. "I never agreed to stop hitting YOU, so watch it, Harrison."

"Alright, I'm sorry, okay? But you know I wasn't saying that to insult you! All this stuff's just gonna blow up."

"Things seem to be okay right now," she replied.

"This is a lull, Sam!" I shot back. "Shit's gonna blow up again, and you know it! That's how it happens in our lives, remember? Things calm down and the next week it's back to drama city! It's what we do!"

Sam shook her head. "I can't deal with this right now. I don't want to think about therapy right now."

"You promised your husband!"

"And I'm gonna keep that promise, but not right this second!" she replied.

"You're just pushing off the inevitable."

"Maybe," she replied with a shrug. "Look, I gotta get back in there, okay? If he's better tomorrow and the nanny's still going strong, then you and Carly should come over. I'll make dinner or something."

I wasn't done talking about this, but I decided to let it go. "Alright, sounds good, blondie. Take care of the boy."

"I'll do my best," she replied. She gave me a smile and then went back inside, shutting the door behind her. With a sigh, I headed toward the elevator and pulled my phone out of my pocket, dialing Gibby. It went straight to voicemail again, and I grumbled to myself, waiting for the record message tone.

"Gibby, this is your conscious speaking. Step away from the Puckett..."


	81. Chapter 81

**A/N: Not sure what to say about this chapter, hope you guys enjoy!**

**Chapter Eighty One**

~*Freddie*~

"Oh my god, I'm pretty sure I'm dying," I groaned as I buried my face in my pillow.

I don't know where this sudden cold had came from, but it had definitely knocked me flat on my ass, and I hated it. It figured, Sam and I were finally starting to be okay again, and then THIS happened.

I felt the weight on the bed shift as Sam settled down next to me, pushing my shirt up to rub my back.

"I'm sorry you're sick, baby," she said softly. "Maybe it's from something in the apartment...and my shitty housekeeping."

"Sam, stop it," I grumbled. "You keep house just fine."

Sam had been acting monstrously insecure all day, going overboard with cleaning, taking care of me, even the way she was dressing and the way she had her hair, each strand perfectly in place. I didn't like it. She looked gorgeous, and the apartment looked great, and she was taking care of me great, but the thing was, she was always gorgeous. The apartment was always liveable. And up until all this stuff with her mom had knocked a screw loose in her head, she took care of me. She didn't need to go into panic mode to make up for everything.

I knew me leaving, calling it quits, telling her I was done, it had been the worst mistake I'd ever made. It ended up turning her into even more of a basket case than she was the day I'd walked out, just in a different way. I felt tremendous guilt over that, and I didn't have a clue on how to fix it.

To make matters worse, this cold had hit me so suddenly and without warning, that it had drained pretty much all of my energy, so I couldn't even start the process of fixing things right now!

Sam didn't respond to my comment, just continued to rub my back, and I felt her inching the shirt up further, so I just pulled it off and threw it somewhere behind me, sighing when she bore down harder on my aching muscles and leaned down to kiss my shoulder.

"I have no idea where this came from all of a sudden," I grunted.

"I'm sure it's the stress," Sam replied. "I'm sorry."

I rolled over onto my back, looking up at her. "Will you stop doing that?"

"Stop doing what?"

"Apologizing. We're never going to get past this if you don't."

She nodded. "I'll try."

I was about to say something else, remind her how much I loved her, but before I could do that, I heard what sounded like a knock at the front door. Sam sighed, getting off the bed.

"So much for a reprieve from the drama," she muttered.

"How do you know it's drama?"

"Has anything else ever came through that door that ISN'T drama?" she shot back, and I just grunted. She was right.

"I'm gonna go see who that is, I'll be right back," she told me, and disappeared through the bedroom door. I sighed, closing my eyes, still feeling pretty bad.

I heard the door creak open, and Sam talking, and then what sounded like my mom. My eyes popped open. Uh-oh... I dragged myself out of bed, a lot slower than I'd wanted to, and as I walked out of the bedroom and down the hallway, I caught the tail-end of their conversation.

"I'm not TRYING to hurt him, Marissa!"

"Oh, so your hand slipped and split my son's lip open?"

Oh, shit... I picked up my pace as I came around the corner to find Marissa glaring at Sam and Sam looking like a deer caught in headlights.

"Marissa, I don't..."

"If you hurt my Freddiebear again, so help me God, Sam..."

"MOM!" I yelled, stepping in front of Sam. "What on earth? What's going on?"

"You left some of the baby's stuff at my apartment, I was just bringing it back," she replied. "You look sick."

I ignored her comment, crossing my arms over my chest. "Okay, so why were just verbally attacking my wife without provocation?"

"I was just explaining a few things to her..."

"She doesn't need to have anything explained to her. She knows she messed up. We're working on it."

My mom ignored me, craning her head around me to look at Sam.

"Are you going to counseling?" she barked.

Sam looked stunned. "Um, I..."

"Mom!" I yelled. "That's enough!"

"She needs to go! You need to make her go or she's just going to go crazy! Look at her, she's already crazy!"

I heard a little squeak come from behind me from Sam, and then she turned, storming off to our bedroom.

"Wait, baby..."

SLAM!

I sighed, glaring at my mom. "Happy?" I asked her. "I had JUST gotten her to start acting normal again! What's your problem, mom?"

"My problem?" My mom looked at me like I was insane. "My problem is my son's marriage is falling apart and is beyond repair, and he doesn't seem to care. Freddie, she's abusive!"

I led my mom out of the apartment, shutting the door behind us, and gave her a look that implied I wasn't playing around.

"She is messed up, mom. She's NOT abusive. She just...she's got an impulse control problem. We're going to work on it."

"How?" she replied, throwing her arms up. "I really thought that all of her problems went away, but look, they're back! They can't be fixed!"

"Her problems are back because her mother's back, and she never dealt with it! It's not her fault!"

My mom glowered at me, shaking her head. "How long are you going to keep making excuses for her?"

"I am NOT making excuses. But I've got a boatload of new problems now, because I screwed up and walked out on her. Now she's twice as insecure. I've gotta pull her back out of that before I start making demands on her! You know that!"

She sighed. "I'm really worried about you, Freddie. But you don't seem to be worried about yourself at all."

"Look, I get that you're worried, and I appreciate that, but...I am not giving up on her. Not with everything we've gone through, and I KNOW how good things can be...we just have to get back to that! And not only that, we have a child together! If only for his sake, I HAVE to try and make this work."

"If she hurts that baby..."

"Now you're just going too far," I growled. "She would not hurt her son. She loves him."

"And she says she loves you."

I just stared at my mom, unable to come back with anything. With a sigh, I shook my head.

"I'm really not in the mood for this. I have a splitting headache, and in case you can't tell, I can't even breathe through my nose."

"So you ARE getting sick," my mom noted, and I shrugged.

"It's that time of year, and I'm sure the stress helped push it along. But Sam's taking care of me."

"How can she take care of anyone if she can't even take care of herself?"

"Don't know. But she's doing an okay job of it," I replied. "Well, thanks for bringing his stuff, I guess I need to go back in there and calm her down. I'm sure she's upset."

"When is she not?" my mom responded with an eyeroll of disgust, and I glared at her.

"When she's not being ripped apart by her mother-in-law," I said evenly. "You know, I get that you're concerned about me, you don't want me to get hurt, but I don't want HER to get hurt. So...just stay out of it, okay?"

She stared at me for a moment in shock before her shoulders slumped in defeat, sighing.

"Fine. I'm sorry," my mom replied. "I'm worried."

"I know."

"And I do love you. Very much."

"I know. And I love you too. But...Sam's my life. I'm not giving up on her, regardless of whether she's completely lost her mind or not."

"What if she hits you again?"

I shrugged. "I'm keeping my guard up. If it happens, I'll deal with it."

"Forever?"

"Mom, just stop, okay?" I replied, holding a hand up. "I've got enough to deal with, don't put 'what if' thoughts in my head. I don't need that right now."

"Fine," she sighed. "I'm sorry. I guess I'll let you get back to her. If you feel any worse, call me, okay? I'm sure I can get something for you that'll help."

"I think drugstore cold medicine will work just fine, but thanks. I'll let you know how things are going."

She nodded, stepping forward and kissing me on the cheek. "Bye, Freddiebear."

"Bye mom."

With that, she walked away, and I leaned against my front door, sighing a little bit as I tried to recollect my thoughts. As I stood there for a second, I heard the door a few doors down creak open, and I sighed, rolling my eyes as I watched Brad's mother walk out of her apartment. For the most part, Sam and I had avoided running into her in the halls, and on the rare occasions we did, we just ignored her. But today she spotted me, stopping in her tracks. Oh, just great.

"Hi, Freddie."

I regarded her with a cool nod. "Mrs. Harrison. Or Johnson. Whatever."

She ignored my comment. "How are my kids?"

I shrugged. "You've got Brad's number. Ask him yourself."

She shook her head. "He won't talk to me. And he changed Heather's number I'm guessing, so I can't talk to her either."

"No, he took Heather's phone away. He's been cracking down on her pretty hard lately."

"Why? What is she doing?" Janet replied, looking at me curiously. I just shook my head.

"I'm not having this conversation with you. If you want to have this conversation, you need to have it with your son. The one you turned your back on and shouldered all the burden on."

"I didn't shoulder any – "

"A twenty year old kid has no business taking care of four kids," I interrupted her. "But he's doing it, and if you ask me, he's doing a really good job. For all of you and Richard's bitching, he turned out a hell of a lot better than either one of you."

"Look..." she started, but cut herself off. "I just want to know how they're doing."

"Then ask them yourself."

"But..."

"Nope. Sorry, my crazy mother quotient is all filled up for this month!" It was true. Between my mother, Sam's mother, and of course, being the mother of my son, Sam, I'd just about had it up to here with crazy women. Did motherhood just automatically make women go insane? Because if it did Sam and I weren't having any more kids!

With that, I turned around, not even bothering to say anything else, and opened my apartment door, shutting it behind me and heading to the bedroom.

I fully expected to find Sam crying, falling apart, but she wasn't. She was laying on her back on our bed propped up on a pile of pillows, knees bent, with the baby leaned back against them, and she kept poking him in his little stomach.

"Boop," she said softly, grinning at him. She finally noticed me standing there, and turned to look at me. "Hi."

"I thought you'd be upset," I couldn't help but say, and she shrugged.

"She's right, isn't she?"

"Sam..."

"But I'm not going to hurt my son."

My eyes squeezed shut in mortification as I sighed.

"You heard our conversation?"

"Yeah, I was eavesdropping," she replied with a shrug. "You do it too."

I sat on the bed next to her. "She's just worried about me. And the baby."

"Yeah, and I know I fucked up with you. Incredibly. But...hurting my sweet little man? If I ever go that crazy, I'll kill myself before that happens."

Before she even knew what was happening, I grabbed the baby, laying him down, and then grabbed Sam by her arm, jerking her up into a sitting position, my face inches from hers.

"Don't EVER say that again," I growled, and she just stared at me, her eyes wide.

"I'm not kidding," she said softly. "Sometimes I think..."

"I KNOW what you think sometimes, and you need to knock it the hell off!" I shot back. "You think that would solve anything?"

"I hurt everyone around me. All the time."

"Then fix it!" I shouted. "Don't say shit like that, Sam!"

"Why are you getting so upset?"

"Because I know you, and I know you'd do it!" I replied, letting go of her and getting off the bed. I stared out the window for a second, totally silent. "The first chance we can get you in, you're going to counseling. Before you do something really stupid."

"I don't want to go to counseling."

"I don't care what you want, Sam." I turned around to look at her, noticing the way she was glaring at me, and I just shrugged. "If I have to lock you up in the nuthouse, just to make sure you don't do that, I'll do it."

"I don't want to go to counseling," she repeated.

With a growl of irritation, I walked over to my laptop bag, pulling out a piece of paper, and handed it to her. "Know what this is?"

Her face fell as she looked over it, and then threw it on the ground.

"That's what I think about that."

"Well you wanna know what I think?" I shot back as I picked it up. "I'm thinking this is a legally binding document that only one of us has to sign to get this whole separation process underway, and if you DON'T agree to counseling, I WILL sign it!"

"So you ARE going to leave again!" she replied, her jaw trembling. Before I could say anything else, she stood up, picking the baby up and carrying him out of the room. I could hear some rustling over the baby monitor, so I knew she was putting him in his crib, and she reappeared a minute later.

"Sam..."

She brushed right past me, heading for the closet, and I realized she was grabbing one of our suitcases, throwing it on the bed.

"There. I'll help you pack."

"WHAT?" I exclaimed.

"You are just toying with me!" she shouted. "Ultimatums, pretending you're gonna stick around, and then pulling this! I can't take it! You wanna leave, fine. I won't stop you."

"You told me you can't live without me."

"I can't."

"Then..." my eyebrows went up as she stared at the ground. "Stop."

"I can't."

"Do you have any idea how bad it hurts me to know you're even THINKING about that?" I yelled.

"I can't help it!" she yelled. "It fucking hurts, okay?"

"What, baby? What hurts?"

She pointed to her head. "In here. There's all this shit in there, I can't stop thinking about, and...it won't go away, and it hurts. It's driving me crazy."

Despite the fact that she still looked angry, I grabbed her arm, pulling her to me, and I pressed a kiss to the side of her head.

"Tell me what's going in there."

"You're just going to leave again," she whispered. "I know it. And I can't stop thinking about it. And it's killing me."

I shook my head. "I'm not going to leave. I made a vow, remember? Twice. I'm going to keep it."

"I can't believe you," she replied, her voice starting to crack. "If I do, it's just going to make it hurt worse when you do leave."

"I'M NOT GOING TO LEAVE!" I cried. "Dammit, baby, please! I'm sorry! Trust me!"

"I want to, but...I can't."

"Sam...look at me," I said, my hand going to her chin. "I swear, on my father's grave, that I am not going to leave you."

She still looked uncertain.

"On my father's grave! I'm not playing around!"

She sighed, a tear slipping down her cheek, and I wiped it away, kissing the spot where it had been. "Baby, please. Trust me."

She let out a deep breath, and managed a nod. "I'll try."

"Best I can ask for I guess right now," I replied, and she shrugged.

"How are you feeling? Are you stuffy? Do you need more meds? Do you want me to make you some soup?"

"Quit trying to take the focus off yourself, baby. I'm fine. It's just a cold. Let me take care of you."

"But you're always taking care of me!" she cried. "I'm such a pain in the ass!"

"Yeah, but you're MY pain in the ass," I said with a grin, and even though I could tell she was trying not to, she couldn't help but smile, and I just pulled her to me, my arms going around her.

"I love you, baby. So much. Don't talk like that anymore, okay? It scares me."

"It scares me too," she whispered.

"And that's why we're getting you help."

She shook her head. "You don't deserve to keep getting put through all of this."

"Yeah, and military guys don't deserve to be shot at, but they signed up for it, and I signed up for this."

"So being with me is like being at war?"

"Well, I mean, if you want me to be honest..."

She just grumbled, and I kissed the side of her face again, trying to pull away as she suddenly turned her head and pressed her lips to mine.

"Honey, I don't want you getting sick."

"I don't care," she whispered, kissing me again. "I'll probably get sick anyway, it's going around."

"Fine, but you better not get all moody with me when you do."

"I won't," she replied, kissing me again. "You wanna help me get all this stuff out of my head?"

"More than anything," I replied truthfully, and she kissed the side of my neck.

"Then take me to bed."

"No."

Sam looked like she was about to fall over in shock. I'd just turned her down? I almost couldn't believe it myself.

I wasn't sure if Sam always dragged me into bed when she was upset to take her mind off things or just to avoid talking about what went on inside her head, but I wasn't going to let that happen any longer. It just masked a problem. I LOVED having sex with Sam, it was a little like an addiction, but I was beginning to realize that I merely called it an addiction, but it was quickly turning into a REAL addiction for her. I wasn't planning on ceasing our physical relationship any time soon, but we had to stop brushing our problems aside and just hopping into bed.

"No?" she repeated. "But..."

"I'll take you bed, but not the way you want. We're going to lay there, and we're gonna talk."

"About what?"

I shrugged. "About whatever. But we're going to talk. Every time there's a problem, the first thing we do is jump into bed. Obviously that's not working for us any more."

Her brow furrowed. "So you don't want to have sex any more?"

I grunted. "Now you're just being silly. No, I'm just saying we don't deal with our problems, we just cover them up with that. And look what it's turned into."

"So you're not going to have sex with me when I'm upset any more?"

"Well, no, but we ARE going to talk about stuff from now on. Got it?"

She nodded, and I took her hand, pulling her onto the bed and laying back, smiling when she laid her head on my chest, an arm going around me.

"So I wonder how my mom and Melanie are doing on their wonderful little mother-daughter outing," Sam grumbled. My eyebrows went up.

"You sound a little jealous."

She sat up, glaring at me. "I am not jealous!"

"It's okay if you are, Sam," I responded. "But you feel like you don't have a right to be jealous? Or do you not want to be jealous because then you'd have to admit you care?"

She didn't respond, just looked down at the bed.

I'd given up on trying to talk Sam out of having a relationship with her mother. For now, I was just trying to run damage control, but I could see this going somewhere pretty bad. I knew that in the past, Pam played the two sisters against each other a lot, and I worried it was going to go back to that. The only difference this time was Sam had a network of people who she knew for a FACT cared about her, and perhaps that could lessen the sting.

I'd have to make a mental note to talk to Brad and Carly about doing something that didn't involve work or drama, because we all needed it.

~*Carly*~

"Remind me why we're doing the production meeting at Sam and Freddie's and not in the apartment?" I asked Brad as we stepped off the elevator, both of us trying to juggle way too much equipment. Our set up had evolved from one laptop and one camera to two cameras and anywhere from four to five laptops depending on the show, plus two PearPads. It took Freddie and Brad about two hours every week to get everything running properly, and amidst all the drama, they hadn't had time to do it this week. I wasn't really looking forward to doing the production meeting downstairs, because I definitely didn't want to run the risk of Melanie. I wasn't a big fan of her to begin with, not since how she behaved the last time I saw her, and considering she got my best friend absolutely plastered by SLIPPING her shots and then tried to DRIVE with her, yeah...I did NOT want to deal with Melanie.

"Have you seen the studio lately? It's covered in Bambi dolls!" Brad replied. "I still don't understand why you had to buy Leah all that stuff."

"Well, I mean...it's a shame to have that Bambi bus with all those seats and not enough dolls to fill it..."

"So you're telling me you didn't want her Bambi doll to be lonely?" Brad asked with a smirk.

"Hush," I replied in a clipped tone as we walked down the hallway, reaching the door to Sam and Freddie's. I balanced the laptops on one of my legs as I knocked on the door. It creaked open, and I couldn't hold in my noise of disgust as my eyes fixated on the figure in front of me.

"They actually LET you stay here?" I couldn't help but spit out.

Melanie glared right back at me in a way she'd never done before. It was obvious that Sam had told her everything about what had REALLY had happened to Freddie's Xanax, and she looked like she was still pissed about it.

"Come to plant more drugs on me?"

"I didn't plant anything on you last time, Melanie."

"Yeah, because that would require intelligence," she shot back.

"What?" I said in disbelief. "You know what, Melanie..."

But Brad cut me off, stepping in front of me and pushing the door all the way open. "Move," he growled at Melanie. "If I drop this because of you, I will flip my shit."

"You can't come in here unless Sam says you can, and her and Freddie are busy."

"We have a key, you braindead idiot," Brad growled at her. "And a production meeting. A CLOSED production meeting. So you'd do well to get the hell out of here."

"Still acting like kids and playing with cameras instead of having real jobs? Why am I not surprised? You're too lazy and Carly's too prissy to do that."

"Hey, shut up!" I cried. "You don't know me...bitch!" I'd spat out the last part in a kind of pained way, as an afterthought, because I wasn't used to doing that. It wasn't commonplace for me to do that. In fact, it was so uncommon that Brad, who was busy trying to set up the laptops and also had a well-documented hatred of Melanie, whirled around to look at me in shock, his eyebrows lifting in surprise and jaw dropping a little as he looked to Melanie for her reaction.

"Did you just call me a bitch?" Melanie said with a laugh. "Did sweet little Carly Shay actually try to insult someone?"

Brad eyes flickered back and forth between Melanie and I as he crossed his arms over his chest, but he didn't say anything. Normally he'd jump right in and defend me, but I think he was a little curious to see how I'd handle things. Honestly, I was a little curious myself.

"Keep...keep talking and I'll do much worse than that, Melanie," I stammered, not really sure where I was going with this, and she laughed.

"Why do you hate me so much, Carly? Does it make you nervous that I could easily jump in and take your best friend away forever?"

I shook my head. "Sam may be your sister, but you could never come between her and I."

"You two barely hang out any more. She told me. I'm pretty sure I could pull it off. Hell, if I was into guys, I could probably take your fiance too. We all know how much he wants to bang my sister."

At that statement, Brad threw his head back and laughed.

"That's hilarious. I wouldn't touch you with Gibby's dick."

"Speaking of that, you wanna quit toying with him?" I snapped at Melanie. "He's sweet, and you're just screwing around with him."

"We're friends! He knows the score! Stay out of it, you flat chested bitch!"

My jaw dropped, and before I even knew what I was doing, I reached forward and grabbed a handful of Melanie's hair, yanking hard, and she let out a shriek.

"Ow!" she cried. "Let go of me!" She suddenly grabbed my hair too, pulling harder than I had.

"Ow!"

Okay, where do we go now? I'd never been in a fight before...I think I'm supposed to slap her or something.

I did just that, but it came out weak. The slap she gave me though, that one didn't come out weak. It hurt. My hand flew to my cheek, staring at her for a second as she leered at me.

Meanwhile, Brad was frozen, not really sure what to do. Well, no use backing down now. I slapped her again, and when she tried to do the same to me, I slapped her hand away. And then she managed to do the same thing to me, until it was just a flurry of us slapping at each other.

"QUIT IT CARLY!"

"YOU STOP!"

"YOU FIRST!"

"YOU'RE SUCH A BITCH!"

"TAKES ONE TO KNOW ONE!"

"Uhh...Freddie! Sam! Help!" Brad yelled as he shuffled nervously from foot to foot. I could tell he WANTED me to kick Melanie's ass, but he also knew for a fact that I didn't know HOW. Oh man, I am so in over my head right now! How do I get her to let go of my hair?

I yanked even harder with one hand and then slapped her, but she did the same to me, so I went back into just a rapid fire of slaps that she managed to counter with little slaps of her own.

"Ow! You scratched me!" Melanie yelled. "You're SUCH a bitch!"

"And you're an evil attention whore!" I yelled as I grabbed ahold of her hair again.

I heard the bedroom door open, and then a noise of absolute disbelief from Freddie. The next thing I knew was somebody had a hold of my hair, yanking me off Melanie.

"Oww oww oww!"

"Sam...let go!" Melanie cried as she tried to get Sam to let go of her hair too. But Sam wasn't budging, she had both of us by our hair, arm's length apart, and glared at both of us.

"You two are unbelievable!" she cried. "Have I taught you nothing?"

"What are you talking about?" I shot back. "You're always getting into fights! And let go of my hair!"

She did, but she didn't let go of Melanie's, who just whined at her.

"Sam! Let me go! I didn't start this...oww!" Melanie shrieked as Sam released her with a final yank on her hair. "What'd you do that for?"

Sam shrugged. "I can't control my impulses." She turned to me. "You. I did teach you better than that!"

"What are you talking about?"

"What is this?" Sam asked, mimicking the way I'd just slapped at Melanie. "A SLAP fight?" When I shrugged, she rolled her eyes. "I told you, years ago, let me teach you how to throw a decent punch!"

"You WANT her to hit me?" Melanie cried.

"Well, if you're going to fight then do it right!" Sam replied. "Hair pulling and slapping? That's not gonna cut it. It's embarrassing!"

Well, this was weird. But yeah, this was Sam. I looked over at Brad and Freddie, who looked stunned.

"Any comments from the peanut gallery?" I asked, and Brad shrugged.

"To be honest, I'm a little too turned on right now to..."

"BRAD!" Everyone yelled, and he just looked sheepish.

"So...wait a second, who threw first?" Freddie asked.

"No one threw, they just slapped. And hair pulled. Like little girls," Sam grumbled.

Melanie pointed at me. "She started it!"

"You called me a flat-chested bitch! You deserved worse than that!"

Sam and Freddie glanced over at each other, and then back at me.

"So you actually STARTED a fight?" Freddie asked incredulously. "I mean, an incredibly lame one, but still...you started a fight?"

"Well...yeah. I guess I did."

"Well...damn," Freddie said, sounding like he was still trying to wrap his head around things. "Good job."

"Hey!" Melanie cried, stamping her foot. "She attacks me and you all congratulate her?"

"Aw, Carly's growing a backbone," Sam teased, ignoring her sister.

Melanie glanced back and forth between the four of us, and then shook her head, grabbing her bag and walking out the front door without saying anything. Sam didn't even seem to notice.

"Uh, Sam?" Freddie said. "Your sister just..."

"I know," Sam replied with a shrug. "So. Production meeting?"

I glanced over at Brad and Freddie, who just shrugged. There was no telling what was going on between Melanie and Sam, but I'll bet it had something to do with their mother. Great. Just as I had predicted, the sibling rivalry was starting to come back. Like we didn't have enough to deal with.

"Uh, yeah, we should probably work on that," Brad replied. "Hey Freddie, guess what we forgot to do this week?" He gestured to all the laptops, and Freddie groaned.

"Dammit."

"Eh. I'll tackle the lighting software, you can do the tracking for camera two and reprogram Sam's remote, it won't take us that long. And you two..." he turned to look at Sam and I. "Didn't finish your blocking."

"Shit," Sam grumbled.

"Can we get some answers out of you two that AREN'T swear words?" Brad responded.

"Sorry..." Freddie grumbled. "We've just been..."

"...dealing with some rough shit," Sam finished, causing Brad and I to glance at each other. They may not have caught it, but we sure did. They were finishing each other sentences again. Whether they knew it or not, they were still pretty in synch, despite everything that had happened. That was a good sign. I knew they were still having problems, and they had a LOT of problems to get through, but I still thought there was hope for them.

I pulled out one of our blocking sheets from its binder and a list of the segments we were running for the show, laying them down on the coffee table in front of Sam, who picked them up and began looking over everything and making a rough draft. As she did that, I glanced over at Brad, who gave me a smirk.

"What?" I asked.

"Nothing," he replied with a laugh. "That fight was cute."

"CUTE?"

"Well, it would have been a lot more bad ass if you would have punched her, but it's a start, babe," Brad replied, leaning over the coffee table to kiss me. "And I'm sorry, but it was hot."

"Dude, lighting," Freddie grumbled as he leaned over one of the laptops, looking at the screen critically. Brad rolled his eyes and then glanced back at me.

"We'll get back to that. Later. Without clothes."

"BRAD!" Sam and Freddie yelled.

"Geez, sorry," Brad grumbled. "Talk about the damn shoe being on the other foot..."

~*Brad*~

After we'd finally gotten done setting up all the technical and pre-production stuff that we'd been putting off for awhile, Carly and myself seemed a lot less panicked. Freddie and Sam, of course, were in their own little bubble of problems, and both of them kind of went on autopilot during the meeting. It was odd, because those two usually tended to dominate the meetings, Freddie with the behind-the-camera aspects, and Sam with the writing and anything that went on in front of the camera. But this time, they were both so...for lack of a better word, distraught, that Carly and I had to step up and deal with everything, which we weren't used to, but we were just as experienced with it as those two, so everything went off without a hitch. Just had a final run-through in two days, and everything would be fine.

Freddie was still sick, and Sam was still nuts. That was obvious. It sucked, because there was so much going on, right when Carly and I finally got some free time. We were itching to spend time with people our own age instead of children, but those two had so much going on it was damn near impossible, and Gibby had taken a detour into crazy himself. It was obvious he had a thing for Melanie. I was all for the Gibster getting some action, but Melanie Puckett? She was bratty, self-absorbed, manipulative. Apparently not a good fighter though. I hated to say it, but if the fight had kept going, Carly would have beat the stuffing out of her! And as much as I loved my sweet fiance, she definitely didn't know how to fight. Maybe I needed to drag my girl to the gym with me one day too.

All I knew was I needed some time to blow off some steam, now that the cirque du dramatic had started to ease off. Carly did too, she'd had as much as I had going on, and she'd been a champ through all of it. Thank god everything was finally beginning to slow down. I felt better about my career now that I'd been signed and my screenplay was being "aggressively shopped", whatever that meant. I felt better about dealing with the kids now that we'd hired Paula, who had turned out to be a godsend already. She took absolutely no shit off Heather, knew exactly how to handle Leah's newfound habit of throwing temper tantrums, and was apparently VERY well-versed in dealing with colicky babies like Katie. The jury was still out on Bryson, but I never knew what was going on in his head, short of his passion for art and his new "girlfriend". I wasn't sure how he felt about the new nanny, but I was sure it would come to light eventually. And I felt a little better about all the drama swirling around us, now that I was sure that my two best friends wouldn't end up divorcing or slitting their wrists any time soon. Yeah, I was feeling better about just about everything, but a few things were still eating at me.

For starters, I'd only been to visit my dad in prison once since he'd been in, and that just wouldn't do. There'd been SO much going on, but still, I felt bad. And he hadn't even gotten to see his new daughter yet. I really, really wanted to take Katie to see him, but I wanted to clear it with Carly first, maybe even take her with me. Come to think of it, was my dad even aware that I was getting married? In the midst of everything that had happened, the trial, my mom flipping her shit, taking custody of all of the kids, I wasn't sure if it had ever come up. Just because my dad was locked up in a box for ten years didn't mean that he wasn't still part of my family, and family was really important to me. It always had been.

Except when it came to the issue of Janet. Sam wasn't the only one having "mother issues" right now, I was just better at keeping that sort thing under wraps. I'd always been pretty good about keeping my issues firmly under lock and key, and covering it up with an inappropriate joke or generally acting like a dick. It threw people off, but it served its purpose, which was 'don't be that guy'. The one with all the issues. We all had issues, sure, but I wasn't the type to just throw that out in the open, or let it slow me down. Other people had bigger issues than I did. Other people that I cared about. Like my brother and sisters. They depended on me, Carly too. So I just trudge ahead and act like nothing really bothers me.

But the whole thing with her? Janet? The woman who had given me life but I refused to acknowledge any longer? That shit was eating at me, man. Honestly, I was really shocked I hadn't already found myself facedown in a pint of beer, but I was staying surprisingly strong. Of course, I hadn't approached anything anywhere near to what could be considered sad yet...I was still in the throes of anger, though I didn't show it.

I'd placed it in the back of my mind, in the 'Deal With It Later' file. Of course, I didn't know when exactly that would be, and I certainly didn't want it to simmer for years...I'd end up just as crazy over the whole issue as Sam was acting these days. But when I was going to deal with it, exactly? Well, I'd filed that away in the 'Deal With It Later' section too.

But right now, the issue that was weighing the most heavily was the issue of my father. He deserved to meet Katie, his daughter. And soon. I was going to talk to Carly about it today.

All this stuff was churning about in my head as I went through the process of shutting down all the laptops and piecing everything back together. Carly and Sam were in the kitchen, sitting on top of the bar and chattering on about something that had nothing to do with the current drama, which was good I guess.

"Brad? Brad!"

"Huh?" I asked, snapping out of my thoughts and straightening up, looking over at Freddie, who was staring at me. "What's up?"

"I asked you a question."

"Oh. Sorry. What was it?"

Freddie shrugged. "Never mind, it wasn't important. Something on your mind?"

I shrugged. "Kinda."

"Care to share?"

I shrugged again, one shoulder lifting up as I stuffed a bunch of papers back into their folder. "My dad."

"Oh yeah?" Freddie asked, his eyebrow going up. "What about him?"

"I really need to take Katie to see him."

"Oh," Freddie replied. "Yeah, I guess you do."

"That's it?"

"What do you mean, that's it?"

"Well, we are all kind of running on the offensive these days when it comes to our progenitors, right?"

"Well that's because they're all crazier than we are," Freddie replied with a roll of his eyes.

"I guess that's hereditary for ya. But look on the bright side, at that rate, our kids might actually be normal."

"Let's hope so," Freddie replied, then turned around to glance over at the girls. "Need some help with that stuff?"

"Nah, man. I mean, you're sick..."

"I'm all hopped up on cold medicine."

"Hopped up?" I replied, frowning. "That shit always knocks me out."

"Oh, Freddie's one of those weird people where it does the opposite," Sam spoke up. "He'll be antsy for the next few hours. It's probably best if you give him something to do."

"She's right. I mean, at this point I'd go to the gym if I could, but I know the little woman won't let me," Freddie added, tossing a smirk over his shoulder at Sam.

"Damn straight," she said with a smile, still sitting on the counter. I laughed, rolling my eyes.

"Alright, fine. Stop flirting with your wife and pick up those computers."

"Yep." Freddie bent down to pick up two of the laptops and then straightened up, looking over at Sam. "I'll be back in a few, honey. Okay?" He stared at her for a second, and she bit her lip, nodding.

"Alright."

"You believe me?"

"Yes," she replied softly.

"Good," he responded. "Love you." With that, he followed me out the front door and down the hallway.

"What was that about?" I asked as I struggled to balance all the techie crap I was carrying and a few binders.

"She thinks I'm going to leave her again, so she's a little..."

"Insecure?" I finished, and Freddie grunted.

"You have no idea. Man, I really fucked up walking out like that. I've created another problem."

"Yeah but if you hadn't she'd still be in nuclear mode."

"So I replaced one problem with another problem," Freddie replied with a shrug. "And...she's talking crazy, man. I mean...there's some really bad stuff going on in her head. I made her promise me she'd go to therapy, but...she's got issues."

I shrugged. "So fix them."

He glared at me. "And how exactly do you propose I do that, Dr. Harrison?"

I rolled my eyes. "Didn't she worry about that in the beginning?"

"Well, yeah. She thought her anger issues were gonna push me away, that she wasn't good enough..."

"And how'd you deal with it last time?"

Freddie sighed. "I dunno, I mean...as far as her thinking I could do better...I kinda just...let her know in no uncertain terms that she was pretty much end game in terms of hotness..."

"And her anger issues?"

"Every time she started ranting I'd shut her up...pretty much the same way. Get all that rage out of her and then make her talk about shit after I'd calmed her down. And sometimes I let her take her rage out on me...in the best way possible," he said the last part with a laugh, biting his lip. "Man, shit was good back then."

"So what changed?"

He shrugged. "I dunno, really. Just the old way of doing things...I mean, we had the dry spell while she was pregnant, and that probably didn't help, and then the shit with her mom popped up, and we just started fighting all the time."

I felt a little lightbulb go off in my head, and I glanced over at him.

"I think that's it..."

"What's it?" Freddie frowned.

"You're not handling angry Sam the way you used to. You back down now. You didn't back down before."

"So not backing down, that's gonna fix things?"

I shrugged. "Just saying, if she gets pissed off at you again, it'd be worth testing the theory out. If you gotta throw the girl down on the bed and...adjust her attitude, then do it. It obviously worked before."

Freddie's eyes narrowed, and he looked over at me. "I never really thought about it like that before...and what the hell made YOU think about it?"

"Uh, my parents? Remember their weird sexual relationship? Before they split up?"

"Ew," Freddie replied with a grimace. "I'm not taking it that far."

"And I'm not telling you to. I'm just saying, you want things to be the way they were, you gotta take things back to the way they were, you get me?"

Freddie sighed, stepping off the elevator as the doors opened. "I'm not so sure."

"Why not?"

"I dunno, man," he replied as we walked down the hallway. "I mean, it's fun as hell, but Sam and I used to get pretty rough on each other back in the day, and..."

"And?"

"She's the mother of my child. It doesn't really...I dunno, I don't like the idea of doing it any more..." Freddie responded. "And she's gotten into this really bad habit of trying to persuade me into having sex instead of talking about our problems. It seems like it would just compound things."

"Well, you still gotta make her talk. And then once the therapy kicks in..."

Freddie looked uncertain. "I still don't know."

"Well, whatever," I said with a shrug.

"So what up with you wanting to take the baby to see your dad?"

"It's his daughter. He deserves to see her. And I'm feeling a little guilty because I've only been to visit him once. Two birds, one stone." I sighed. "Do you think it's a bad idea?"

"Nah, not all. I agree. You need to take Katie to see Richard."

"Really?"

"If only to get it off your chest and out of your head."

"I still gotta talk to Carly about it," I pointed out, and Freddie shrugged.

"I'm sure she'll agree with me. I mean, Carly gets that kind of stuff, and she'd probably look at it from a different perspective. She never got to meet her mother, I don't think she'd be okay with Katie never meeting her father."

"That is true," I said with a nod as I opened the door and we got all the stuff in. "Thanks, man."

"Likewise," Freddie said with a nod. "I'm gonna go back downstairs to Sam."

"Send Carly back up?"

"Yep."

"Dude!" I yelled as he took a step out of the front door, and he stopped, turning around to look at me.

"What?"

"Carly and Melanie."

"Slap fight heard round the world!" Freddie exclaimed. "Dude, what was up with that shit? Like...what happened?"

"Melanie called her a flat-chested bitch and Carly just lost it."

"Oh geez." Freddie made a face. "It's probably a good thing that Carly DOESN'T know how to fight."

"I don't know how she made it this long without knowing, hanging out with the three of us, but that's gotta be fixed. I can't be married to somebody who doesn't know how to throw a punch."

"I'll put Sam on it," he replied with a shrug. "Best to leave this sort of thing to the professionals, you know."

"Word."

"Later," Freddie called over his shoulder, shutting the door behind him.

A few minutes later, the door swung open, and in walked Carly looking agitated.

"What's up?" I asked.

"Sam was lecturing me," she responded, sitting down on the couch. "About my lack of fighting skills."

"Yeah, well, after that poor showing..."

"Brad!" she cried, tossing a pillow at me, and I laughed, leaning over her to brush her lips with mine.

"I'm just kidding, babydoll," I replied, kissing her on the end of the nose. She glared at me for a moment, before it melted into a smile.

"Guess I can't stay mad at you," she replied softly, kissing me again.

"Good," I replied, laying back so I was resting my head in her lap. "Will you scratch my head?"

"Hmm..." she pretended to mull the idea over. "What do I get out of it?"

"Next time my head's in your lap it'll be facing the other direction."

"Brad!" Carly cried as she smacked my forehead, a crimson blush staining her fair cheeks. "Oh my god!" She giggled, shaking her head, but did what I asked, raking her nails over my scalp, and I couldn't help but purr like a big cat. Man, I loved when she did that...

"Ugh, that feels so good..." I groaned. "Please don't stop."

"I won't," she replied sweetly.

As we laid on the couch in somewhat silence, just trying to relax a bit, Paula came down the stairs, her bag over her shoulder.

"Well, the younger ones are in bed asleep, and Heather's in her room doing homework," she said.

"Homework?" Carly and I both exclaimed. Whoa! This woman was DEFINITELY a miracle worker.

"Yes, homework," Paula replied casually. "So I'm about to head out. I'll be back tomorrow morning at seven."

"Thanks, Paula," Carly replied.

"Yeah, you have no idea what a big help you are to us...it's...well, it's a lot to deal with."

Paula gave us a smile. "I know. But you two are good kids, that you'd be willing to. See you tomorrow."

"Bye!"

"Well, that was...nice of her to say," I commented as Carly went back to scratching my head.

She nodded. "She's right you know...you really are just..good. For doing this." She bent down and pressed a kiss to my forehead. "I love you, Brad."

"Love you too, babydoll," I responded, giving her a smile. I bit my lip, letting out a sigh. "So...I've been thinking..."

"About?"

"I wanna take Katie to see my dad, Carly," I replied.

"Okay," she responded simply, as if I was asking her if she wanted a soda. I just stared at her.

"Okay?"

"Mmhmm. I think it's a good idea. Do you want to go tomorrow?"

"Really?" I was dumbfounded. I figured I'd be able to talk her into it, but I didn't expect her to go along with it instantaneously!

"Yeah, really," she said with a laugh. "Did you think I'd put up a fight?"

"Well, no, but..." my lips curled into a smile. "I wasn't sure, and I didn't want you to pull my hair or anything."

"Now you're just being mean."

I just grinned at her, sitting up and rising to my feet. "Come here."

"Why?" Carly asked, her brow furrowed. "What are we doing?"

"I'm gonna teach you how to throw a punch."

"Why?" Carly asked as she stood up. "So I can punch Melanie?"

"Well, yeah! I've only been waiting for that for three years!"

She laughed. "I don't think Sam will appreciate it. She doesn't like the idea of her best friend and her sister fighting."

"I dunno, I think she likes the idea of her best friend and sister having a slap fight and pulling each other's hair even less," I responded, my hands going up. "Now come on, hit me right here."

"I still dunno," she replied.

"Unless you're scared."

"I ain't skurred," Carly quipped, and I laughed.

"Then come on, killer, let's see you put your money where your mouth is!" I teased as she tried to swing.

Okay, so my girl was kind of a slow learner when it came to learning how to fight, but that was okay. If that was her worst quality, not being able to fight, then I was okay with it. I loved that girl, and now that things were finally starting to calm down and we were having fun again, I was reminded of why.


	82. Chapter 82

**A/N: Uh, oops. This chapter got a little bit away from me, which is why it's absolutely MASSIVE. I tried to cover a lot of ground in this chapter though, at least with Sam. Also, lemon alert! Enjoy!**

**Chapter Eighty Two**

~*Sam*~

I narrowed my eyes as I heard a faint knock at the front door. It was two in the afternoon, and I knew that Carly and Brad both had class right now, and Freddie was currently on the way home from his. It could only be one person.

I didn't know why, but I was pretty pissed off at my sister right now. For starters, she picked a fight with my best friend. I knew Carly. She was sweet, proper, an all around NICE GIRL. Everyone knows nice girls don't fight.

Unless you screw up and push a nice girl's button. Carly also had a 'freak out' switch that could be flipped pretty easy, and if it was flipped by someone she really disliked? Like my sister? And all the stress Carly had been under lately? Forget it, of course Carly snapped on her. I do believe that's something my incredibly sweet husband who I don't deserve would call a mathematical certainty.

Calling Carly a flat-chested bitch? That was something I wasn't okay with. We weren't getting along like we used to these days, but that didn't change the fact that she was my best friend, my homegirl!

But for some strange reason, other than her inability to throw a decent punch, I wasn't upset with Carly. Not the way I was with Melanie.

I felt like she was rubbing her job in my face. And I didn't get it. She was a lush and pill-popper, and she managed to secure a job like that? It wasn't fair. I was only taking two classes right now, via the internet, so I was about eight credit hours behind everyone else, even Brad, who had been a semester behind me until the summer hit. And unlike my sister, I didn't have the luxury of walking away with an associate's degree and jumping into a career path. I had, bare minimum, five and a half years left of school before my career even STARTED. That was depressing too. I'd had literally no time to even think about school or my future lately, my brain was too consumed by thoughts of all this drama, and my past.

The only way I was able to hold onto an ounce of rational thought was by focusing on anything BUT myself. Take care of the baby, take care of Freddie. Trying to seduce Freddie, or at least try to convince him to seduce me, but he wasn't biting. He'd finally wised up to my trick of every time I was upset, instead of talking about it, I'd just try to sleep with him, so I wouldn't have to think about it, wouldn't have to deal with it. So he'd forget about it and never bring it up. Now he was actually making me TALK about things, which he hadn't done in quite awhile.

I was still pretty weary of whether he'd stick around or not. I was terrified to make a mistake. I was so scared we'd get into another confrontation and I'd lose my temper and hit him again. I was worried I'd lose it completely and he wouldn't be able to deal with it. I was always on edge. And being on edge drove me crazy too. All this holding my breath was starting to make me dizzy.

The only thing I could think about every time I looked at it was how much I loved him...and how I would absolutely fall apart if and when he left me. I knew it was coming, and I didn't want to deal with it.

As far as things with my mother were concerned, I was lost in that regard too. This entire time, I'd expected starting up a mother-daughter relationship with her would make me feel better. But it did the opposite. It made me feel worse. All I could think about was the past.

I thought about growing up, and I thought about not having clean clothes, or food to eat, and walking a half mile back to the trailer down the gravel road after I'd gotten off the bus, because my mom was always passed out on the couch and couldn't be bothered to pick me up. I thought about the string of boyfriends, how each one got meaner and nastier because my mom got older, less attractive, and would settle for anybody who could get her the fix she needed, regardless of what he did to us...or her. There had been a few guys who'd smacked her around as well, but she had the luxury of having her nerves completely numb with heroin. I didn't, so I got to feel every single hit. Hard enough to remember every single hit, and deep enough to never be able to forget any of them.

And I thought about all the horrible things she'd said to me over the years.

"Everyone leaves because of you."

I was eight. It was right after one of her boyfriends dumped her.

"You're so worthless. Who could love you?"

I was eleven. I'd failed most of my classes that year. We couldn't afford school supplies, or electricity so I could see my books.

"Hey kid, you're getting fat, you need to go steal a bra or something."

I was fourteen. I hadn't known what to do with my rapidly growing chest, so I just wrapped medical gauze around them until I could steal some bras like she'd told me to.

"I should have had an abortion."

I was sixteen. A month later I got married, and then I didn't see her any more.

It was almost four years ago, that last comment, and every time I thought about it, it hurt as bad as it had when she'd said it. It was unthinkable that it had came from the same person who was now telling me she loved me.

But...another thing she said that stuck out to me. Still. More so now, even.

"Why can't you be more like Melanie?"

Before that rat bastard Joey had gotten ahold of her, my mom favored Melanie. She didn't try to hide it at all. They'd gone out to dinner alone last night, and I'd just found out by texting Melanie about half an hour ago that she'd gone out to lunch with her too. Without inviting me.

I wasn't that surprised, but it still stung. I wanted things to change, desperately, but nothing I did was working.

I hated feeling insecure, and I was currently feeling it from every angle, every facet of my life. I was insecure that Freddie was going to leave. I was insecure because I was sure I was going crazy, completely losing it. And because I'd promised Freddie I'd go to counseling, it'd be documented on paper that I was crazy, which sucked! I was insecure because I couldn't get past a bunch of shit that happened years ago, and what if that was what was holding my mom back from having the same kind of relationship with me that she had going with Melanie?

What if everything was just my fault?

I felt like it was, it was weighing down on me every second of the day, and I didn't even know how to express it. I literally could not break down the static in my head to the spoken word, which frustrated Freddie, because he didn't know how to help me. He was trying so hard, but...I just wasn't making any progress. And that put me even more on edge.

With a heavy sigh, I walked over to the door, holding my son, and yanked the door open with an irritated look on my face.

"What's up?" I barely managed to spit the words out without growling.

My sister rolled her eyes, pushing her way inside. "It's nice to see you too, Sam."

I just shrugged, not really caring whether I was being rude or not. "What's all that chizz?"

Melanie laid her bags down on my counter and turned around, leaning back against it. "Went shopping with mom after lunch."

My eyebrows went up. Oh, so they made a little outing of it? While I was here, scrubbing the bathtub? Well isn't that just ducky?

"So I guess all's forgiven then," I noted, and Melanie shrugged.

"You were right. She's different now."

"But you're not," I replied evenly, and she glared at me.

"What the hell is that supposed to mean?"

"Nothing," I replied with a shrug. "Hey, have you told mom you're a lesbian yet?"

She gaped at me. "What is with you today, Sam? Yes, she knows! And she doesn't care!" She glared at me for a moment, crossing her arms over her chest. "She did say that...never mind."

"No, what did she say?" I shot back, and Melanie sighed.

"Just that things turned out the way she expected them to. With you and me."

"What does THAT mean?" I cried, and Melanie shrugged.

"Ask her yourself. She wants you to go to dinner with us tonight."

"Oh, you want me to tag along?" I cooed, my voice dripping with sarcasm. "Gee whiz, Melanie, you are just the bee's knees."

At that moment, the front door flung open, and in walked Freddie, his backpack slung over his shoulder. He gave me one of his signature crooked heart-melting smirks, and despite how pissed I was at Melanie right now, much of my anger did dissipate when he walked in. He sure was handy for those kind of things.

"Hey, sweetheart, how was your..." He froze when he saw the way Melanie and I were glaring at each other. "Okay, what'd I miss? Or walk into?" His eyes darted back and forth between us suspiciously, like he wasn't sure to jump on Melanie, haul me off into the bedroom for a 'talking-to', or call in for heavier artillery.

"Nothing," Melanie replied coolly. "I just came to drop this stuff of, then I gotta get going."

"Where?" I shot back.

"Well, my boss seems to be under the impression that we could use a West Coast store," Melanie replied. "So I'm being sent out to research potential buildings."

I got that creepy, skin-crawly feeling. "So if your company decides to set up here..."

"...yeah, I'd probably move here."

"My god," Freddie grumbled, stepping between us to bend down and brush his lips over mine. "I'll be right back. News like this, about time for another Xanax." He glanced over at Melanie. "I guess this is the part where you beg me for one, right?"

Melanie glared at him evilly. "No thanks, I've got my own."

"Yeah...they're not working," Freddie shot back. With that, he headed off to the bedroom, leaving me alone with my sister.

"So I'm guessing that this little push to your boss about setting up shop here, that had nothing to do with mom, right?" I asked, and Melanie just smirked at me.

"Are you jealous, Sam?" she asked me, and I felt my anger beginning to boil over.

"I am NOT jealous."

"After all these years, it's still a sore subject, right?"

I just shook my head. "No, but after all these years, you still are."

"Yeah, you're jealous. You know you are. What's the matter, you can't stand one person on earth loving me more than you?" Melanie shot back. "You have no right to be angry about this! You have all these people that just think you're the greatest thing ever! The entire WORLD, anyone with internet access, loves you! All I have is her!"

"How can you have just gotten over everything so quickly?" I asked. "You just got over it, like that! It doesn't make sense!"

"Is that what the problem is? You're angry that I let go, but you can't?"

"No, but -"

"That's exactly what it is! You can't get over it and it's holding you back, and you can't get close to her because of it! And you're jealous because I HAVE moved on! And I CAN get close to her! And it's driving you crazy!"

"Whoa whoa whoa!" Freddie yelled as he came out of the bedroom, stepping between us and glaring at Melanie. "Will you quit pissing her off already? I just got home, I don't wanna deal with this shit! Don't you have somewhere to be?"

Melanie glowered at Freddie, then at me. "Yeah, I do."

"Then you better get there, Mel, before you REALLY piss her off! Sam doesn't slap or pull hair, remember?"

"Sam isn't the one who looks like she WANTS to hit me right now," Melanie snarled, glaring at Freddie, who just rolled his eyes.

"I have a hell of a lot more self-control than that. Now run along, Melanie. Let me tend to my wife, fix what you did."

"Freddie, I'm fine," I grumbled, and he rolled his eyes again.

"Yeah, okay," he replied sarcastically.

Melanie let out an exasperated noise, looking over at me. "Are you coming tonight or not? And can you be civil?"

"Yeah, I'll be there," I replied. "What time?"

"Seven."

"Fine," I responded with a raise of my eyebrows.

"Great," she replied. "Bye."

"Bye," I replied, waiting for the door to slam shut. "Bitch," I added under my breath. With that, I looked over at Freddie. "Hi."

"Hi yourself," he replied, bending down to kiss me, then leaning down a little further to kiss the baby on the top of his head. "Hey buddy." He straightened up, one hand running up and down my arm. "So what was that about?"

I shrugged, walking over to the spot in front of the TV I had the baby blanket spread out and laid Freddie Jr. on his tummy, turning the volume back up on the Baby Einstein DVD that had been on loop all day. That was really more Freddie's doing than mine, he wanted a smart kid and insisted we had to start early. The DVDs were kind of mesmerizing, even I had to admit that, and the baby was absolutely fascinated by the music, shapes, and colors on the screen. I left him with a few soft rattles to try to reach for and his DVD and then walked a few feet away, plopping down on the sofa.

"Just typical Melanie drama," I replied grumpily.

"Oh?" Freddie replied, sitting down next to me. "Sounded like a little Sam drama thrown in for good measure."

I sighed, laying back, and Freddie grabbed my legs and laid them across his lap, rubbing them softly.

"Talk to me, sweetheart."

"She thinks I'm jealous! Of her!" I said with a bitter laugh. "Yeah, right..."

"Baby, it's okay if you are," Freddie said gently. "I know the sibling rivalry between you two gets a little intense sometimes."

"But we haven't had a problem with sibling rivalry for years!" I replied, throwing an arm over my face and groaning when Freddie began rubbing my feet. Oh god, how I loved that.

"Yeah, but, you guys didn't have to deal with your mother for years either..." he replied. I knew he was trying so hard to be level-headed in this whole situation, but I still felt him tense up when he uttered the phrase 'deal with your mother'.

"I'm sorry, I shouldn't be talking about this with you right now," I said, and he shrugged.

"It's fine, baby."

"No it's not," I replied, calling him out on his little white lie.

He sighed, leaning his head back against the couch. "Look, I just...if it's gonna cause that many problems between us, me having problem with it, then I'll try not to..."

"But you do have a problem with it," I pointed out, and he nodded fervently.

"Yes, Sam, I do!" he exclaimed. "I have a really BIG problem with it! I just don't want you to get hurt, baby. But...I can't control what you do. So I'm not going to make a big fuss about it. But yeah, it does bother me."

"I'm sorry."

"I know you are," he replied, continuing to rub my feet. "But it's okay. You can't control how you feel about the situation."

"I wish I could," I responded glumly. "That's part of the problem. I can't control how I feel any more."

"Well, I made a few calls when I was on the way home, speaking of that," Freddie said, and he must have noticed the way I tensed up, because he pushed my legs off his lap and pulled me to him. "You know this is important, sweetheart," he said, kissing the side of my head.

"I know," I sighed.

"They can fit you in next week."

"Are you going to be there with me?" I asked, and he nodded.

"If you want me to. If you want to talk to them alone, that's fine too. Whatever's easier for you, honey."

"Everything is easier when you're with me," I replied, snuggling against him, and I felt him laugh a little.

"Me too, sweetheart."

"You hungry?" I asked.

"Mmhmm."

"What do you want to eat?"

He laughed again, and I looked up at him to find him giving me a very mischievous look.

"Food, nub!" I laughed, and he just shook his head, bending down to kiss me.

"Why?" he whined against my mouth, pulling away to kiss my neck. "It's been a few days, you know..."

"There's been a lot going on..." I managed to get out, even though trying to get my brain to form words while Freddie's lips were on my skin was almost impossible.

"And right now there's not. Come on, baby," he replied. "Give me one good reason why not."

At that moment, the baby chose to emit his signature squawk, which sounded like something a pterodactyl would do...a pissed off pterodactyl.

"There's one reason," I replied as I stood up, walking over to the baby and dropping to my knees. "Aw, what's wrong little man?"

"That kid has a built-in alarm programmed to go off when we're getting busy," Freddie grumbled as he stood up.

"I think he needs to be changed."

"I'll do that," he replied, bending down to scoop up the baby. "Since you offered and all, you wouldn't mind making me a sandwich, would you?"

"Of course not," I responded, giving him a quick peck on the lips. "Turkey, extra avocado, spicy mustard, right?"

"You know me too well," he replied as he disappeared into the nursery with the baby.

The rest of the afternoon was pretty free of incident. We spent most of it just laying around, hanging out with the baby, though we did have a little spat because of Freddie's tendency to randomly burst into Spanish phrases. I figured it would confuse the baby since he couldn't even really understand English yet, but Freddie kept going on and on about how bilingual kids are smarter and all that. Still, with everything that had been going on, it was nice to argue about something mundane that didn't have potential to split us up for a change.

It finally came time for me to get ready to leave, and to be honest, I was dreading it. I don't know why, but I just had a bad feeling about tonight, and I wasn't sure why. Maybe it was because the argument with Melanie had left a sour taste in my mouth. But no way in hell was I going to be left out of one of their things again.

I came out of the bedroom to find Freddie sitting on the couch with our son in his lap, watching TV, his head down low next to the baby's ear.

"And that's Nug-Nug, see? Don't let his size fool you, he's the most powerful warrior in the entire galaxy..."

"Freddie!" I cried, hands on my hips. "What are you doing to my son?"

"I'm educating the boy."

"You're draining his brain!"

"Hey, this stuff is important!" Freddie argued. "Galaxy Wars is a metaphor for..."

"...for what a big dork you are!" I shot back. "What could he possibly learn from this?"

"Physics. Astronomy. Political Science," he replied. "I could go on if you'd like."

"No, that's fine, I believe you," I said with a roll of my eyes.

"Don't roll those pretty eyes at me, baby," Freddie replied. "Come here."

I perched on the edge of the coffee table, and he leaned forward to kiss me, keeping a careful hold on Freddie Jr. the entire time.

"Try to have a good time," he said. "Me and little man will be here, waiting."

I nodded, rising to my feet. "Are you sure it's okay?"

"Mmhmm. Brad and Carly are probably gonna stop by, keep me company."

"Wow, they're actually leaving the apartment at the same time these days," I said. "Guess the nanny's working out just fine."

"Guess so," he replied. "Hurry back baby. You know it's supposed to be cold tonight."

"I know."

"You'll wanna hurry back so you can curl up with me and I can keep you warm," he replied with a smirk.

Oh god, I wanted to curl up in bed with him already! And I'd been perfectly content to let him drag me off to the bedroom, until little man started doing his baby dinosaur impression! He was right, it'd been a few days. The last time we'd slept together was the night he left and then came back to talk me. I was still pretty ashamed of myself for that one, manipulating him like that when all he was trying to do was tell me how I made him feel – which was used and manipulated. Whether it ended up being tonight or tomorrow night, I was determined to make this one better, make it up to him, but it needed to happen soon! We were both getting antsy, there'd just been too much drama going on for us to lose ourselves in that way.

"I love you," I replied. "Take care of little man for me."

"Love you more," Freddie said, giving me a smile. "And you know I will."

I gave him one last smile, and my sweet little man one last kiss, before leaving my two boys alone and heading out the door. I pulled it shut and then leaned against it momentarily, collecting my thoughts. Little moments like that, I loved. Especially now, more than ever. But I still worried. My temper was lightning quick with all the fury of a tornado, and there was never even a clue of when it would strike. I was still so, so nervous at the prospect of screwing up and losing him for good.

But for now, I couldn't think about that. With a sigh, I pushed myself off the door and headed down the hallway. It was time to go have dinner with my mom, and remind her I was just as important as Melanie.

Thirty minutes later I was sitting at a table with my mother in an Italian restaurant, looking down at my watch impatiently. Where the hell was Melanie? Sighing, I looked across the table at my mother.

"So..." I said, trying to make small talk as I ran my finger around the rim of my water glass. "That's a really nice necklace...mom."

That was another thing that bothered me. It had been a few weeks, and it was still supremely difficult to call her 'mom'. I could refer to her as 'my mother' in conversation without any hint of a problem, but CALLING her 'mom'? For some reason, something was holding me back, preventing me from doing that too. I didn't know why, but that bothered me too. Maybe Melanie was right, I just couldn't get over the past. Freddie had called me 'grudgemaster' a few times in the past, so I guess it wasn't that hard to believe. But the thing was, I WANTED to. I wanted to get over everything so badly, but I just couldn't!

My mother laughed as she ran her fingers across the gold chain with the butterfly hanging from it. "Thanks. Melly bought it for me today when we went shopping. I wish you would've came, Sam...I know the baby was sick and all, but..."

My eyes narrowed as I stared at her. "The baby wasn't sick. I mean, Freddie has a cold, but he forced himself to go to school today...Melanie didn't even TELL me about lunch or shopping."

"Oh..." she stammered, looking down at the table uncomfortably. "Well...I guess that's Melly for you."

I made a face. "What do you mean that's Melly?"

"She is a little flaky, isn't she? Book smart as hell, but everything else..."

I shook my head. "She's a lot smarter than people give her credit for. In a Machiavellian way, anyway."

Okay, now I was pissed. Melanie hadn't told me, not because it slipped her mind, but because she didn't want me to go! And despite Melanie's tendency to be self-absorbed and a total airhead, I was right. The girl WAS smart, in the sneakiest, most devious ways. She was trying to edge me out, just like she had done when we were kids. And I just couldn't stand for it this time. If she wanted to play that game, I could play it better.

My mother wrinkled her nose at my comment. "Macka-what?"

"It's uh...never mind," I replied with a shake of my head.

"I keep forgetting you're a college girl now," my mother laughed, and I shrugged.

"Part-time college girl."

"Still, you got a hell of a lot further than I ever got, kid. At least you graduated from high school. I mean, I always knew Melly would do well, with that boarding school she had her life all mapped out. But you..."

I couldn't stop myself from bristling up. "What about me?"

She shrugged. "I just figured you'd be pregnant before you hit eighteen, working some minimum wage job. And you were always getting into trouble, I was sure jail would be in your future."

It was something she'd said to me before, but her voice wasn't dripping with venom when she said it this time. Still, it kind of hurt. She'd never had any faith in me.

I shrugged. "I was kind of heading down that path...not the pregnant part, but everything else, until Freddie got ahold of me. He changed my entire life."

"I still think he's kind of an asshole."

I couldn't help but shrug again. "Oh, he is. And I'm a crazy bitch. But that's what makes it work I guess. I'd never find anyone who could love me better, or love our son better."

My mother made a 'meh' noise, signaling she was done with the subject. It was like I had two different families, and they hated each other. Freddie, Carly, and Brad had a crystal clear hatred for my sister, and they definitely weren't fans of my mother. I wondered if there'd ever be some sort of peace.

I looked up to find Melanie rushing across the restaurant, making a beeline for our table.

"Hi!" she said, bending down to kiss our mother on the cheek, which kind of made me want to ralph. "Sorry I'm late..."

"Aren't you ALWAYS late?" I shot back, and she glared at me.

"Well isn't that the big FAT pot calling the kettle black?" Melanie responded, looking me up and down. I stared at her for a second, not sure what to say. Did she just...

"Did you just call me fat?" I barked, and Melanie shrugged.

"Just saying, some of that baby weight stuck around. Maybe you shouldn't eat pasta tonight..."

"Alright, that's enough, Melly. Be nice to your sister," my mother said, and Melanie forced a smile that was saccharine-sweet.

"Of course. I'm sorry." She pulled out her chair and sat down, giving me a satisfied little smirk. Oh, that little brat. If Freddie hadn't made me all civilized over the years I would have come right across that table and throttled her! She didn't even seem to notice the way I was glaring at her, just kept right on talking.

"So, I found some really great real estate that I know my boss would JUST love," Melanie said. "Some of them passed right by me, but Gibby pointed them out, and..."

"Gibby?" I interrupted. "You're still hanging out with him?"

"Well, he's a really good friend, and pretty much the only person in Seattle right now who doesn't absolutely despise me," she said, shooting a glare over at me.

I shifted in my seat uncomfortably. I had a tendency to blame myself for a lot of stuff, but Melanie's less-than-warm reception from my husband and my friends had little to do with me. Melanie had brought it on herself, starting with the last time she was here, and as far as getting along with everyone, that was pretty much an impossibility. Freddie stated he saw Pam every time he looked at Melanie, according to Carly she was a 'biatch', which was about as close to swearing you could get out of her except for rare moments, and Brad? Forget it, those two never even had a chance at getting along. Every single facet of Melanie's personality just happened to be a quality or way of doing things that Brad despised in people, like Melanie's affliction for material things and the fact she loved to stir up drama for the hell of it. Of course, it just so happened that every thing about Brad's personality were all things that Melanie hated, like his tendency to make jokes to cover up problems and his 'divide and conquer' personality. So yeah, there was no hope for my sister and my friends. I guess it was good she had someone like Gibby while she was here, but I worried about what she was doing to him, whether she was leading him on, and the rest of us were getting really sick of her hogging him. We didn't get to see Gibby very often, and his visit was up in the air. None of us knew when he was leaving. He'd come into town to make sure Freddie was holding together, but now Freddie and I were okay again, so he didn't really have a reason to still be here, other than to hang out. That fact alone, that the problem was solved and Gibby was here, spending all his time with Melanie, that made me nervous for him.

"Now, Melly, that's not true," my mother said, patting her hand. "I love you."

"I know," Melanie replied, giving her a smile.

I guess part of me waited with baited breath for my mother to say the same thing to me, but it never came. They just changed the subject again, trying to decide what appetizer to get next. I tried to hold in my disappointment.

I'd never wanted things to go back the way they were before. I'd wanted to move on and start over, try to form something of a mother-daughter relationship that was based on love and trust and mutual respect. But it began to occur to me that maybe that wasn't possible. Oh, she was happy. And nice. And polite. But that adoration for Melanie, the doting on her for being the perfect daughter? It was still there, and it absolutely stunned me.

Melanie was anything BUT the perfect daughter, I could make up a list of things she did wrong that was longer than my arm, but I guess my mother didn't see it. All she saw was that Melanie had gotten her associate's degree, which made her 'the first Puckett to graduate college' according to my mom, and that Melanie had a fancy job that made her lots of money. A real job that didn't involve dancing around in front of a camera. And Melanie was "still as sweet as ever". Yeah, fake sweet. I tried to keep my head in the conversation, but by the end of the dinner I'd been reduced to sulking in my chair, arms crossed over my chest, as my mother and Melanie were laughing and chit-chatting and replaying old events that they were pretending were happy but weren't really happy at all.

I managed to snap out of it though when the server laid the check on the table, and as Melanie lazily reached across the table to pick it up, I grabbed it like a lifeline, clutching it to my chest.

"I'll take care of it this time," I said, giving Melanie the hairy eyeball. She wasn't the only one who could play show-off.

"Oh no, don't worry about it. I know the baby must be costing you guys a fortune," she replied, taking back the check.

"No, we do pretty well with the show." I yanked the check back.

"And I do pretty well too. Working a real job. By myself." Yank. Now the check was in Melanie's hand again.

I leaned over the table and grabbed it back. "I bet I do a hell of lot better than you. You know my nice little red Volvo? Yeah, we paid cash for it. Didn't even put a dent in our savings. Now, why don't you let me get this one? I know you probably live paycheck to paycheck. Even if you do make money, I make more."

My mother chuckled, shaking her head. "Still as competitive as ever, I see." I refrained from reminding her that her memory was flawed from all those years of being passed out on the couch.

"Fine, Sam, you can take this one," Melanie replied with a sweet smile, releasing the check. "I guess it is your turn since I bought her so much stuff when we were shopping."

I rolled my eyes, looking over at our mother and eager to drop the subject. "So, I'm a little busy with rehearsal tomorrow, but maybe we could do dinner the next day?"

My mother shrugged. "I can't, I've got to pick up extra shifts at work. Probably get a second job too, I...oh, never mind, it's not important."

Melanie gave her a concerned look. "What's not important?"

"I guess the bills just got away with me, because I don't have enough to pay them."

"Mom!" Melanie cried. "Why didn't you say something?"

My mother looked down at the table. "Oh, I don't know, I just didn't want to...it's just the power, Melanie! It's not a big deal, I've gone without electricity before."

"Oh my god!" Melanie cried, while I just stared at them. Melanie reached into her purse, digging around for her checkbook. "How much is the bill?"

"Three hundred," my mother replied softly. "But Melanie..."

"Yes?" Melanie asked absentmindedly as she scrawled across the check.

"Before I worry about power, I have to pay my rent, so I can't use that."

"Oh." Melanie looked crestfallen. "Well, how much is the rent?" she asked brightly.

"Seven hundred."

"Seven...oh..." Melanie sighed as she flipped through the checkbook log. "I can't do that. I have to pay my own rent back home..."

Everyone was quiet for a moment, and finally I let out a growl of resignation.

"God, here," I said as I reached into my purse and grabbed my own checkbook, hastily scribbling the amount across it and signing my name. I tore it out and slid it across the table to my mother, who looked stunned.

"Really, Sam?" she asked, and I nodded.

"It's not a big deal." I didn't really know what to say in this situation. I suppose a normal person who had to help their parents would be all,'because you did so much for me!' but she did nothing for me, other than screw me up. But for some reason I felt guilt eating at me when I found out her power was out, and that she couldn't pay her rent. And I wasn't going to let my sister show me up.

My mother leaned across the table unexpectedly and hugged me so quickly I didn't have time to react. To be honest, I STILL wasn't comfortable with her hugging me. But it was over before it had even registered.

"You're such a good daughter, Sam."

I managed a small smile, but when I glanced over at Melanie, she was giving me daggers, glaring at me nastily. I simply smirked at her. Yeah, that's right, perfect little Melly suddenly had competition!

Another thought occurred to me, and I wanted to panic. Freddie was absolutely going to KILL me when he found out about the check. He'd said several times she was only after money, and even though I didn't think that was the case, when this came out, it'd be all the proof Freddie would need to give him, in his mind, permission to go postal.

Great. Just great.

~*Freddie*~

I knew Sam was home before she got anywhere near the door. And I knew that because I could hear her screaming at the top of her lungs in the hallway, accompanied by another familiar voice that was also screaming. I sighed, laying the baby down on his baby blanket.

"Be right back, buddy," I told him. "Let me go corral your mama."

I walked out the front door to find Sam and Melanie engaged in one of their screaming matches, which had happened more often than I'd liked since she'd been here. Those two were definitely back to their sibling rivalry, and I HATED the effect it had on my sweet Sam.

"So what, you think you can just be the perfect daughter material NOW? After almost two decades, NOW you want to give it a shot?" Melanie yelled.

"Whatsa matter, Mel? Jealous I can pull it off now and your facade is starting to fade?" Sam fired off. "You hate the fact that you have to compete for the number one spot now, don't you?"

"You have everybody else in the world, why can't you let me have one person?"

"She's my mother too, you bitch!"

"What the hell is going on out here?" I asked as I stepped in front of Sam. "You want somebody to call the cops?"

"Maybe on her. For being a big fake! Isn't fraud illegal?"

"That's enough, Sam," I growled. "Knock it off."

"Don't tell me what to do!" she barked, and I glared at her for a second, shaking my head.

"Get your ass back in that apartment. Now," I replied lowly. Her eyebrows went up in a challenging way, and she opened her mouth to say something, but I wasn't having it. Every time I saw her lately, she'd already be in a pissed off mood, and I was tired of dealing with it. Walking away wasn't an option, and having our nice little conversations as I patiently listened to all the reasons she was upset wasn't working either. It was time to call in the big guns.

I cut her off before she could speak, pointing in the direction of the apartment. "Did I stutter? Do it!"

She stared at me like she couldn't believe I'd finally decided to man up, and with one last evil look at her sister, she shuffled off to the apartment, grumbling under her breath the entire time.

"Well, you certainly have her trained well," Melanie commented. "But you might want to think about putting her on a leash. And maybe a muzzle."

I rolled my eyes. "Are you staying here tonight, or what?"

She shrugged. "I dunno yet. I'm gonna go hang out with Gibby."

I sighed. "Will you please go easy on the boy, Melanie? I mean, it's obvious...he likes you. And Gibby hasn't really had feelings for a girl since Tasha, so...don't lead him on, okay?"

She looked down at the ground, fiddling with her bracelet, and then finally looked back up at me. "I am trying very hard not to," she replied softly. "I'm a little confused right now myself, you know."

"Oh?" my eyebrow went up, and she shrugged.

"Not like you care or anything. As long as sweet little Sam doesn't get hurt," Melanie shot back.

"She's my wife, that's my job. To protect her. And you and your mother are making that real damn hard right now."

"She's making things hard for me too."

"There's room for both of you," I pointed out, and she shook her head.

"You don't understand how Pucketts work. I...I always figured my mom didn't have enough love to go around, you know? So...yeah, it's a war zone right now. But before she shipped me off, I was number one. I can be that again."

"At the risk of ruining things with Sam?"

"You only get one mother."

"And most people DON'T get a twin sister, Melanie. Sam is...having her in your life is not a right, okay? It's a privilege. Don't fuck that up."

She shrugged. "Whatever. I'll see you around." She bounded off, to wherever Melanies go, and I let out a growl as I headed back to the apartment. Time for battle. Melanie wasn't the only one living in a war zone these days because of Sam, but I had another way of dealing with her. I just hadn't had to use it in awhile, but as Brad had pointed out, Sam's attitude needed to be adjusted.

I'll be honest, I didn't like doing that any more, manhandling the hell out of her. I looked at her differently these days. She was still Sam, still my wife, and I still loved her, but she was also the mother of my son. I guess it didn't feel right at this point. But something had been missing in our relationship for awhile, and I couldn't help but wonder if that was it. We both got off on manhandling each other, especially if we were pissed off and fighting, but Sam also seemed to find comfort in being forced into being vulnerable. She hated being vulnerable, but when I was able to push her into it, it flipped some kind of switch in her head that somehow made her feel more secure, as if it was some sort of reminder I wasn't going to hurt her. Unfortunately, I'd hurt her a lot lately, and the wound still seemed to be healing. I'd have to speed it up somehow.

I walked into the living room to find Sam coming out of the nursery, shutting the door behind her softly, and she looked up to find me standing there, glaring at me.

"Is he asleep?" I asked, crossing my arms over my chest.

"No, I just abandoned him and put him on mute so you couldn't hear him cry," she snapped. "What do you think?"

I shook my head, and pointed to the bedroom. "Go. Now."

"I don't want to talk to you right now. You made me look like an ass in front of Melanie!"

"No, you pretty much did that all on your own," I growled. "Now get your ass in that bedroom, now."

She was about to gather up all her anger and throw it at me like a fireball, I could feel it. Too bad I wasn't going to stand for it this time. I reached out and grabbed her arm, pulling her to me, not in a violent way, but hard enough and fast enough to let her know I wasn't playing around this time. I tried to ignore the fact that my arm felt like it was on fire, the way she was digging her nails into my arm as she clawed at me, trying to get her to release her, gritting my teeth as I dragged her into the bedroom, slammed the door shut, and shoved her against it.

"What the fuck is your problem, Sam?" I growled, my arms coming down on either side of her to block her from moving away.

"You're my problem! Leave me alone, Freddie!"

"Nope," I replied evenly, staring at her.

"MOVE!" she shouted, shoving at me, but I just pressed against her harder, grabbing a handful of her hair to pull her head to the side.

"You sure you want me to move?" I hissed in her ear, grinding my hips into her. I felt her sag against the door momentarily and then regain her senses, pushing at me again, but not as hard as before.

"Move," she replied, but it came out weak and caught in her throat.

"You know, something was pointed out to me the other day. Wanna know what it is?"

"I'm sure you're going to tell me," she growled.

"Three years ago, your little ass NEVER would have talked to me like you do these days," I responded, pulling away to stare her in the face. "If you would have even tried I would have adjusted your attitude in a heartbeat. Set you straight." I ground my hips into her again, bending down to slide my tongue across her neck, and I felt her shiver. "Do I need to set you straight, Sam?"

"Go away," she said flatly as I pulled away to stare at her. I almost did, almost gave up and walked into the living room, prepared to spend the night on the couch, but something stopped me. It was the little flash of a smirk that played across her face and was gone in an instant, replaced by a scowl. Microexpressions, I think they're called. Everyone does them, little plays of emotion that belie one's true feelings, no matter how hard they try to hide them. I considered myself a champion at reading them, especially if Sam was the one giving them off. She may not even have been aware of it, but she was challenging me. And I was more than willing to accept.

"I'm not going to do that." Her eyebrows went up, and I just smirked at her. "Yeah, you're fucked now," I stated, bending down to kiss her, but a spark of pain went through me when her teeth closed down on my lip. I jerked my head away, glaring at her. "That fucking hurt!"

"Love hurts, baby," she sneered. "Still wanna try to 'adjust my attitude'?"

I wasn't sure, to be honest. Sam had flown off the handle tonight with Melanie, and I don't think she'd regained her bearings. But that challenge was laid out before me, and I didn't want to back down. But Sam was pissed off, she was acting crazier these days than ever before, and she was game for whatever I wanted to throw at her. This was going to be interesting. I might not survive this one after all.

I shoved her into the door again, my mouth attaching itself to her neck, and she hissed as she felt my teeth dig in.

"Still wanna try and stop me?"

I'd said before that if Sam was crazy, I was too, and that fact was quickly coming to light again, because I wasn't sure what happened, how it managed to go as far as it did. She shoved me off her, I slammed her back into the door, and then she scratched the hell out of the back of my neck. At some point she bit me, and then I bit her a little too hard. But neither one of us seemed to be able to stop.

She was trying to push me away, I got that. She still didn't trust me not to leave, and didn't want to allow herself to be that vulnerable. Too bad I wasn't giving her the option tonight.

I finally managed to get the upper hand, pinning both her arms above her head, and she squirmed frantically against me, trying to break free.

"Let me go!"

"Why, so you can take another chunk out of my neck?" I growled.

"I'll do worse than that!"

"No you won't. Because you like this. I can tell, remember?"

She didn't respond, just looked away.

"You didn't used to fight me this bad. Am I scaring you, baby?"

"Yes," she whispered.

"Do you want me to let go?" I asked softly.

She was quiet for a moment, not speaking.

"It scares you because you're afraid of being vulnerable with me again, aren't you, sweetheart?"

Still nothing.

"I think I need to give you a little reminder," I replied, kissing her neck. I'd dropped the demanding, dominating persona I'd started this thing out with, but I was still firm, direct. I wasn't going to let her go, or get away and let this issue compound in her head even more.

I could tell she was trying desperately not to moan, but she failed, and my lips curled into a smirk against her neck. "Yeah, you do like this. It just scares you."

"Let me go," she said again, but it came out so weak, it was more like she was saying it out of obligation, trying to hold up her last bit of resistance before she waved the white flag.

"No. I won't," I replied, letting go of her wrists with one hand to untuck her shirt. "You like this. And you need this. You need to be reminded of a few things."

She was quiet, biting her lip, and I unbuttoned her shirt, still continuing to pin her against the door, my hand on her wrists, hips pressed against hers.

"You don't have to be scared of me leaving any more. Even when you act like a crazy little brat," I stated as I got the rest of her buttons undone. I stopped as I got a look at her bra. "Hmm, front close? You're just trying to make this easy on me, aren't you?" I didn't give her a chance to respond as I flicked the closure open and her beautiful breasts spilled out. It was taking everything in me not to grab her, throw her on the bed, and make love to her, but I had something else going. Something way more important. Still pinning down her wrists with one hand, I managed to get her jeans undone, but now I had to let go of her wrists to get them off. Hmm. It was worth a shot, I suppose. I let go, and was pleased to find she didn't try to move away, but she had her eyes locked on me as I dropped to my knees, watching me like a hawk.

"I think my sweet sweet baby needs to be reminded how much I love her. And I think she needs to be vulnerable, because sometimes that's when she feels the safest." I pulled her jeans off and looked up at her. "Have you forgotten that, baby?"

Still no response, as if she had no voice at all.

"Sometimes I'm an ass, Sam," I told her. "And sometimes I'm gonna do things to hurt you." With that, I sank my teeth into her inner thigh, and she let out a noise that sounded somewhere between the realm of pain and pleasure.

I ran my tongue over the spot I'd just bitten, and she sighed softly. "But I'll always make it feel better." I yanked her underwear off and looked back up at her. "Get that shirt all the way off. Bra too. I want you naked."

"Freddie..." she whispered.

"Stop fighting me on this. Stop taking your anger out on me. I'm not trying to hurt you, baby. I just want you to be happy." With that, I ran my tongue over her softly, and she let out a moan. "I just want to make you feel good. Do I make you feel good, baby?" I licked at her again, this time more forcefully.

"Oh, god..." she whispered. "Baby, don't stop..."

"I won't stop," I replied, grabbing one of her legs and putting it over my shoulder. "I won't ever stop making you crazy." I licked at her again, flicking my tongue against her slowly. She'd given up resisting me. She was almost there. Her guard was almost down. Now the real work could begin.

I could hear the scratching, creaking noise as she scraped her nails across the wooden door, searching for something solid to hold onto, until she settled for grabbing onto the over-the-door coat rack. Yeah, that's right, baby, you better hang on...

I grabbed her other leg and put it over my shoulder. Now she definitely wouldn't be able to change her mind halfway through and get away. She was stuck like this.

"Hmm. Quite a predicament you're in, huh?" I murmured as I kissed her thigh. She didn't respond, just let out a soft moan, pushing her hips forward. I could feel her shaking a little. It was on now. "Well, I guess, since you're like this, I may as well make the best of it." With that, I gave up all pretense, licking, sucking, nibbling at her, pulling out every trick in the book trying to push her closer to the edge. And damn, was it working. Every flick of my tongue, or slight movement of my lips had her trembling, shaking, cursing, moaning. And begging. Oh god, how I loved hearing that girl beg for me.

"Please..." she whispered, biting her lip, and I looked up at her.

"Please what?"

"You know what...please...you're teasing me...please stop..."

"Mmm," I moaned against her. "I do love when you beg..."

"Oh god, then please just..."

"Nope," I replied. I managed to stand up while her legs were still over my shoulders and I let them drop to my waist as I pressed against her. She was completely naked, and I was fully dressed. I knew that made her feel even more vulnerable, and that's what I wanted. To completely break down any walls she had regarding me. I carried her over to the bed, laying her down and coming over her, kissing her passionately.

"You know how much I love you, don't you?"

"Yes."

"You know how much it killed me to walk away. How it still does."

"Yes, but..." I shut her up by kissing her again.

"I'm not going anywhere. And I love you more than anything. If I have to spend the rest of the night reminding you how much I love you, I'll do that." I paused, kissing her neck. "Do I need to spend all night reminding you?"

"I..." she knew she was heading down a treacherous road with that one. She'd enjoy herself, that was certain, but she also knew how far I could take things, how crazy I could drive her.

"I think I do," I replied, sitting up to pull my shirt off and smirking when Sam automatically ran her hands up my stomach and over my chest. I could still get to her, and that made me feel really good. So maybe I did this as much for me as I did for her, but now that we were in it...our no-holds barred psychological mindfuck sex that had been off the table for awhile, I realized how much I'd missed it.

Being able to take out my frustration with her in a way that wouldn't hurt her feelings. That was good. Letting her do the same, that was better. It wasn't normal, we'd established that years ago, and at one point we'd had a rough time coming to terms with our not-so-normal sexuality. But it was back now, and as she yanked my head down and dug her teeth into my shoulder, I hissed in pain, but I felt my lower body stir. I'd missed this, and so had she.

The aggression and tension between us had never really gone away, but we'd found an outlet for it. After that got taken away, the aggression was still there. We still fought. Sometimes really badly. She treated me like shit sometimes, not doing her job as my wife. But it dawned on me that she'd gotten used to dealing with our issues a certain way, and I had taken that away because I looked at her differently now. She was a mother. But that didn't change the fact that she was sexy as hell, still feisty as ever, and I still LOVED manhandling her. And the way she arched into me, her nails digging into my back in a way meant to challenge me to step the game up, I realized that she did too. So maybe I wasn't doing my job as her husband either. I'd been handling her with kid gloves, half afraid that any sort of discord would cause her to snap. She wasn't getting her needs met.

I growled as she bit me again, her hand reaching between us to squeeze my manhood tightly. God this turned me on, I'd forgotten how much. I pulled away from her long enough to unbuckle my belt and get my pants off, and she sat up, presumably to get the upper hand, and I just shoved her back down.

"Oh no you don't," I warned as I kissed her roughly, hissing as I felt her hands grab my hair and yank on it, sending shivers down my spine. "Don't think for one second you're going to be in charge. I have plans for you."

"Like what?" she whispered in my ear as her tongue flicked at the lobe. I struggled to keep my head on straight.

"Like fucking you senseless," I replied, grinding my hips into her. She whimpered, and I tried to hold back from just plunging into her. I kissed her passionately as I slid into her slowly, inch by inch, one hand having to hold her hips down to keep her from bucking against me.

"Oh god, Freddie..."

"I'm sorry, did you want me to stop?" I asked as I withdrew. She glared at me, eyes snapping with irritation, and I couldn't help but laugh. "Aw, I'm teasing you, aren't I?"

"Yes!" she cried. "Please..."

"I can do this all night," I whispered in her ear as I slid into her again and immediately pulled back out.

"FREDDIE!"

"Still feel like taking your anger out on me?" I asked as I started to slowly slide into her again.

"No..." she moaned. "Baby..."

"Are you gonna behave now?"

"Yes..."

"Good," I replied as I slid into her all the way, as I deep as I could, and she let out a loud moan, her legs going around my waist as her arms went around my neck, burying her face in my shoulder. All the teasing had gotten to me too, I felt like I was going to lose it the minute I was inside her. God, she felt good. She ground her hips against me frantically, and I knew it wouldn't be very long before she exploded. More opportunities to get inside her head.

I was done with teasing her now, I had a different plan in mind. I drove into her forcefully, holding her hips steady so I could hit every sensitive spot she had, and she bucked against me, head back, eyes closed, mouth open. She was almost gone. Perfect.

"I love you baby. So much," I whispered in her ear. "I'm never gonna leave you, and I'll try very hard not to hurt you, but if I do, I'll fix it."

She wasn't listening to me right now, she was too gone in the sensations I was making her feel, but her subconscious was always working, always listening, always pulling in more information that controlled how she viewed the world around her. That part of her was hard to get to, and this was one of the ways I used to do it. It was time to bring it back.

"Just let go, baby. I'm not gonna hurt you. Let go."

"Freddie..." she whispered, her entire body shaking. "Oh god, baby, I'm so close..."

"Yeah?" I whispered in her ear, kissing her neck. "Let go. I wanna feel it. I NEED to feel it, Sam. Come for me."

"Oh my god..."

"Come for me," I whispered one last time, and then it was like every single bit of stress she had inside her had just exploded. She let out a moan so loud I worried it would wake the baby, nails digging into me so hard it hurt, grinding against me and then going stiff. It was the hottest thing I'd ever seen.

"Oh my god, baby...shit..." she whimpered, pressing her face against my neck.

"Mmm, there you go...did that feel good, sweetheart?"

"Yes..." she panted, still riding out much of the feelings. "Oh god, you feel so good...please don't stop..."

"I won't, baby," I told her, kissing her again. "I'll never stop."

~*Carly*~

"I'm bored," Brad announced as he spun around on the couch so he was sitting upside down. I just gave him a Look, shaking my head.

"This is the first bit of piece we've had in like three months, and you're BORED?" I shot back. Brad shrugged.

"I wanna go do something."

"Like what?" I asked, biting my lip.

"I dunno. Gibby was supposed to swing by, but he's still pining after Melanie's retarded ass."

"I wonder what he thinks about our little slap fight."

"Well, he's proud of you for finally growing a pair, but other than that, he wasn't happy," Brad replied with a shrug. He swung around again, rising to his feet. "We need to do something!"

"What's got you so stir crazy today?" I asked as I watched him pace around the apartment like a crazy person. "Is it the weather or something?" It had been raining for three days straight, but that was Seattle for you. That was part of the reason we hadn't taken Katie to see Richard today, because we didn't want her out in the rain, and also because Brad felt like he needed to warn him. He'd talked to him today, and plans had been made to go and see him tomorrow.

Brad stared at me for a second, finally still, before walking around again, practically bouncing off the walls with energy.

"No! I've finally got a break from all the drama, and now I want to blow off steam," Brad replied, rubbing his chin thoughtfully. I looked at him in horror when I noticed his 'idea face' had popped up. Oh no. No no no. Any plan Brad came up with on his own was half-baked at best, and disastrous at worse. This didn't look good.

"We should go out!" he finally said.

"Like out to dinner?" I asked hopefully, though I knew it wouldn't come to that.

"Well, I mean, if you want, before, we can...but no! We should go OUT OUT. Like...to a club!"

"Brad," I warned, and he immediately got what I meant by that.

"I'm not gonna drink, Carly," he whined. "But maybe I wanna go hang out somewhere with obnoxiously loud music and grind all over you with you in some sexy little thing...we haven't all gone out since before Sam got pregnant!"

"Oh god, you want to make this a group thing?" I asked.

"Well, yeah!" Brad replied. "They're finally making progress, Sam and Freddie, and Gibby probably won't be here much longer...we should go out!" He looked positively giddy at the prospect, bouncing a little. "Come on, Carly, tomorrow we're taking Katie to see my dad, and I'd really like to get all my stress out before new stress arrives! Please please please?"

It was adorable. Brad was definitely all man, but little moments would come out that would remind me he still had a very child-like aspect to his personality, the way he'd get really excited over something. I loved it.

"Oh, alright," I said with a sigh, pretending to be annoyed. "But you know who Gibby's gonna wanna bring."

Brad stopped celebrating and glared at me. "Aw, man..." he whined. "But you girls are just gonna get into it again –" He stopped suddenly, grinning at me. "Not that that's such a bad thing..."

"Brad!" I replied, no longer pretending but actually annoyed. "I'm not going to get into a fight with her again, and if Gibby insists on bringing her, you'd do best to stay out of her way as well. You'll have to behave."

"Fine, I'll try."

"And Freddie."

"He usually does."

"And Sam."

"Now that's just crazy talk," he said with a roll of his eyes. "She never behaves. But we'll do our best." He did a little jump of happiness. "Sweet, this is gonna be awesome!" he yelled as he ran to the steps.

"Where are you going?"

"To call Freddie and Gibby. My phone's upstairs."

"Wait, you mean tonight?" I cried, and he shrugged.

"Why not? Better go hop in the shower, babydoll, I know how long it takes you to get ready and it's already eight thirty."

I let out a sigh. "Fine, I'll call Paula, tell her when she brings the kids back she'll have to stay a little longer."

But Brad hadn't even let me finish, just ran up the steps. I sighed as I slowly climbed the stairs.

For all his bitching about never having down time, Brad was EXTREMELY active, and sometimes it became difficult to slow him down. Taking care of the kids had forced him to do just that, but I could tell he was just itching to go out and have a little bit of fun. He deserved it, after all.

But all four of us going out, plus Gibby and possibly Melanie? This could definitely get interesting...


	83. Chapter 83

**A/N: I'm baaack! And I've figured out the true definition of misery is when your laptop and your Blackberry both break and you don't have the money to get new ones. Luckily, I finally got both. I know it's been awhile, but hopefully I'll be able to update more regularly now. **

**Chapter 83**

~*Freddie*~

I stared up at the ceiling blankly, totally out of it. Too out of it to think, or move...

"I think you broke me."

I let my head roll to the side, blinking a few times. "What?"

Sam let out a small laugh, rolling over onto her side. "I think you broke me," she said again, running her fingertips across my chest.

"Dear God, I hope not," I replied. "Because as soon as I recover...come to think of it, I think you broke me!"

Another laugh came from Sam, giving me a sense of relief. It was genuine laugh...like she was genuinely happy. That was a very good sign. We weren't quite out of the woodwork yet, but as long as she stopped pushing me away, we were making progress.

"So what do you want to do tonight?" Sam asked as she threw a leg over my body, scooting closer to me. I put my arm around her, pulling her tight against me.

"This seems good," I murmured, curling my fingers through her hair.

"Yeah, but I mean...there's nothing really on TV tonight, we could rent a movie, or..."

Bang bang bang!

Sam's adorable nose wrinkled up into a grimace. "I think someone's at the door."

Groaning, I sat up slowly, stretching.

Bang bang bang!

"Ugh," I grunted, looking around the room. "Sam, what'd you do with my pants?"

Bang bang bang!

"I'm coming!" I roared.

"I have no idea. You don't need them anyway," Sam replied with a wave of her hand, rolling onto her stomach.

I rolled my eyes, continuing to search around the room. "What if it's a girl?"

"Good. I haven't had a fight in awhile."

I had to laugh at that. Whether she knew it or not, Sam was becoming her old self.

"Fine, I'll go out in my boxers then, take the risk."

"I'll get the bail money ready."

With that, I left the bedroom, heading for the front door, becoming more and more annoyed by the constant banging.

"Somebody better be dead!" I hollered as I opened the door.

"Hey man, what's...aw, dude!" Brad said, covering his eyes. I had to roll mine.

"Nice to see you, Harrison," I stated, opening the door all the way and allowing him entrance.

"Nice seeing you too, just not, you know, all of you..." Brad replied.

"So what's up? I was kind of in the middle of something..."

"Obviously. Nice bite mark," he observed.

"On with it, man," I sighed.

"We're going out," Brad replied.

"I'm sorry, what?" I asked. "Since when?"

"Since now," Brad replied. "You, me, the ladies. Gibster. Time to party on down!"

I shook my head slowly. "I dunno, man..."

"Freddie?" Sam called. "Who is it?"

"It's Brad!" I replied. "Put some clothes on!" I turned back to Brad. "I dunno, man, there's been so much going on lately..."

"Which is exactly why we need to go out."

"I'm not asking my mom to take the baby again."

"No, it's cool, Paula already said she'd watch him..."

"What's going on?" Sam asked as she walked out of the bedroom, adjusting the knot on her robe.

"Hey, blondie," Brad greeted her. "Wanna go out?"

"With you?"

"And everybody!" Brad replied. He reached out and grabbed her forearm, shaking it slightly. "Come on. You know you want to."

"Brad I just think..." I began.

"Please."

"Look, we're..." Sam tried to get out.

"Please."

"Brad!" I exclaimed. "Come on, Sam and I really wanted some alone time..."

"Please please please please please!"

I rolled my eyes, letting out a grunt. "You've been spending way too much time with Leah, you know that?"

"Hey, she's taught me well," he replied with a shrug. "Come on, you guys need this, and so do Carly and I! And as for Gibby, well..."

"Wait," Sam stopped him. "If Gibby goes, you know he's gonna want to bring my sister."

"Yeah, I know," Brad replied with a roll of his eyes. "But we can just ignore her. Like usual."

Sam appeared to consider it for a minute, her arms crossed over her chest, and then finally nodded. "Okay. I'm in." Then her eyes slid over to me. "I mean, if it's okay with you."

"Is that what you want?" I asked her.

She shrugged.

"Sam," I said with a raise of my eyebrow.

"Well, we haven't been out together in awhile, and I do kind of want to hang out with Carly...and I mean, it might be good for us, and..."

"Baby," I cut her off. "Chill. All you had to say was yes. You wanna go out, we'll go out."

"But I thought you wanted to stay home."

"No. He wants to go out. Look at him. He's raring to go!" Brad put in.

Sam and Brad took one look at the scowl on my face and both started to laugh.

"Okay, we'll go out," I replied with a smirk. "Meet downstairs in an hour?"

"Sounds good to me, bro," Brad replied as he headed for the door.

"Now I get to wear my green dress!" Sam said happily.

"Aw, man, that's what I was going to wear," Brad fake-complained.

"Goodbye, Brad!" I said as I shooed him out of the apartment.

"Don't get all wrapped up in each other and make us late!" he hollered as he headed down the hallway. Shaking my head with amusement, I shut the door behind him, turning to look at Sam. "So."

"So you're sure you're okay with this?" Sam asked.

"Of course, baby. We probably do need it, you know? Might do us some good to blow off some steam," I replied. "Now, go put on something sexy."

"You too," she stated. She took a step toward me, running a hand across my abs, and I felt my lower body start to stir. She leaned forward, placing a simple, chaste kiss on the side of my neck, and then stepped away. I was extremely disappointed.

"I'm gonna go hop in the shower," she replied as she walked away, her back to me. With that, she undid the knot on her robe, letting it fall to the ground and allowing me to see her beautiful body in all its glory. "You should join me."

That was all I needed to hear!

"Right behind you, gorgeous..."

~*Carly*~

"I knew they'd be late," I stated as I looked down at the time on my watch.

"Good," Brad replied as he plopped down on one of the benches. I looked at him quizzically, and he shrugged. "Come on, you know if those two are so wrapped up in each other they lost track of time, then..."

"...things are getting back to normal. Yeah, I guess you're right," I responded. "Still, they better not be too late! Have you talked to Gibby?"

"Yep. He and Melanie are meeting us there."

"Ugh," I grunted.

"Try not to get into any slap fights this time," he teased me.

"You're never going to let that go, are you?" I asked.

"Probably not."

"You're lucky I love you," I grunted.

"Luckiest guy in the world," he replied with a grin.

I just gave him a smile, sitting down next to him and trying to patiently wait for Sam and Freddie. As annoying as it could be, those too being late, it really was a good sign. I wanted both of my best friends to be happy. Just like I wanted Brad and me to be happy. And I felt like we were finally starting to get back to that point. We rarely fought anymore, and things were slowly starting to settle back down. Having Paula in our lives was truly a godsend!

After about twenty minutes, the elevator let out a 'ding' sound, the doors sliding open, and out popped Sam and Freddie, looking rushed.

"Sorry," Sam said breathlessly. "We just lost track of time, and..."

"Yeah, we know the rest," I replied with a wave of my hand, standing up. "You guys ready?"

"Yep, we're..." Freddie began, and then his brow furrowed. "Wait."

"What?" Sam asked.

"Just be still," he replied, walking behind her and doing something to her dress. "Better...your...uh...whatever you call that thing...was showing."

"Garter belt?"

"Yeah, that."

Brad gave me a Look. "You should get a garter belt."

I rolled my eyes, laughing. "C'mon perv, let's go."

We all piled into Freddie's car, and finally we were off. It was about a twenty minute drive to the club we were going to, a huge warehouse that had been turned into a club a few months ago.

"Alright, I hate to be the one to point this out, but nobody's been able to get pictures of any of us for awhile..." Brad began.

We all understood. We weren't exactly major celebrities, but the show had made us quite well-known, and occasionally a crazy picture or two made its way to the internet.

"Why do I feel like that comment's being directed at us?" Freddie asked as he got out and walked around to Sam's side, opening her door for her.

"Because it is," Brad replied as he did the same for me. Yeah, Brad was a little on the goofy side and had to force himself to be responsible sometimes, and Freddie was way too uptight, but Sam and I couldn't say we didn't have amazing guys. How many men these days still opened doors for their girls?

"Brad..." Sam warned as she got out, adjusting her dress.

"Just saying, try not to paw each other too much on the dance floor."

"No promises," Freddie responded, but he wasn't even looking at Brad. He was looking at Sam, like he wanted to eat her alive. Yep, things were certainly getting back to normal.

"Let's just go," I said, grabbing Brad's arm. "I bet Gibby and...her...are already inside."

"Ugh," Sam grunted as we headed in. "She better not be a brat tonight...or a lush."

"Again, no promises," Freddie put in.

I'd never been to this club before, but it was HUGE. Two levels, several different bars, and obviously a very well-equipped sound system. I could barely hear myself think.

Brad pointed ahead, leaning down close to my ear. "Hey, there's Gibby."

Ugh, and Melanie, I noted, unable to stop myself from glaring at her.

Gibby spotted us and waved us over, Brad dragging me toward them.

"Be nice," he growled in my ear.

"Hey, Gibby!" I exclaimed, giving him a hug. "This is a great club, huh?"

"Yeah, it's awesome!" he replied. He shot a glance over Melanie, who was looking down at her phone, and nudged her. She shot him a Look, and then let out a sigh.

"Hey," she said.

"Melanie," I replied, crossing my arms over my chest.

"Look, I'm sorry about the other day, okay?" she said.

"Okay," I replied.

"Carly," Brad warned.

"Oh, fine," I grunted. "I'm sorry too."

"Guess we embarrassed Sam," she said.

"Something like that."

She bit her lip, obviously trying to think of something to say. "Can I buy you a drink to make up for it?"

I shook my head, glancing over at Brad. "I don't think that's such a good idea."

"Carly," Brad spoke up. "If you want to drink, it's okay. I'm not going to throw a bitch fit."

"Are you sure?"

"Yep. Go have fun."

I grabbed his arm, pulling him toward me. "I thought you hated Melanie."

"I do," he replied. "I just don't want there to be any drama tonight, okay?"

I nodded. "Okay."

He gave me a nudge in the direction of the bar. "Go get liquored up."

I couldn't help but laugh. "Okay. Hey, where's Freddie and Sam?"

Brad rolled his eyes, pointing toward the dance floor. "So much for not causing a scene."

My eyes settled on them, and I shook my head. We hadn't even been here five minutes, and they were already practically humping each other! I guess no matter how bad stuff gets, some things never change.

"Come on," Melanie said, grabbing my arm and leading me toward the bar.

Oh god, what had I gotten myself into?

~*Sam*~

"Maybe we should go see what the others are up to," I said breathlessly as Freddie pulled me even closer.

We hadn't even left the dance floor since we had arrived, over half an hour ago. I guess it was both our faults. Ever since Freddie had unleashed his inner animal on me earlier in the night, I didn't want to let him go. Not just purely in a carnal sense either. It had brought everything back. The often too intense connection we shared, that desperate urge to fully possess each other, all of it. And honestly, that had been all I wanted. I wanted reassurance that he would fight me, that no matter how crazy I got, he wouldn't let me go.

"I'd rather stay here," Freddie replied, his mouth close to my ear. "Sam...I..."

"I know," I replied, kissing him. And I did. I knew exactly what he was thinking, what he was feeling, because I felt the same thing. Just like before. When nothing else mattered except me and him.

God, why I had I forgotten that? I was so desperate to form a connection with my mother that I'd completely forgotten the connection I already shared with my husband.

"I wanna go away," I said in his ear as his hands drifted to my waist, swaying us to the loud thumping music. He pulled away slightly, his brow furrowed in confusion.

"Go away?"

I nodded. "You and me. Anywhere. Just for a few days..."

"What about Freddie Jr.?" he asked, staring at him with those intense chocolate eyes of him. I didn't think I'd ever stop getting lost in those suckers...

"Of course we'll take him too. I just wanna go somewhere, with both my boys."

"And school?"

I shrugged. "We could figure it out."

He stared at me for a moment, not saying anything, and I almost started to get nervous.

"Okay," he finally said. "I'll see what I can do."

"Yeah?" I replied.

"Yeah. It'd be nice. And we need it." He kissed me softly. "After your appointment with the therapist."

Ugh, I'd almost forgotten about that. It wasn't something I was looking forward to, but if that's what it took to keep our family together, I was more than willing.

Our family. My brow furrowed. I'd been so worried about fixing things with a broken family that existed somewhere in the past that I hadn't been paying attention to my new family. My real family. Truthfully, my husband and my son were all I needed.

I was beginning to get a bad feeling in the pit of my stomach about my mother. Way worse than before. First with the baby clothes and the security tags still attached to them, and her seeming inability to take care of herself. I knew minimum wage wasn't a lot to go on, after all, they called it minimum for a reason, but something wasn't adding up.

I didn't know what to think. Maybe it was residual anger, but it almost seemed like she was intentionally trying to bring up mine and Melanie's old sibling rivalry. And even so, I couldn't shake my anger at Melanie. I hated to say it, but part of me was secretly glad when things started to go downhill for her, her fall from grace. She'd always been so perfect, and I'd always been so...not. And for a minute there, I felt like I was better than her. But now she was this successful career woman, and I was a housewife.

But then again, I was a housewife. I had a beautiful bright baby boy, and the most amazing husband. Most women were lucky enough to get a loyal guy or a hardworking guy or a good-looking guy or a guy who was great in bed. I had a loyal, hardworking, drop dead gorgeous man who could bring me to my knees with just a kiss. I was lucky, being Mrs. Freddie Benson. It was certainly better than being Sam Puckett, the loser twin. No matter how many "mommy issues" I had.

As I pondered this, in the middle of the dance floor, I had come to a standstill and completely let go of Freddie without realizing it. He put a hand on my shoulder, his other hand going to my chin and lifting it so our eyes met.

"Baby?"

"I...have to go take care of something," I mumbled, pulling away from him, still lost in my own thoughts.

I could hear Freddie yelling my name, but it seemed to be in the back of my head. It was like I wasn't even thinking, just purely on autopilot as I stumbled through the crowd, heading for the bar.

"Hey, Sam, are you okay?" Brad stopped me, his hand on my arm. "You look kinda out of it..."

"I...yeah," I managed to get out, and continued on ahead. The dance floor was recessed, with a small flight of three stairs leading to the bar, and as I climbed them I noticed Freddie talking to Brad out of the corner of my eye, looking concerned, but I didn't stop. My eyes landed on my sister, who was standing between Gibby and oddly enough Carly, talking.

"Hey Sam!" Gibby greeted me, throwing his arms around me and hugging me. Geez, Freddie wasn't kidding, the kid had gotten huge, as if he were in permanent Hulk mode or something. But I barely noticed.

"Hey, Gibby," I said, hugging him back half-heartedly. "I...have to talk to my sister."

"What is it, Sam?" Melanie gruffed as she looked me up and down. "You look like hell."

I ignored her last statement. "I don't want to be number two."

Carly craned her upper body around Melanie, looking at me. "Sam, what are you talking about? Are you okay?"

"I don't want to be number two."

Melanie looked amused. "Well, tough shit. It's always been like that, remember?"

I shook my head. "No, Melanie, you don't understand. I don't WANT to be number two. I'm not going to be number two."

"I'm not following," Melanie replied with her own shake of the head.

"You can have her!" I replied. "Okay? I give up! I don't...I don't think I want a part of this anymore."

My sister furrowed her brow, gaping at me. "Since when? What's going on, Sam?"

"I just...I have a bad feeling, okay? About everything," I replied. "And...you said something when you first got here that had me thinking. You said 'once a Puckett, always a Puckett', remember? And that's the thing! I'm NOT a Puckett anymore! And I don't want to be! I'm much happier being a Benson."

"So you just forget everything else up to being a Benson? Before Freddie whisked you away into your shining tower?"

"Why not? It's not like it was that great anyway," I replied.

She crossed her arms over her chest and shrugged. "Fine. If you don't want to be a Puckett anymore, we don't want you to be. Mom deserves better than that."

"I'm not so sure about that, Mel," I said.

"And what brought on this newfound clarity?" Melanie shot back. "Besides Freddie's...parts."

"She really seemed to enjoy tugging on that sibling rivalry thread, don't you think?" I asked. "Right around the time she needed money? And another thing, she works, but she doesn't have any money!"

"She only makes minimum wage, Sam!"

"Yeah, but if she's making minimum wage at thirty hours a week, that's still eight hundred dollars a month after taxes!"

"Whoa," I heard Carly and Gibby both say, and I turned to find them both with impressed looks on their faces. It wasn't a secret how terrible at math I was.

"Freddie's been tutoring me. Problems?" I asked, and both of them put their hands up, as if to say, 'go ahead'. With that, I turned back to Melanie. "Something's up, and you know it."

"No. You're paranoid, and you're jealous," she replied. "Now can you leave?"

"No!" I replied. "I'm telling you, I have a bad feeling!"

Melanie rolled her eyes and then glared at me. "You're wrong. And we'll prove it." She took a step toward Gibby, reaching in his pockets and pulling out his keys.

"No way, Mel!" Gibby hollered, reaching back for his keys. "You're drunk."

"That's why Sam's driving," Melanie replied coolly, tossing the keys in my direction, which I caught, and then grabbed my arm. "We're going to settle this once and for all, and after that, I don't care if you wanna stay in this family or not."

"Fine by me," I replied as I followed her through the crowd. I was stopped suddenly as Freddie had finally caught up to me, pulling me aside.

"Baby, what is going on?"

I pulled away, scanning the crowd for Melanie. "I have to go." I rushed off, then stopped in my tracks, turning around to walk back to Freddie. Grabbing him by the back of the neck, I pressed myself against him, kissing him intensely. My stomach flip-flopped as I felt his fingers dig into my lower back as he kissed me back. I pulled away, our foreheads still touching.

"I'm sorry," I said breathlessly. "I have to take care of something, but I'll be back. I love you."

"Sam, come on, don't do this..."

"I have to, okay? I'll be fine. Don't...don't follow me okay?"

He looked pained. "Baby, please."

"Promise me," I replied.

He sighed, running a hand through his hand. "Fine. I promise. Just be careful, okay?"

"Promise." With one last kiss, I finally pulled myself out of his grasp and ran off after Melanie.

Neither one of us had to say where we were going, maybe it was that weird twin connection, but we just knew.

I'd seemed to have been struck down by some intense mental clarity, and it happened right when I was being held tightly in Freddie's arms, in the midst of a sea of strangers. The only solid thing I had to hold onto in the middle of all the chaos. My rock.

No matter what, he had never abandoned me. Even when he'd tried, he couldn't. He'd always fought for me. My mother had never done that, and she never would. And I was determined to prove, to both Melanie and myself, that she hadn't changed. Or maybe I needed to know that she HAD changed, maybe to show that I was just being crazy and paranoid. I needed the proof, to quell all the years of anger and resentment and pain. I needed closure.

And I'd get it, tonight.

Melanie and I were silent the entire ride, neither of us desiring to speak. As we approached our mother's dilapidated apartment complex, I slowed the car to stop and turned the engine off, staring ahead blankly for a few minutes.

"You're going to be wrong," Melanie finally said.

"I hope so," I responded, opening my door. "Let's just get this over with."

We climbed the five flights of stairs to her apartment, totally silent, until we reached the top. As I headed to the door, prepared to knock, I stopped in my tracks as I stared at the yellow paper taped to the door. Reaching forward, I yanked it down to read it, and shook my head.

"It's an eviction notice," I told Melanie, unable to ignore the crestfallen look on my sister's face. "Maybe..." I dropped the paper, knocking on the door. "Mom!" I banged louder. "Mom!"

"She's not in there, Sam," Melanie said lowly, her voice cracking a little. "She's gone."

"No," I replied. "No." I banged again. "MOM!"

"Sam, she's gone!" Melanie said in a pleading voice. "You were right, okay? You win!"

"I don't care about winning!" I yelled at her, turning back to the door and banging frantically. "MOM! Fuck this!" I went back on autopilot and gave the door a forceful kick. Obviously I hadn't lost my touch, my powerful kick sending the door flying open as I stumbled inside.

"Jesus, Sam," Melanie grunted as she followed me in. "You just broke like four laws!"

I ignored her, reaching over to the wall to flip the lights on. Nothing. I flipped it back and forth a few times, sighing in resignation when I realized the power was off. I settled for pulling the blinds open, the moonlight dimly illuminating the room. It was completely empty. The living room, dining room, kitchen. She'd had furniture...

I felt a heaviness in the pit of my stomach as I looked around, not noticing that Melanie had walked off into the bedroom.

I couldn't believe I had been dumb enough to believe any of it, even a little bit. Melanie too. We'd fallen for it hook, line, and sinker, and now our mother had vanished, ran off with a thousand dollars of our money. I felt like I was going to be sick.

"The bedroom's empty too," Melanie announced as she walked back out. "She's gone."

"Yeah," I said.

Melanie shook her head, letting out a bitter laugh. "I can't believe how stupid I was."

I just nodded, biting my lip.

"What are you thinking, Sam?"

"I'm thinking we should go on a field trip."

Melanie looked confused. "Field trip?"

"Yeah. You look like you could use some therapy. Physical therapy."

"I...I don't know what that means."

"Let's go smash the trailer up."

Melanie looked at me like I was crazy.

"Are you serious?"

"Like a heart attack," I replied. "Come on, we better get the hell out of here anyway. I did just break like four laws."

"And I'm an accomplice," she muttered. "Great. Come on, let's book it."

Everything after that was a blur, even driving. I didn't even have to think about directions back to that old, disgusting trailer, the hallmark of my tragically broken childhood. We got out of the car, walking through the dark with nothing except the sound of fallen leaves crunching under our heels as we approached the abandoned mobile home.

Melanie stopped in her tracks. "It still has the police tape around it."

"Yeah. I can't believe no one's vandalized it or anything," I said with a shake of my head. "It...looks the same."

"What happened to the tree?" Melanie asked.

"The tree...oh, it got struck by lightning...maybe two years after you left?"

"It was my only escape," she said softly.

"Hey, at least you had an escape," I replied bitterly. "Some of us got left behind, to clean up your messes."

"Ouch, Sam." Melanie gave me a wounded look.

"Sorry," I replied truthfully. Raising my head in attempt to induce some sort of false confidence, I climbed the rickety wooden steps, tearing down the police tape, and then turned back to my sister. "Ready?"

"No."

"You can do this, Mel."

"Yeah," she replied stoically. "Okay. Jackie Chan that shit, one more time."

She didn't have to tell me twice, I kicked the door in hard, and we were in. Immediately my nostrils were assailed by the scent of mildew and dankness and just...old. Neglect. Other than the smell, nothing had changed. It looked like whenever the cops had searched the place a few years ago they had pretty much trashed it, but then again, the place usually stayed trashed.

"Home sweet home," I muttered, looking around, struggling to make out everything in the darkness. "God, how did we survive for so long in this rat hole?"

"I don't know," Melanie said, kicking at some trash.

My eyes landed on a ceramic chicken that sat on a side table. I'd always hated that thing, it was so ugly. I swiped at it, sending it crashing to the floor. It broke into a million pieces, and it was quite satisfying.

Melanie jumped at the sound, and I grabbed a ceramic figure, tossing at her. "Your turn."

She stared at me for a minute, and then threw it to the ground, breaking it. I didn't miss the smile on her face, or the fact that she tried to wipe it away quickly.

"Felt good, didn't it?" I asked, and she shrugged.

"Do it again," I replied as I knocked a lamp over. She shook her head slowly.

"Come on!" I said. "Mel!"

She stared at me for a second, and then her face evaporated into a smile. "Okay," she said with a nod. "Okay."

"Pretend you're a rockstar," I replied as a threw an empty whiskey glass.

Melanie snorted. "Please. I don't need to pretend."

"Whatever you say, Mellow-Me," I replied as I knocked a bunch of stuff off the counter.

We went on like that for awhile, breaking stuff in the living room, the kitchen, my mother's bedroom, and then finally we were in our bedroom. Melanie's bed had never been taken out of the room, even after she left. Everything had stayed the same, just as she had left it. Like she had died or something. When she left all those years ago, when we were just little girls, she may as well had been dead, and I'd thought of her that way until she came back and went to Ridgeway. I'd never been able to bring myself to touch any of it.

On her nightstand sat a picture of the two of us. We were about four, and we were on the Ferris wheel. Melanie reached over and picked it up, running her fingertips across it.

"I remember that," she said softly. "The fair?"

"Yeah, I remember," I replied as I stared at the photograph. "It was before everything...the drugs..."

"She was normal," Melanie said. "She may have even loved us."

I shrugged. "She loved the drugs more."

Melanie nodded. "And the men. All the random men. The drunken ones, the ones that yelled at us...and...Joey." She bit her lip, still staring at the photograph.

I reached out and touched her shoulder, but she jerked away, laying the photograph on the bed and then walking out of the bedroom.

"Melanie..." I followed her out of the room into the living room. She was just standing there, staring at the ratty old plaid sofa like it was a snake or something. "Mel?"

"This is where it happened," she said. "Joey. He..."

"Melanie, you don't have to talk about it."

"He came in while you were sleeping and told me we were going to have a pajama party. In the living room. On the sofa. Together," she spat out bitterly. "Bastard."

"Melanie..." I said softly. "It's okay..."

"It's not," she shook her head. "Nothing's ever been okay." She turned on her heel sharply, heading into the kitchen.

"What are you doing?" I called as I heard her rummaging through one of the cabinets. The liquor cabinet. "Mel, this is not the time to get more drunk!"

She came back with an armload of bottles, opening one and drenching the couch with it. "I'm not gonna drink it."

"Whoa," I said, alarmed. "I said vandalism, not arson!"

"Why not?" She yelled at me as she threw the bottle down, opening another one. "Give me one good reason why not?!"

I stared at her, unable to come back with anything.

"Well?"

"I don't have one," I replied evenly. "Do what you gotta do."

"Thank you," she replied, and then turned to me. "Want to help?"

I shook my head. "I already sent my demons back to the hell they came from. It's your turn."

We locked eyes for a second, neither one of us speaking, and then she broke away, going back to drenching the sofa in pure alcohol. Once she emptied about six bottles, she reached into her purse and pulled out a lighter.

"Thought you quit smoking," I commented.

"One day at a time," she replied, and I was startled as she suddenly ripped off part of the cotton skirt she was wearing, soaking it in alcohol and then taking a deep breath. We were both silent for what seemed like an eternity.

"Good riddance," Melanie finally said as she set the cotton on fire and dropped it on the couch. We both jumped back as the entire couch erupted into flames.

"Shit!" I exclaimed. "Melanie, let's get out of here, this place is gonna catch fire quick!"

She nodded. "Let's go."

We both ran out of the trailer onto the safety of the ground about twenty feet away, and sure enough, the old, worn out trailer caught fire in no time. It was like we were hypnotized, staring at the fire as it took over our childhood home, our hell on earth. It felt so good watching it burn, like it was cleansing.

Finally I turned to my sister, touching her shoulder. "Let's go, okay?"

She nodded. "Okay..." She turned to leave, and then suddenly stopped.

"Wait...the picture!"

"What?!" I exclaimed.

"The photo of us!" she said frantically. "I want it!"

"Melanie, you can't go back in there, are you insane?" I shouted, grabbing her arms. "We have to go!"

She jerked out of my grip with a surprising forcefulness, shoving me to the ground. "No! I want it!" As soon as I hit the ground, she took off running towards the trailer. INTO the trailer. I looked on in horror, scrambling to my feet.

"MELANIE!" I screamed as I ran in after her.


	84. Chapter 84

**Chapter 84**

~*Sam*~

I ran across the lawn as fast as my legs could carry me, even in those stupid heels, clattering up the stairs after my completely insane sister.

"MELANIE!" I screamed into the house. God, everything was on fire...the curtains, the walls, all the furniture...this was bad. "MEL!"

No answer. Oh god... I took a deep breath and rushed into the trailer, keeping low to avoid as much as smoke as possible. A lot of good that did...just a few moments in here and I was already coughing. I blinked profusely, the smoke already burning my eyes.

"Melanie!"

The thing about fire making noise in movies is absolutely true, and the roar of it is pretty terrifying. Along with the heat, and the smoke...oh god, where was Melanie? I felt like everything was upside down! Was I getting dizzy already?

I head a crackling sound above my head, and felt my stomach drop. The roof was on fire! I had to get to Melanie!

"MELANIE!" I screamed. "We have to go!"

More cracking. As I looked up again, the ceiling started to give way. My first instinct was to cover my head and run in the direction of the bedroom as the burning ceiling fell all around me, but I never made it.

"Aaah!" I screeched as I tried to put out the edge of my dress, which had caught. Thankfully it did, but now I had a bigger problem. I was completely trapped.

"MEL!"

I just had to keep moving forward. Duck down, hands over mouth, keep moving. You can do it. You have to. You have to get Melanie.

"I'm coming Mel!"

Crack...the other parts of the ceiling were starting to fall. I looked up again, eyeing a big chunk of flaming wood, and gulped. There was fire behind me and in front of me, and this was about to fall on me. I was done.

Maybe I could just jump through the flames in front of me? It was worth a shot I guess as the beam over my head cracked. Before I could even think about moving, it broke, and it began to fell. I squeezed my eyes shut in anticipation.

I let out a gasp as something when around my waist and yanked me forcefully backwards as the beam fell to the floor. I fell to the ground as well, and then I was being yanked up again.

"MOVE!"

I was being pushed through the living room, around the fire, and I looked up, struggling to see through the smoke. Of course.

Freddie.

"Come on!" he yelled as he herded me through the smoke and out the door, so fast that both of us tripped and clattered down the stairs, landing in a heap at the bottom.

Freddie gained his feet first, grabbing my waist and lifting me to my feet, guiding me away from the burning trailer.

I collapsed on the ground, still coughing from the smoke, and Freddie fell to his knees next to me.

"Sam?! Are you okay?"

"Melanie," I gasped out.

"Brad's got her," Freddie replied breathlessly, then his face took on a worried expression as he rose to his feet. "Shit...Brad..."

Before I could say anything, he took off again, but before he could make it to the trailer, the sound of breaking glass rang out as something shattered out the living room and two figures burst through it. Brad and Mel!

Mel fell to the ground, but Brad landed on his feet, his attention going right to his jacket sleeve, which was on fire.

"Shit!" he yelled, scrambling to get it off. "Shit shit shit!" He threw it to the ground, stomping on it, finally stopping and gasping for breath. He straightened up then, brushing himself off and looking up. "You guys alright?"

Freddie threw his hands up. "It's always gotta end in some James Bond bullshit with you!" he stated. "Check on her!" He gestured to Melanie, then rushed back over to me. I was still on the ground but I had managed to pull myself into a sitting position. Still coughing.

"Baby?" Freddie knelt on the ground next to me, rubbing my back. "Are you alright? Look at me!"

I finally looked up at him, catching my breath.

"You promised you wouldn't follow me," I finally said.

"I lied," he replied stoically.

I grabbed his shirt collar, yanking him down to me and kissing him fiercely.

"I love the way you lie," I stated.

He smirked, shaking his head. "You're so cheesy."

"You're so amazing," I breathed, kissing him again.

"Do you need to go to the hospital?" Freddie asked, and I shook my head. "Okay. We're not done talking about this."

I nodded. "I know." I looked up. "My sister..."

Freddie looked up too. "Brad!" he called. "Is she alright?"

"Every single time you come to town, this kind of thing happens!" Brad was yelling at her. "I swear to god, Melanie! You could have gotten everyone killed!"

"Brad, lay off!" Freddie warned.

Melanie slowly rose to her feet, still coughing, and I thought she would smart off to Brad, but instead she surprised all of us by throwing her arms around his torso, hugging him tightly. His arms went up defensively and he had a look on his face of disgust and horror. If I hadn't been so traumatized I would have laughed.

"Thank you thank you thank you," I could hear Melanie.

Brad was still wearing that grimace across his face, and he patted Melanie awkwardly. "Yeah, it's...it's okay, just...just...stop hugging me!"

"I was wrong about you!" she exclaimed. "You don't hate me!"

"No, no, you were right, I definitely hate you," Brad replied, trying to pry Melanie off him.

"Brad!" Freddie called, shaking his head. "Come on, we need to get the hell out of here."

"No doubt," Brad replied, oddly nonchalant about having to run through a burning trailer. "Come on, Melanie, I'll call Gibby on the way back to the apartment. Get in my car."

Freddie turned back to me, extending his hand and helping to my feet. "Time to go, baby."

"I'm in really big trouble, aren't I?" I asked as he walked me to Gibby's car.

"Oh, you have no idea," he replied as he opened the passenger side door and ushered me in. "See you back home, Brad," Freddie called over his shoulder. "You sure you're alright?"

"Just another story to add to the Legend of Brad," he replied with a shrug. "I'm good."

With a final nod, Freddie walked over to the driver's side, getting in and starting the car but not putting it in drive, just staring straight ahead.

"I'm not gonna yell at you. Or tell you how incredibly stupid you were. Or point out that your son almost lost his mother tonight," he said in a monotone. "But I'm gonna ask what the hell you were thinking."

I was silent.

"Well?"

"You were right," I said softly.

"About?"

"Everything," I sighed. "She left town."

"Are you sure?"

"There was an eviction notice on the front door of her apartment, and then when I kicked the door in, all the furniture was gone."

Freddie nodded, still looking straight ahead, but he reached over and took my hand, holding it tightly.

"I'm sorry, Sam."

"Not as sorry as I am, she ran off with seven hundred of our money," I responded. Freddie squeezed his eyes shut, not saying anything. "Are you angry with me?"

"About the money? I would have paid seven thousand to get that woman out of our lives. But you should have told me."

"I'm sorry."

Freddie dropped my hand, putting the car in drive. "It's over now."

~*Brad*~

"I cannot believe you just burst through a window like that," Freddie stated as he looked up at me.

"Hey, I saved lives," I replied with a shrug. Sam and Freddie both rolled their eyes, and Freddie went back to his task of wiping all traces of soot and smoke from Sam's face with a washcloth.

"How could you be so stupid?!" he exclaimed for probably the twentieth time since we'd been back in their apartment, all of ten minutes.

"I'm sorry," Sam replied in a voice that bordered on a whine. "Freddie, please..."

"You scared the shit out of me," he replied, kissing her. "Don't ever do something like that again!"

"I won't," she reassured him, and then looked up at me. "How can you be so cool about this?" She sounded completely exhausted, but that hint of annoyance mixed with disbelief, essentially Sam, was still there.

I shrugged. "Because I'm so cool?"

Sam and Freddie both groaned, but I ignored them. "What are we supposed to do about her?" I gestured to Melanie.

Melanie hadn't said a word since I'd put her in my car and drove her back to the apartment. Not in the lobby, or the elevator, or the hall, and not since she'd sat down on that couch, hugging her knees to her chest and staring ahead blankly.

"I don't know," Freddie said, looking worriedly. He snapped his fingers in front of her face. "Hey Mel, you still with us?"

Still nothing. She continued to stare blankly ahead.

"Melanie?" Freddie leaned closer to her, and put a hand out, shaking her shoulder. "Melanie, snap out of it."

I was absolutely horrified when she started to giggle softly, and then it erupted into full-blow laughter. Freddie moved away slowly, not quite sure what to do, and Sam looked as freaked out as I did.

Melanie continued to laugh. "Did you see it?" she giggled. "The whole thing, just up in smoke!"

"Melanie, I...I don't think you're okay..." Freddie said uncertainly.

"Just up in flames! All of it! Every bad memory and bad thing...all of it just burned up!" She continued to laugh like a crazy person. It was surreal.

I shifted from foot to foot uncomfortably. "You know, I remember this from Evil Dead..."

"Brad, enough with the jokes, okay?" Freddie snapped as he rose to his feet and stood in front of Melanie. "She is not okay..."

"Look, I'm just trying to..."

"Well stop!" Freddie yelled, glaring at me. "It's not helping!"

"What am I supposed to do?" I yelled back. "This is...this is how I deal!"

"Freddie..." Sam warned softly.

"Well maybe you need another way to deal!" Freddie exclaimed. "We're not sixteen! This is serious shit!"

I glared at him, and he glared right back. "What?" he asked.

The front door swung open, revealing Carly, who ran in. "Oh my god, is everyone okay?! I can't believe you guys set the trailer on fire, Brad, are you..." Carly stopped as she noticed the way Freddie and I were glaring at each other. "Brad?"

I continued to stare at Freddie, then finally shook my head. "Maybe it's not how you deal with things, Benson, but...it's the only way I know how. I'm out. Let's go, Carly." I grabbed her arm, leading her toward the door.

Freddie sighed. "Brad..." he began.

"Don't worry about it. I'm gonna go upstairs and be immature and crack jokes for a little while, if that's cool with you," I replied as I headed for the elevator.

"Aw, man, come on, I'm sorry, I didn't..." I kept walking, but Carly stopped, directly in front of Freddie.

"Let him make his jokes," I heard her say to him in clipped tones. "It's how he deals, okay? If he didn't, he'd be just as crazy as you guys. He's been through just as much shit, and you know it."

"Carly!" I scolded her.

"Coming, baby," she called over her shoulder, staring at Freddie. "Take care of your wife. I'm guessing Gibby's coming?"

"Yeah," Freddie replied.

"Good," Carly replied. "Call us tomorrow."

"I'm sorry, Brad!" Freddie called out, but I ignored him, pressing the button for the elevator repeatedly. Carly caught up to me and the doors opened, both of us stepping on and staring ahead in silence.

Carly spoke first. "Baby, do you want me to..."

Boom!

"Brad?!" Carly exclaimed. I hadn't even realized it, but my legs just gave out and I went down on my ass, leaning against the elevator wall, my head in my hands. Carly dropped her to her knees in front of me.

"Baby, talk to me," she said softly.

"That was fucking intense," I said breathlessly, looking up at her. "I mean...the whole thing was on fire. I could barely get through there...I thought I wasn't going to be able to, and then...I thought we weren't going to make it out. I had to literally throw us through a window, Carly. Then my jacket caught on fire."

"It's okay," she replied, stroking my hair. "It's alright. You made it out."

"No," I croaked out. "I didn't tell you the worst part."

"What?" she asked, looking worried.

"Melanie hugged me," I replied. "It was terrifying." I had to throw in another joke, just to make myself feel better. This kind of thing was way too real.

Carly laughed, shaking her head. "Come on, hero, on your feet." She grabbed my hands, pulling me up.

The elevator arrived on our floor, and Carly led me out. Everything was starting to hit me now, and I probably looked more out of it than Melanie at this point. I certainly felt like it.

Carly led me upstairs to our bathroom, turning on the shower, and then she turned to me.

"Arms up," she stated. I followed orders, totally out of it, allowing her to pull my shirt over my head, unbuckle my belt and pants, and everything else, and then she pulled the shower curtain back. "In you go, baby. I'm gonna go talk to Paula and make sure everything's alright. Just lay down when you're done."

I was so lost in thought about what had happened that I just sort of stood under the water until it became cold. It snapped me right into the present, and I hurried to scrub any remainders of soot and dirt off, turning the water off and stepping out of the shower. I wrapped a towel around my middle and walked into the bedroom, falling face first onto the bed.

Man, all I'd wanted was one good night to hang out with my friends, and instead I almost ended up getting killed. Maybe it was just stupid of me to think for one second our lives could EVER be normal.

I heard the bedroom door open and shut, and then the lights were dimmed. Carly stood next to the bed, rummaging around the bedside table drawer for some matches and then lighting a few of the candles that were in our bedroom. I closed my eyes, letting out a sigh.

"I said I wanted a stress-free night, right? Not a stressful one. You heard me say that?"

"Yeah, baby," Carly replied, sitting on the bed next to me, rubbing my back. I groaned.

"That feels good, babe," I commented.

"I won't stop," she reassured me. "So...you saved Melanie's life tonight."

"Yeah..."

"Mighty brave of you. And selfless."

"She's Sam sister," I grunted.

"You would have saved her anyway, whether you hate or not."

"Yeah, I guess you're right," I replied. "I mean, I'm not a monster."

"No," Carly replied. "You're a good man. And I love you."

"I love you too, Carly," I replied. "More than anything."

"I know," she responded, then let out a sigh. "I could have lost you tonight. That's a scary thought."

"What, me leaving you alone with all these kids?"

"You leaving me alone," Carly said softly. I rolled over to look at her, taking her hand in mine and holding it over my heart.

"But I didn't."

"I'm glad," she whispered as she bent forward, brushing her lips across mine. She tried to pull away, but I wouldn't let her, my hand going to the back of her neck and kissing her more intensely.

"Mmm," she moaned against my lips. "Brad..." She giggled. "What, near death experiences make you horny?"

"Call it an affirmation of life," I responded. "Besides, I'm not horny."

"Then what are you?"

"Desperately in love with you," I stated, sitting up and kissing her again.

~*Freddie*~

"He's down," I told Sam as I walked into the bedroom, referring of course to the baby.

Sam nodded. She was sitting in the center of the bed in one of my shirts, and the television was on but she wasn't really watching it.

"Still freaked out?" I asked, climbing onto the bed behind her, brushing her hair aside and kissing her neck. She shook her head slowly.

"Talk to me baby. Don't push me away."

"I'm not," she said softly. "Just wrapping my head around some things."

"Understandable, you had a pretty intense day."

"I shouldn't have fallen for it," Sam said quietly as I began rubbing her shoulders.

"Every girl wants a mother, sweetheart. I don't blame you."

"It almost cost us our marriage," she responded. "I nearly ruined EVERYTHING."

"Sam," I said, grabbing her shoulders and spinning her around. "Look, maybe your mother was the catalyst, but...we've had these problems for a long time, just bubbling under the surface, it was just waiting for the opportune moment to come out. You know that."

"What if we can't make it work?" she asked, biting her lip. I gave her a Look.

"Seriously? Sam!" I scolded her. "We're Freddie and Sam. Sam and Freddie. The Bensons." I kissed her softly. "Seddie."

Sam's lips curled into a smile. "Seddie," she repeated, so soft it was almost a whisper.

"You forgot about Seddie, didn't you?" I asked her, and she nodded sheepishly. "Well, don't, okay? We can get through anything. We'll get through this."

"What do we do now?"

"Well, luckily you only gave her seven hundred, I think we should just...let it go," I responded.

"I meant about us."

"Well, you've got the appointment next week, and...I really think a little marriage counseling would help us out too."

Sam made a face. "You think we need marriage counseling?"

"Well, to be honest, yeah." I had to laugh at the expression on Sam's face. "It's not a death sentence, baby. Might even help us. Come on, it's worth it, right?"

She finally managed a small nod, and I leaned forward, kissing her on the forehead. "And then we can go on that trip you wanted to take."

"Yeah?" she asked. "Where?"

"Still got your passport?" I asked.

"Yeah..." she said slowly.

"Well, let's put that Italian of yours to good use why don't we?"

Sam gaped at me in disbelief. "Really? Italy?"

"Well, yeah! Why not? We never really had a honeymoon, and we both have a birthday coming up, so...let's do it! Let's go to Italy!"

"Oh my god!" Sam covered her hand with her mouth. "I fully love you...so, so much. I mean, not just because of that, but...oh my god!" She let out a happy squeal, throwing her arms around me and kissing me repeatedly until we fell backwards on the bed.

"We need it, right?" I said with a grin, and she nodded happily.

"Oh my god, we have so much to do, call a travel agency, book everything..."

"Record two shows ahead of time."

"There you go bringing work into it," she grumbled. I laughed, rolling my eyes, and we laid there in silence for a few moments.

"You really did save my ass tonight," Sam said quietly. "My life, actually."

"What else could I do?" I replied. "I knew you were up to something. I'm sorry I lied, but..."

"It's okay," Sam responded, laying her head on my chest. "You're like...Superman."

I laughed. "Not quite, but I'll take it. That'd make you Lois Lane."

"Hmm..." Sam appeared thoughtful. Uh-oh. I recognized that look.

"What are you thinking?"

"I'm thinking I still have my little brown business dress thing..."

"It's three o'clock in the morning."

"And I'm the sexy female reporter who's gotten herself in trouble again, and I need my Superman to swoop in and save me," she replied, getting off the bed.

"Oh man..." I knew exactly what she was getting at.

"Meet me in the living room...errr...Fortress of Doom, in five minutes..." she replied, grabbing the dress and walking out of the room.

Dear God help me, did I love this crazy woman...

~*Carly*~

"So did Freddie go totally postal on you after we left last night?" I asked Sam as she bounced little Freddie up down in an attempt to get him to stop fussing.

"Surprisingly no," she responded. "I mean, he made it clear he wasn't happy, but...he just wants things to get back the way they were."

"How are you doing?" I asked. "With the whole near death thing...and...your mom?"

Sam shook her head. "I had a feeling, you know? I shouldn't have trusted her. I mean...it almost cost me Freddie. And you guys. And everything. I was so stupid."

"Sam, you weren't stupid. I would've done the same thing," I replied.

Even though it had happened less than twelve hours ago, the fire seemed a lifetime ago. Sam, Freddie, and Brad were being oddly nonchalant about the whole thing, but inside I was freaking out. I could've lost all of them in the same night, and they were acting like it was no big deal!

Brad had a minute breakdown in the elevator, and that was it. He was back to acting like nothing had happened, throwing himself into shopping his screenplay and into the show. I could tell it was still eating at him though.

In a way I guess I could understand Sam and Freddie's perspective. Both of them had had quite a few close calls over the years, so maybe it didn't affect them as bad, but Brad? He'd never had anything like this happen to him before. It had to still be bothering him!

I struggled for a subject change. "So...Italy, huh?"

"Uh-huh! We're gonna start in Venice, and then Milan, then Rome...it's going to be so amazing!"

"You sure you wanna take the baby though?" I asked. "I mean, wouldn't you have more fun..."

"I can't be away from my little man for two weeks! Especially not this early, I don't want to mess up the bonding thing we have going on, you know?" Sam asked.

"Yeah, I can understand that," I said with a shrug. "Well, I'm sure you guys will have fun."

"It's kinda like the honeymoon we didn't get to take," Sam replied. "Have you thought about your honeymoon at all."

I nodded. "We're thinking Hawaii. Brad's adamant about me being in a bikini or less the entire time."

"Sounds like Brad," she said with a laugh. "How's he doing with this whole thing?"

I shrugged. "I think it's getting at him more than he wants to admit."

"Yeah," Sam replied. "I mean, he's never really...and he was on fire. Like, literally. His whole arm was aflame..."

"Okay, you can stop."

"He kinda looked like one of those human torches..."

"Sam!"

"Geez, sorry," she replied. "It'll come up eventually."

"And your sister?"

Sam shook her head. "Man, she really lost it. She started laughing like a crazy person, and then kept it up until Gibby got there and took her back to his mom's house."

My brow furrowed. "I'm really starting to think there's something going on between them."

"But Melanie's a lesbian."

"Maybe. Doesn't everyone question their sexuality at some point?" I asked. But the look Sam gave me told me I might be wrong.

"Uh...no...have you?"

"NO!" I replied quickly, and Sam lifted an eyebrow.

"Really?"

"If you tell Brad I swear to god..."

Sam laughed. "Oh come on, that's exactly the kind of thing he loves..."

"SAM!"

"I'm kidding!" She laughed. "Geez, Shay, and we all thought you were the innocent one..."

"I said question, not experiment!" I snapped. "Just forget it..."

"Oh come on, I'm kidding!" Sam replied. "Don't be so sensitive. But...no I never have."

"That's because you're single-minded. Freddie. Freddie. Must have Freddie. You've been like that for like a decade."

"Nuh-uh. I didn't like him until..." she trailed off, then sighed. "Shit. Yeah, I guess you're right. There's nobody else for me. I'm strictly Freddie-sexual."

"Lovely," I laughed. "But getting back to Gibby and Melanie, I mean...they spend so much time together..."

"Right. They have secrets."

"Inside jokes."

"Coffee together. Nearly every night," Sam added. Her face took on a horrified expression. "My god! What if you're right? What if..." she trailed off. "Oh god, he could become my brother-in-law! I could be RELATED to GIBBY!"

I burst into laughter. "That'd be hilarious!"

"Oh shut up, you're about to have HEATHER for a sister-in-law, and you're legally responsible for her."

"Ugh, she's a holy terror," I agreed. "But Paula's been making a big difference, you know?" I started to saying more, but then I felt my phone vibrating. I reached down to look at it, noticing it was a number I didn't recognize. "Let me see who this is," I told Sam, standing up and walking away from her. "Hello?"

"Is this Carly Shay?"

"Yes, who's this?"

"Rita Bailey from Breeze Records."

Dumbfounded. That's what I was.

"I'm sorry?"

"We're a record label based out Los Angeles. I had a friend send me a few of your live recordings..."

"Oh god," I managed to get out.

"You're very talented, and we recognize you from iCarly. We'd like to talk to you. Maybe this weekend? We could fly you in..."

"Wow, that's really...generous and awesome, Rita, but...the thing is, I'm kind of taking a break from music."

"We'll pay for the whole trip," she replied. "Just come in and talk to our execs. No pressure."

"Um...I...sure," I managed to get out without thinking.

"Great!" Rita exclaimed. "The email address on your website, I can send you info to that?"

"S-sure..." I said numbly. Oh my god, what have I done?

"Awesome! We look forward to meeting you, Carly!"

"Wait, I-"

Click.

I started at the phone in my hand in disbelief. Oh my god, did that just really happen? And I told Brad I was taking a break! We had four kids to take care of, what was I thinking?

Sam looked at me curiously. "Who was that?"

"Breeze Records. They're interested in signing me," I said, still totally out of it.

"What?!" Sam exclaimed, rising to her feet. "Carly, that's incredible! Are you gonna do it?"

"I dunno, I...I have to go talk to Brad..." I said. "I'm sorry, I have to go..." I was completely in shock.

"Carly," Sam grabbed my arm and shook it. "This is a good thing, okay? Go talk to your fiance."

I nodded. "Mmkay. I'll come back."

"Yeah! And let me know how it went, okay?"

"Uh-huh," I said numbly as I stumbled into the hallway.

This couldn't be happening. Record deal plus Brad's career plus the show plus four kids? There was no way it could be worked out...

Right?


	85. Chapter 85

**Chapter 85**

~*Carly*~

I trudged up the stairs slowly, trying to give myself time to think. Normally, I'd have taken the elevator, but a little exercise never hurt, right? I definitely needed a little mental exercise so I could try to wrap my head around this.

It truly seemed like the biggest and best opportunities for me always seemed to pop up during the most inopportune times! But then again, hadn't they always worked out in the past, even if they weren't at the best moments?

I sighed, running a hand through my hair as I reached the next flight of stairs. What I was talking about doing would require a way bigger time commitment though, and I pretty much had my hands full at the moment. School, taking care of four kids, trying to plan a wedding, the show. And I still had to be supportive of Brad's career. It just wasn't the right time.

Except what if I didn't get another opportunity like this? I was under the impression that the only reason Breeze Records was interested in me was because I already had worldwide notoriety, a built-in fanbase. That fanbase wouldn't stick around forever. At best, we had about two years left with iCarly. Sam and Freddie were more focused on their careers outside the show and their son, and Brad's heart lay entirely with filmmaking. It was a natural progression I suppose, and I was beginning to grow out of it too, but still, it was sad. We'd been doing the show for nearly eight years. Almost a decade.

I couldn't be 'iCarly' forever. Eventually I was going to have to drop the 'i' and simply be Carly.

I finally reached the top of the stairs, panting a little. Geez, I was really out of shape! I ambled down the hallway, still lost in thought, until I reached the apartment, turning the knob and walking inside.

"Uh..." I trailed off as I caught sight of Brad running around the living room with Katie precariously balanced on his hip. "What's up?"

"Can't find her diaper bag," he murmured, looking under the couch. "Have you seen it?"

"I think I may have left it in the studio," I replied. "I kinda need to talk to you about something."

"K," he replied, sounding distracted. Still holding Katie, he jogged to the bottom of the stairs. "Hey Bryson! Throw me Katie's diaper bag!" He paused, looking up the stairs expectedly. "BRYSON!"

Still nothing.

Brad sighed, rolling his eyes. "Bryson, will you hurry up already and...HEY!" he yelled as Bryson launched the diaper bag down the stairs, hitting him in the head. "What's your problem?!"

I walked over to the stairs, concerned. "Bryson, is Riley still ignoring your calls?"

"Aargh!" Bryson hollered, stomping off.

"We are so not done talking about this!" Brad shouted. "Just because you got jilted doesn't mean you get to wing stuff at my head!"

"Brad, stop it," I shushed him, taking Katie out of his arms as she started to whimper.

"My god, where is Paula?" Brad grumbled as he picked Katie's diaper bag off the ground and stalked off.

"She had a dentist appointment today, remember? She should be here really soon. What's got you so worked up?"

Brad sighed, running a hand through his hair. "Did you forget what day it is?"

"What day...oh. Oh! We're supposed to take Katie to see Richard!" I cried. "Baby, I'm sorry, I forgot!"

He just waved me off. "It's fine...I just need to get the rest of the stuff together..." he looked down at his watch. "Fuck!"

My eyebrows went up, observing the state he was currently in. When I'd left to go hang out with Sam for a little while, he seemed fine. What changed while I was away?

"Do you want some help?" I asked, still bouncing Katie up and down.

"No," he sighed. "Just keep her occupied, let me pack all her stuff up. You're coming right?"

"Of course," I responded.

"Thank god," he said, still sounding harried. "Oh man, I haven't even changed clothes yet...I'll be right back, okay? Don't let me lose track of time."

I nodded. "Okay."

I watched Brad walk toward the stairs, stop in his tracks, and then walk to the elevator, pressing the button. But when the doors opened, he hesitated again, going back up the stairs and walking up them slowly.

Okay, what on earth was going on with him?!

As he went upstairs, the door to Heather's bedroom opened and out she walked, looking oddly normal in jeans and t-shirt, her hair pulled into a ponytail. Heather had definitely resisted Paula's influence in the beginning, but she was finally starting to adjust, and Brad and I were both really happy in the change in Heather's behavior...and appearance.

"Hey," she greeted me. "Do we still have any peaches left?"

I shook my head. "Pretty sure Bry got the last one this morning."

"Ugh." She made a face. "Somebody needs to go to the store."

"Hey, you have two legs like the rest of us," I replied with a shrug. "You don't happen to know what's going on with Brad, do you?"

Heather gave a shrug of her own. "He was fine like an hour ago, but then Leah was down here and started yelling for him, and when he came down the stairs he tripped. He didn't get hurt or anything, but...he's been acting weird ever since. Hey, are you guys ever gonna tell us what happened to his hand?"

"It's uh..." I bit my nails, struggling to think of something to say. "Nothing."

"Is it a sex thing?"

"HEATHER!" I yelled, mortified. "No!"

"Just sayin'," she replied. "But no, I don't really know what's up with Brad." She grabbed a banana out of the fruit basket and turned to head back to her room. "Later."

"Are you sure you don't want to come with us today?" I asked.

Heather shook her head. "Not really. I don't want to see Dad in an orange jumpsuit...or get leered at by a bunch of convicts."

"Point taken," I said with a sigh. "Well, just..."

"...besides, I've got a date."

"What?!" I asked. "Since when...and with who?"

"A guy that lives in the building." She saw the look on my face and hurriedly added, "He's fifteen, don't worry."

"Oh, good," I said, sighing with relief. "Well, just...you know. Be careful, all that stuff."

"Oh, I'll be fine. Apparently he's super responsible and nice ever since he got back from military school."

"Milita—Heather!"

"Bye Carly!" Heather said with a hasty wave, turning and running back into her room.

"Man," I groaned. I looked down at Katie. "Don't ever date, okay?"

She merely babbled at me. I sighed, heading upstairs to the bedroom, where Brad was finishing up getting dressed. I walked in to find him picking at the bandage that was wrapped tightly around his hand and wrist.

"How's it looking today?" I asked, laying Katie down on the bed.

Brad sighed. "It's fine."

"Let me see." I pulled the bandage back off his wrist a little bit, my eyes widening at the blisters that went across his wrist. "Baby, maybe we should take you to the doctor..."

"It's fine, Carly."

"It looks really bad...it's all blistered up."

"Well, that's what I get for wearing polyester, right?" he shot back. Before I could respond, he hit me with another question. "So what did you want to talk about?"

"Huh?"

"You said when you came back that you wanted to talk about something," he responded. "What was it, babe?"

"Oh, I...uh..." Crap, now was not the time to bring up the record label thing, not when Brad was obviously dealing with some mental stuff.

"Well?" he turned to look at me, his non-injured hand going to my face. "What's up, babydoll?"

"Um..." I struggled to think of something. "Sam and I seriously think something's going on between Gibby and Melanie. I mean, Sam hasn't even seen her since Gibby left with her last night..."

I saw Brad tense up a little, but I was sure it was because of his intense dislike for Melanie. "Oh. Well, whatever."

Whatever? No unyielding monologue on the evils of Melanie, or how Puckett women were insane, or how we needed to save Gibby?

"What's going on with you?" I blurted out. "You've been acting really weird since I got back."

"Nothing," he replied quickly, picking up Katie. "I think I hear Paula downstairs. Let's go." Before I could respond, he'd already grabbed the keys off the dresser, and walked out of the room with the baby.

"Brad!" I yelled. I was dumbfounded, but managed to make my legs take me downstairs to confront him further. "We have to talk, something's really bothering you."

"Yeah, how late we're running," he replied. He looked at his watch. "We're really late, Carly."

"But Paula's not back yet."

"Heather's still here, she can keep an eye on Leah and Bryson until she is," Brad replied. "Come on, we're going to be late."

"But..."

"Are you coming or not?" he asked.

"No! Not until we talk about this!" I cried.

"Fine," Brad replied, grabbing the diaper bag. "Bye."

"Brad!" I yelled as he headed out the door. "Are you serious?!"

But the only thing I got back was the door slamming. So loud that it rattled the wall, prompting Heather to come out of her bedroom.

"Whoa," she said. "What's his problem?"

I sighed. "I wish I knew."

~*Freddie*~

"So let me get this straight," I said as I threw a right hook into the punching bag in front of me. "Not only did you manage to calm Melanie down from her Exorcist-level freak out last night, but you also convinced her to go to counseling?!"

"Yep," Gibby responded as he dropped the ground and began doing push-ups. "That's uh...actually where she is right now. At least that's what she promised, and I mean, Mel wouldn't lie to me."

"Are you kidding? Melanie lies all the time."

"I didn't say she wouldn't lie to YOU," Gibby responded. "Sure you don't wanna get in the ring?"

"Hell no," I responded, continuing to level a series of combos at the bag. "I mean, no offense or anything, but you've gotten huge, man."

"Guess the tables have turned, huh?" he responded with a laugh, and I shrugged.

"Besides, Brad's my sparring partner, you know that."

"You guys are totally gay for each other," Gibby grumbled. I rolled my eyes.

"Speaking of, have you talked to him today?" I asked. "He hasn't answered ANY of my calls."

Gibby shrugged. "Haven't tried. He's probably got his hands full with the kids."

"True."

I'd had a lot of nervous energy built up in me from last night that I needed to burn off, and since Brad wasn't taking my calls, I'd called up Gibby to come with me to the gym. I'll be honest, I was a little bit nervous at the prospect of getting into the ring with him, but it was still cool to have somebody to hang out with while I worked out.

Sam had hit the nail on the head this morning when she'd said there was definitely something going on between Gibby and Melanie. I could see it, Sam could see it, and I was pretty sure Carly and Brad could see it. The only question was whether or not those two could see it too...

"So what's going with you two?" I asked. Gibby stopped mid-push and looked up at me.

"We're friends. We've been over this before, haven't we?"

"Yeah but you guys are getting to be pretty close...friends, you know?"

He stopped, standing up, and he shrugged. "We've always been friends."

That part was true. Everyone else in our group had gone through the ringer with Melanie, several times in fact. Hell, even Carly the pacifist had resorted to trading blows with her. But throughout the years, Gibby had never had a cross word with Melanie. He'd never even had anything bad to say about her.

Gibby always liked to see the good in people, giving everyone a chance, but I wondered if he was seeing something we didn't. Something in Melanie besides the drama and nastiness.

"It just seems like..."

"Dude, she's a lesbian!" Gibby interrupted me. "Even if I did have a thing for her, it's not like she'd..." he trailed off and gave off a laugh that sounded somewhat bitter. "Forget it."

My brow furrowed, and I stepped away from the punching bag. "But you do have a thing for her, don't you?"

He sighed. "So what?"

"So maybe..."

"Maybe what? Maybe she'll change her entire sexuality at the drop of a hat?" Gibby replied. "Forget it, dude. Life's not a Kevin Smith film."

"No, our lives are more like a Tarantino film than anything," I responded. "Look, Gibs, I'm just saying...give it a shot. Something might be there, and...you can get through to Melanie, in a way that none of us have been able to."

"You never even gave her a fair shot."

"Hey, that's not true, and you know it. If you remember, I did kiss her."

"Because you thought she was Sam."

"Touche," I responded. "But you know, she and Carly used to be friends until she went away to college and got hooked on prescription meds."

"Yeah, uh...about that..." Gibby said.

"About what?" I asked. "Don't tell me she's got you doing them too!"

"No, I made her throw them out. Last night."

My eyes widened. "And she went along with it?"

"Yeah..."

"Dude."

"What?"

"I'm telling you, you might have a shot. Wouldn't it be better to know than not?"

Gibby's mouth set in a firm line, and he gave me a look that indicated he was done with the topic.

"She's gay, alright? And after all the bullshit I went through with Tasha, I can't say I'm ready to put myself out there again like that."

"You hook up with girls in LA like every night."

"Yeah, but it doesn't mean anything. It's just...you know."

I shook my head. "No, I really don't. The idea of it doesn't appeal to me."

Gibby rolled his eyes. "Yeah, yeah, I know. Seddie to the umpteenth power."

"Hey man, play your cards right, we could be looking at some Mibby action."

He rolled his eyes again. "Whatever. I know you guys are all eager to get everyone wrapped into a neat little package, but..."

"What is that supposed to mean?"

He shrugged. "That you guys are terrified of letting anyone outside your core group in. Shit, I bet if you and Sam didn't work out and then Carly and Brad went off the rails, you'd just switch partners."

I glared at him. "Too far, and too stupid, even for you."

Gibby glared right back, shaking his head. "You know what? Go to hell, Freddie. I'm out."

"Gibby, come on man!" I yelled at him as he headed for the locker room. "I'm just trying to help!"

"Well, you're not, so back off!" he tossed over his shoulder. With that, he was gone.

"Ugh," I grunted, throwing a powerful left hook at the punching bag in pure frustration. Man, was there ever a lull in the drama around here?

I walked over to the bench I had my bag sitting on, and pulled my phone out to check the time. I smiled when I saw the new message icon, indicating a message from Sam. Hmm, picture message. Always fun...

I frowned when I opened the picture.

Sam: Baby's first do-rag. You likes?

I quickly fired a response back.

'I hates. On my way back. You better burn that thing before I get home.'

Sam: Not a chance, loser. Love you.

'Brat. Love you more. C u soon.'

At least Sam and I were okay again. The drama could keep on coming, but as long as Sam and I were good, I could handle anything life could throw at me.

~*Brad*~

I stormed through the hallway at the penitentiary, a little bit miffed at the overwhelming level of security. The guard that was leading me through gave me an apologetic look.

"Sorry about all that, we just don't want anyone sneaking anything in..."

"Oh yeah, like I'm really gonna stash drugs or weapons on my baby sister that I'm legally responsible for," I grunted. "Guess they don't pay you guys to think."

"Watch it," he warned. "Just because you're a detective's son..."

"Ex-detective," I shot back. "Who I've put off seeing for way too long, so you think we can speed this up a little bit? I've got a half hour window before this kid starts getting fussy."

"Follow me," he replied, leading me to a windowless door. He slid his badge through the card-reader next to the door, prompting it to slide open, and waved me through. "Twenty minutes."

"Yeah, thanks," I replied.

The visitation area looked similar to a cafeteria, a brick-walled room painted a stark white with plenty of tables. There were several prisoners already in there with their families, catching up. A wave of guilt washed over me. I couldn't believe it had taken me this long to visit my dad. He didn't have anyone. His wife of nineteen years was gone, and I had the kids, and I hadn't even thought about taking them to see him. I was officially the shittiest son ever.

I plopped down at one of the tables, setting the carseat that held Katie on top of the table. I kept my hand on the carseat, rocking it back and forth, just in case any of the prisoners got any funny ideas. You could never be too careful...

My concentration was broken when another door slid open, and in walked my dad in his orange jumpsuit. At least I thought it was my dad. He looked so different. The sharp military-style crew cut was gone, replaced with shaggy locks, and he had a beard. Not only that, but he looked older somehow...this place must have really taken a toll on him.

I stood up, but didn't move away from the table...or from Katie, and gave a wave. "Dad!" I called.

He looked genuinely relieved and happy to see me, and moved quickly. "Bradley," he said, throwing his arms around me. I was shocked. I could not, to save my life, remember when the last time my father hugged me was. Of course I had to hug him back.

"You look good, son," he said as we separated.

"Thanks," I replied. "You look..." I struggled to think of something without lying.

"Miserable?" he finished. I just made a face. He laughed, but I could tell it was forced. Finally his gaze drifted over to the carseat, and the little girl strapped into it. "This is her..."

"Yeah," I replied. "Dad, this is Katerina Nicole Harrison...or Katie. Your daughter."

He touched the edge of the carseat, and I could see his eyes misting over slightly. "She's beautiful."

"She is pretty cute," I agreed as I unstrapped her, then shot a look over at the attending guard. "It's cool if he holds her?"

The guard just gave me a nod, as if to say, "Go ahead."

I took Katie out of her carseat and gingerly laid her in my dad's arms. He sat down slowly on the bench, seemingly mesmerized by the tiny little girl.

"How is she?" he asked. "I mean, is she happy?"

"Well, we had kind of issue with colic at the beginning, but it's leveling out," I replied. "Usually, as long as she's warm and dry, she's good. Paula's taught us a few tricks."

"Paula?" my dad asked.

"Yeah, we were in a little over our heads, Dad," I replied. "We had to call in for reinforcements."

"What's that costing you?"

I shook my head. "Don't worry about it. You know Carly and I do pretty well, and once the screenplay sells, well..."

My dad looked slightly forlorn for a moment. "Maybe after you sell it it'll run on cable one day and I can watch it in here."

Ugh, guilt! I struggled for a subject change.

"So..." I began.

"What happened to your hand?" My dad asked suddenly. I looked down at my wrapped up hand, making a face.

"It's a long story, but...burned it. It hurts like hell."

"I bet," he replied. "What'd you do? Something stupid?"

And there was the old dad I was used to. I sighed. "Well, technically yes, but it couldn't be avoided...and now I'm getting treated like a hero, when I feel like a fraud."

My dad's brow furrowed, but he didn't say anything.

"It's just...never mind."

"What? Tell me."

"Heroes don't usually turn into pussies afterward, if you know what I mean."

"Bradley, bravery isn't a lack of fear. It's getting past it."

"But I wasn't afraid when it happened," I argued. "And now it's like...I don't know. I'm not really in the mood to talk about it. You know, Heather's doing a lot better now. Great, actually. She's passing all her classes."

"Really?" My dad seemed pleased by that. "And Bryson and Leah?"

"Bryson has his first girlfriend...but I think they're having a spat, and Leah's doing great. Carly put her in ballet classes, and she's having a ball."

"Good, good," my dad said with a nod. "And how are you and Carly doing? How's my future daughter-in-law?"

I was really surprised by that statement, and a smile crept across my face. "Carly's great. As always. We're doing really good."

"That's good to hear, Bradley. I really hope the two of you can be happy together and STAY happy. Marriage and kids, it changes things, but if you work at it..."

"We do. And we will. I love Carly. And she really loves me."

He nodded. "I can tell. Any girl who would go through all of this, well...yeah. Don't ever take her for granted. It's...it's hard to find good people like that out there."

"I know, dad. I'm...sorry. About mom."

He shrugged. "I knew what I was getting into with her. I just hoped things would change after you were born, but...they never did."

"She had everyone fooled."

"Everyone except your grandma," my dad replied with a laugh. "She hated her from the beginning."

"Well, Grandma loves Carly," I responded, and my dad nodded.

"That's how you know you've got a good one," he replied.

He stared at me for a moment, still holding Katie. "You know, I'm really proud of you. The way you turned out. I know I didn't help much, but..."

"You thought being a hard-ass would help. You meant well. I know you did. It's not your fault, everything that happened. You were just trying to protect Heather, and..."

"I just wish things were different."

I nodded. "We all do. I...I'm gonna try to get up here to visit more often. I tried my damnedest to get Bryson up here, but..."

"...he's still angry at me," my dad finished. "I know."

"Just give him time," I replied. "Look, dad..."

"Time," the guard announced, causing me to give him a nasty look. I stood up slowly, not really ready to leave. The twenty minutes had completely flown by.

My dad wasn't ready to let me leave either, and he definitely wasn't ready to let go of Katie. Almost begrudgingly, he handed her back to me, and I strapped her into her carseat, turning back to face my dad.

"Well...I'm sorry I didn't come sooner."

My dad just waved me off. "It's alright, Bradley. You have a lot on your plate. Anyone can see that. Take care of your sisters and brother for me." Before I even knew what was happening, he'd grabbed me into another hug. "I'm really proud of you."

Oh great...I was already dealing with the fact that I was an incredible wuss, and now I'm about to cry, in the middle of a damn prison no less. I extricated myself from my father's arms to prevent the tears from flowing and forced a smile.

"I'll visit more often, I promise. I...I hope you're doing okay here."

"Pfft, I'm a Harrison. Harrison men are strong. Brave."

"Yeah..." I responded. All the Harrison men were brave.

Except me, apparently.

The walk out of the prison and the drive back to the loft were a total blur. All I could think about was the night before last. I'd been through a lot of rough shit in my days, no doubt, but nothing seemed to stick with me quite like running into a burning house, full of smoke and fire, not even being able to see, all to save a girl I hated. That small, shitty trailer had turned into a blazing, smoky, unyielding maze that I had to stumble through with no clue where I was going. My throat still burned from all the smoke inhalation, and no matter how hard I'd scrubbed in the shower last night and this morning, I still thought I smelled like I walked through hell. My hand was in so much pain, more pain than I'd ever really experienced.

I knew I was being ridiculous, and that's why I wasn't talking about it. But it had really stuck with me. I'd found Melanie on the floor, half unconscious, and I knew if I hadn't gotten there when I did, she would've been a goner. Once I'd gotten her up and out of the bedroom, I hadn't been able to find the way out. Half the ceiling had caved in, and we were already surrounded by fire, quickly closing in. The only option I'd had was to go for the closest window, and when it wouldn't open, I literally had to throw us through it. And I'd still managed to catch myself on fire! As much as I didn't want to think about it, I couldn't stop thinking about the fact that I'd literally almost died.

Still, all of this happened, and I'd been able to play it off reasonably well, like it didn't bother me, until this morning. It was simple, nothing, just a little trip down the stairs. I'd doubted I had even fallen down four stairs, but it just seemed to trigger that "Holy shit, I almost died!" reaction I was desperately trying to hold down.

Again, I didn't want to think about it, but it was all I could think about.

I was surprised I had the presence of mind to even remember to check the damn mail, but I did, setting Katie's carseat on the ground as I stuck the key in the lock and pulled open the little box.

"Bill...bill...bank statement...friggin bill...dammit, Carly, ANOTHER parking ticket...bill..."

"YO HARRISON!" a voice yelled, startling me. I jumped, and mail went everywhere.

"Fuck!" I yelled, turning around to glare at Sam. "You scared the bejeezus out of me, Sam!"

"God, sorry," she said, looking at me like I was insane. "Why are you so jumpy?"

"You can't just go around scaring the crap out people!" I snapped, bending down to collect the mail.

"Here, let me help..."

"I don't need your help!" I replied. I couldn't believe how rude I was being, especially to Sam, but I just couldn't help it. Just looking at her was a reminder than because of her stupid move last night, I almost freaking died and had a hell of a second degree burn covering half my forearm.

Sam took a step back, seeming a little shocked.

"Sorry, man...what's got you so on edge today?"

"Nothing," I shot back. "My arm hurts."

She looked remorseful. "Sorry about that..."

"Yeah, me too," I replied.

"Is that all?" Sam asked. "Freddie said you weren't returning his calls...he wanted you to go to the gym with him..."

"Freddie's a big boy, he can go to the gym by himself. I gotta go."

"Wait, Brad..."

"Later, Sam." With that, I picked up Katie's carseat and took off, ignoring the sound of Sam yelling behind me.

Maybe I was acting like a dick, but I just couldn't help it. I was just too freaked out to deal with Sam or Freddie or anyone.

I stepped off the elevator and walked to our apartment, carrying Katie with me, and opened the door to find Paula sitting on the couch brushing Leah's hair. I strode across the living room, plopping the baby's carseat down on the sofa.

"Here," I said. "I need to clear my head."

Paula gave me a Look. "Don't you need to tell Carly you're back?"

"No," I replied simply, and with that, walked back out the door and down the hall. I needed to go somewhere and figure some stuff out.


	86. Chapter 86

**A/N: Just a slight word of warning here: some substance abuse in this chapter. (one of the many reasons it has a mature rating) However, this substance is legal and many parts of the world and several states in the US, so I'd definitely appreciate if everyone abstained from judging me for writing it. Other than that, I'm really happy that you guys are STILL sticking with this story even after I abandoned it for 6 months. Seriously. It means a lot!**

**Chapter 86**

~*Sam*~

I walked into the apartment to find Freddie hunched over the kitchen sink, grumbling to himself. Sitting in the sink was Freddie Jr., wailing up a storm. I laid the mail on the counter, my brow furrowing.

"What's going on?" I asked.

"I don't wanna go into it," Freddie replied as he grabbed the spray attachment next to the faucet and began rinsing off the baby's back. I couldn't help but laugh.

"Oh man, don't tell me..."

"Everywhere," he replied, a disgusted look on his face. "I mean, literally...there's not enough baby wipes in the world to deal with this. It's like a toxic waste spill!"

"Better you than me, I guess," I replied, hopping up onto the counter next to the sink and stroking the baby's head. "It's okay pumpkin," I tried to shush him.

"Thanks for the sympathy, hun," Freddie laughed. "Anything good in the mail?"

"Your Technology Monthly arrived..."

"Oh, sweet! They're supposed to point out all the new gadgets being rolled out for Christmas!"

"Yeah, yeah, just circle what you want."

"Uh..."

"Or just give me the entire thing when it's time for me to go shopping."

"That's better," he replied with a laugh, going back to focusing on hosing Freddie Jr. off.

"So I ran into Brad in the mailroom, he about took my head off."

Freddie's brow furrowed. "Really? That's not like him at all. I mean, he snaps at me sometimes, but...it's not like him to off on you. What'd you do?"

"Freddie!" I poked him. "Why do you always think it's something I did?" Freddie didn't respond, just gave me a pointed look, and I sighed. "Okay, fine. I did sneak up behind him, but...it was definitely overkill. Have you talked to him today?"

Freddie shook his head. "Nah. He's not answering my calls."

"Weird," I replied. "You don't think he's pissed off about last night?"

"I'm not sure," Freddie responded, looking thoughtful. "I mean, on the one hand, you guys did almost get him killed..."

"We did not! I had Melanie, okay? I would've gotten her out."

Freddie rolled his eyes. "No, you wouldn't have. If I hadn't been there..." he trailed off. "It wouldn't have been good, that's for sure."

I sighed. "I guess you're right...you're always saving my ass, aren't you?"

He smirked. "Well, I am quite fond of it."

"Pervert."

"You love it," he replied, leaning over to give me a kiss and then pulling away when the baby started squawking again. "Okay, okay buddy. Geez. Calm down. Baby, can you grab a towel?"

"Sure." I hopped down from the counter, heading to the linen closet and returning with a fluffy towel to wrap the baby in. "So what are we supposed to do?" I asked as I pulled the baby out of the sink and wrapped him up. He quieted down immediately, nuzzling his head against my chest. Made my heart melt every time.

"About what?"

"Brad."

"I don't know," Freddie replied. "Come on, you know Brad. Whatever's bothering him, he'll eventually deal with it. He's probably under a little bit of extra stress with visiting his dad today."

My brow furrowed. "I completely forgot about that. I'm gonna call Carly and see how it went." I handed the baby off to Freddie, then grabbed my cell phone off the counter and dialed Carly's number.

"Hello?"

"Hey, how'd it go today?" I asked.

On the other end, I heard Carly heave a heavy sigh. "No idea. He dropped the baby off with Paula and then just booked it. Didn't even tell me he was leaving."

"You didn't go with him?" I asked.

"No, I was going to, but he just took off with Katie, without me," Carly responded. She sounded really hurt, and really worried. "And I can't get in touch with him, he left his cell in the diaper bag."

"Oh...oh wow. Okay. This sounds kinda serious..."

"It is! I'm worried about him, Sam! He's not being himself at all. Something's really bothering him and I can't even get him to talk to me!"

"Alright, calm down, okay? I'll send Freddie to go look for him."

"Start with the bars," Carly grumbled. "I mean, I really hope it doesn't come to that, but...I'm really, really worried."

"I know you are. Just calm down, okay?" I replied. "Freddie will find him."

"Aw, man, did he take off?!" Freddie asked. I just nodded, and Freddie let out a huff, immediately grabbing his jacket. "I'll be back. I'm starting at the pool hall. I'll let you know when I find him." He leaned over and gave me a quick kiss and then kissed the baby on the top of his little head, and with that, he walked toward the door, pulling it open. There stood my sister, one arm poised to knock.

Oh god, one drama at a time please!

"I'm gonna have to call you back," I told Carly. "Freddie's leaving now. I'm sure the minute he finds him he'll call you."

"Okay," Carly replied, sounding stressed. "Bye." She hung up, and Freddie and I both focused our attention on Melanie.

"How's it going?" Freddie asked.

Melanie shrugged. "Been better I guess."

"Yeah..." he trailed off, not sure of what to say. "Well...Brad dipped out, so I gotta go track him down."

"Oh, I hope he's alright," Melanie said. Freddie and I both did a double take.

"I'm sorry, are you sick?" I asked.

"I mean...he did save my life. Maybe...maybe he's not so bad," Melanie responded.

"I've only been saying that for like...what...four years?" I asked. Melanie just shrugged.

"Well, I'm out," Freddie replied.

"Be careful," I called to him as he headed out the door. "And if you catch him drinking, take it away from him, by any means necessary!"

"Got it," he responded. "I'll be back."

With that, Freddie was gone, leaving me with Melanie.

"Are you okay?" I asked.

"Still a little shaken up, but...you know. I'll live," she responded. "Sam, I...I'm really sorry about everything. With mom. The way she pitted us against each other, just like before? I can't believe I fell right into it."

I shrugged. "It's okay. I fell for it too."

She nodded, biting her lip and staring at the ground. "Sam, I...I've got a big problem."

I gave my sister a sympathetic look. "Mel, it's going to take some time to get over this thing with Mom. It's gonna hurt for awhile. But I promise we'll get through it."

She shook her head. "It's not about Mom."

I gave her a curious look. "Then what? The prescription pills? Mel, you can totally shake that, I'll help you..."

"It's not about the pills, and I don't need your help!" she responded, sounding exasperated. "I already have help...and...and I'm so confused, I don't know what to do...I'm confused, and I'm freaking scared."

"Geez, Melanie, first of all, I have no idea what you're talking about, and secondly, it can't be that big of a deal..."

"How would you feel if you woke up tomorrow and had feelings for Carly?" Melanie shot back. I made a face.

"Are you saying you have a thing for Carly again? Cuz I gotta say, I'm pretty sure she's not interested..."

Melanie rolled her eyes. "No, Sam. It's a hypothetical question."

"Well, it's not going to happen, because I'm straight. Now what's the point?"

"I think I might be too."

"WHAT?!" I exclaimed.

"Maybe. I don't know." Melanie seemed as confused as I was. "I've never had feelings for a guy before. I mean, before I came out, you know I played the role really well, but I just used that hyper-slut role to scare the guys off. It actually worked pretty well. But now...it's not a role. I mean, I'm not a slut. But being attracted to guys, or in this case just guy..."

"Oh my god!" I clapped a hand over my mouth. "This is about Gibby!"

"God, Sam, what do I do?" she whined, flopping down on my couch. "I mean...I've never had feelings for a guy...or...anyone really, I've never..." she trailed off, toying with her nails, and then looked back up at me. "What do I do?"

"So you have like...real feelings for him?" I asked, sitting down next to her. She shrugged.

"I don't know. I just know that I think about him a lot. At night, before I go to sleep, and when I wake up in the morning...and everything in between."

A smile began to spread across my lips. "Melanie..."

"But the thing is I like girls! But I've never been in love with a girl..."

"But you're in love with Gibby?"

"I don't know!" she whined. "I'm so freaked out! I mean...the idea of being with a guy is really scary to me."

"Look, I know it's really scary to put your feelings out there, but..." I trailed off, smiling, and Melanie looked at me curiously.

"What?"

"Nothing, just...a certain someone said that to me, a few months ago. Right before I broke down and kissed him."

Melanie rolled her eyes. "You always manage to turn it into something about you and Freddie."

I just laughed. "Whatever, my point is, you wanna talk about SCARY? Oh god...I was terrified...and I ran away afterwards. But if I hadn't done it...I have no idea what would have happened. If we would've even ended up together."

"What's your point?"

I shook her arm. "My point is you need to at least see! What if Gibby is like...The One for you?"

She wrinkled her nose. "You honestly believe in all that?"

"Absolutely. Because I know Freddie's the one for me. It exists."

"I just don't know," Melanie sighed. "I'm so confused..."

"I understand, Mel...I mean, not really, but I get it. But I mean, come on, what do you have to lose?"

She bit her lip. "The closest friend I've ever had."

God, she was right. Melanie had never had a lot of close friends, especially ones that accepted her unconditionally. I hadn't even done that. But Gibby had. Poor thing, my sister must be so confused, and without really knowing how he felt...

Ding! Lightbulb!

Almost as soon as the idea popped in my head, I fake wrinkled my nose and stood up, still holding the baby.

"Oh man, pumpkin, you are stinky...I better go change him...I'll be right back." I shuffled off to the nursery, being sure to have my phone discreetly tucked into my pocket, and shut the door behind me.

"Sorry for blaming that on you, little man, but this is for Aunt Melanie..." I laid him down in his crib and pulled my phone out, dialing a number.

"Gibby! Hey, it's Sam!"

"Hey Sam! What up?"

"Oh not much. What are you up to?"

"Not much...you?"

"Um...I need your help with something."

"Freddie can't help?"

"No...he's...out."

"Oh. Good."

My brow furrowed. "What?"

"Nothing, we just kind of got into an argument at the gym today. He's convinced your lesbian sister would actually go for me..."

"...well...Gibbby, he'd be right."

"What?!"

"I just talked to her about you. She's...she's scared, but..."

"I'll be right over," Gibby replied, and then click! He'd hung up.

I put my phone back down, slightly impressed. Go Gibs.

Just then, little Freddie did his baby dinosaur impression at me, glaring at me with his little brown eyes. I peered over the edge of the crib at him.

"Don't look at me like that. When you're older, I'll play matchmaker for you too." I reached down and scooped him up. "Now come on, let's catch you an Uncle."

~*Freddie*~

I walked out of the twentieth bar in a row, absolutely scratching my head, as Brad was nowhere to be found. Where the hell was that kid? I'd already hit up the pool hall, him and Carly's "spot" at the lake, most of the bars on this side of town, walked around campus, and still nothing. It was starting to get dark.

I yanked my phone out of my pocket to call Carly. She answered on the first ring.

"Did you find him?" she asked breathlessly.

"No, I was calling to see if he was with you. Shit, Carly..."

"What are we supposed to do?"

"If it stretches on much longer I'm filing a missing persons report," I replied. "I'm starting to get worried. This isn't like Brad at all. I have no idea where he could..." I trailed off as I caught the sight of shaggy dark blonde hair and a leather jacket walking across the street. "I'll call you back."

"Wait, Freddie -"

Click.

I hurried across the street, cupping my hands around my mouth and yelling.

"BRAD!"

The fucker actually had the nerve to turn around to look at me and then keep on walking! Oh hell no! I was getting the bottom of this, and now! I raced to catch up with him, grabbing his arm and spinning him around.

"Dude, what the hell?"

"What?" he barked. I took a step back, a little surprised.

"You know you've got Carly freaking out, right?" I asked.

He rolled his eyes. "Yeah, she does that."

"Yeah, she does do that. So, as her fiance, maybe you should take your ass home so she'll stop! What's your deal, man?"

He sighed. "Did it ever occur to you that maybe I just wanted some alone time?"

I shook my head. "I'm not buying it. What's really going on, Brad?"

"Fine, you want the truth?" he asked, his eyebrows going up, and I nodded.

"Obviously. Then I want you to take your ass home to your fiance," I shot back. "Are you drunk?"

His eyes narrowed. "Go to hell."

"Dude, what is with all this hostility? The hell did I do to you?"

"Oh gee, I dunno, maybe you and your wife almost got me killed last night?!" he shouted, holding up his arm. "Look at this shit!"

I sighed, taking a step back. "Look, I'm sorry about your arm. You know Sam doesn't always make the best decisions where her mother is concerned, and..."

"Fuck my arm and fuck Sam's mother, I almost DIED last night! Do you not get that?!" he roared. "As usual, you walked away from everything without a scratch! You were barely in there two minutes! My fucking lungs are screaming at me from all the smoke inhalation!"

"You know what, nobody forced you to go in there after Melanie! I could've handled it! If you're so damn bothered, then why'd you do it?!"

"You know why. She's Sam's sister."

I glared at him. "Yeah, anything for Sam, right? Anything for MY WIFE."

He narrowed his eyes at me again. "Don't go there with me again."

I sighed. "I'm sorry. Look, dude, I really am sorry about what happened last night. I know you're scared..."

"I AM NOT FUCKING SCARED!" he yelled, shoving me with his good arm. "I'm a fucking Harrison, I don't get scared!"

"Is that why you're absolutely SHAKING right now? Because you're not scared?" I asked. "Dude, it's okay if you are! It was some fucked up shit!"

"You're right. It was. And right now, every time I look at you or Sam, that is the only thing I can think about."

I shook my head. "Okay, man. Fine. We'll back off for a few days, but you need to go home to Carly. She's worried for you."

"You can't back off, we have to rehearse tonight and shoot tomorrow."

"Fuck," I groaned. "We didn't do like...any technical shit this week, did we?"

"We had our hands full," Brad grumbled. "Look, I'm going back to the loft, okay? I swear to god, if you tell the girls any of this..."

I held my hands up. "Scouts honor, man. Promise."

"Good. Later." With that, he was gone, and I was absolutely stunned. Guess this whole thing got to him more than we thought...

I could only hope he'd get over it quickly, and wouldn't do anything stupid in the process.

I called Carly to let him know I'd found Brad and he'd promised he was on the way back to the loft, then I headed back to my own apartment to collect Sam and the baby.

"Baby, I'm back!" I yelled as I walked back in. I found her in the bedroom, getting ready to go to rehearsal, with the baby laying in the middle of the bed surrounded by pillows and babbling to himself.

"Hey," she greeted me as I kissed her on the side of the neck. "Did you find Brad?"

"Yep."

"So what's wrong with him?" she asked as she ran a brush through her hair. I took the brush out of her hand so I could brush it myself.

"He's just dealing with some rough stuff right now, that's all. You know, his dad and everything." Okay, that was a white lie, but I'd promised Brad. Still, I felt kinda bad about not telling Sam the whole truth. I knew if I did she'd go all confrontation mode, trying to fix it herself.

Sam nodded. "Understandable."

"How's Melanie?"

Sam grinned. "She'll be good soon."

"What? Soon? Sam, what'd you do?" I demanded. She simply smirked at me.

"Oh nothing. Just...you and I out of all people know that when two people have feelings for each other and they don't know it, sometimes they just need a push in the right direction..."

"Oh god..."

"So I called up Gibby and just expanded on what you apparently tried to work on at the gym. After Mel and I talked of course. I think Gibby will be really good for her. If anything, he can help her learn how to trust people better. Mel doesn't do that very well."

"Sounds familiar," I teased, kissing her neck.

"Yeah, but not any more," she replied, turning around to face me, her arms going around my neck. "I trust you. And I trust because of you." She kissed me. "I love you so much."

"I love you too," I replied, smiling at her. "Baby, I...you have no idea how relieved I am that we're finally...you know, okay again."

She nodded. "I'm not going to let anything else come between us again. I just...I forgot. About us. About everything."

"And now?" I asked.

"I remember," she said with a smile.

"Good," I replied, kissing her. She kissed me back, pressing her body against mine, and I let out a frustrated groan. "Baby...rehearsal..."

"Ugh," she grunted, pulling away. "Fine, but as soon as we get done you better throw me down on this

bed and have your way with me."

"Deal," I replied with a grin, and lightly smacked her on the ass.

Sam finished getting ready while I pulled all the baby's gear together. We headed upstairs, dropping the baby off with my mom, and then over the Brad and Carly's. Sam opened the door and we both walked in, stopping in our tracks.

"Is that CHUCK?!" Sam asked, sounding confused as she pointed at the teenage boy sitting next to Heather on the couch. I'm sure Sam and I both looked mortified, knowing what a little punk Chuck used to be when he was younger, but Heather looked proud.

"Yeah, he's my boyfriend! How do you know him?"

I just laughed. "Wow. Dating Spencer's mortal enemy. That's fun."

Chuck scoffed. "Please, that was like...four years ago. I have a lot more going on than trying to screw with Carly's brother."

Heather looked at me accusingly. "You were the one who told me to find a guy my own age."

I shrugged, looking at Sam. "She's got a point."

"Yeah, but it's Chuck," Sam replied.

"HEY!" Chuck protested.

"Yeah, but it's Heather," I pointed out.

"HEY!" Heather yelled.

"We should um...go, or something." I said with a laugh, grabbing Sam's hand and leading her up the stairs.

~*Brad*~

I was so out of it right now that I hadn't even realized I'd been staring at my reflection in the bathroom mirror for over five minutes.

I heard a faint knock on the door. "Brad, are you okay?" Carly called.

"Yeah, babe, I'll be out in a minute."

"Okay, well, Paula's leaving so I'm gonna go get everyone else settled downstairs. Freddie and Sam are already in the studio waiting, and Heather and Chuck are gonna hang out with Leah and Katie while we're rehearsing. Bry wants to watch," Carly said through the door. "Are you sure you're okay?"

"Yeah, I'm fine," I replied, turning the faucet on and splashing cold water on my face.

"Okay, just...um, I guess go in the studio when you're done."

"K, babydoll," I called. I'd felt kinda bad about making Carly worry about me all day, but I was pretty worried about myself to be honest. The worst part of all was that I KNEW I was overreacting, but nothing could be done about it. It seemed like it was going to take awhile to get out of this funk. I just had to keep pushing through, and make a better effort to seem like nothing was bothering me.

I finished up in the bathroom and walked out into the hallway, running into Bryson in the process.

"Hey," he greeted me. "It's cool if I watch rehearsal, right?"

I nodded. "Yeah, just, you know the drill, stay back, don't want into any of our shots or touch anything."

Bryson rolled his eyes. "Yeah, I know."

"Riley still not talking to you?"

"No, Jacob in 2B snatched her up. He's going down," Bryson gruffed. I rolled my eyes.

"Bry, you are TEN. Calm down. There'll be other girls."

"How do you know?" he argued as he followed me upstairs.

"Because I just do!" I responded. "Geez, when I was your age, the only thing I was concerned with was playing Resident Evil."

Bryson rolled his eyes. "Whatever." He paused. "So what really happened to your arm? I know you didn't really sprain it."

"Freddie's camera weighs a ton," I responded. Technically I wasn't acknowledging or refuting a thing, Freddie's camera WAS pretty heavy. In fact, carrying around massive tech gear had been the sole reason Freddie started working out in the first place...

"Guess we're still playing the 'Bryson is too young to know squat' game," he replied.

"Well, in my defense, it's a good game." With that, I opened the door to the studio...and became three times as annoyed as I was to begin.

"Guys, come on!" I hollered. "There's kids in the house!"

True to form, there was Freddie, halfway leaned back on the desk, with Sam leaning over him, groping each other and trying to eat each other's faces.

I looked over at my little brother, who was observing the scene with eyes as wide as saucers.

"Whoa," he said, just staring. I rolled my eyes, and put my good hand over his face.

Sam and Freddie jumped apart, looking guilty, and I just glared at them.

"Real nice. Sam, you wanna button your shirt back up before you throw Bryson headfirst into puberty? One more second of that and his voice would've dropped and facial hair would've sprouted!"

"Yeah, we got it, sorry," Sam grumbled. "Geez, settle down, Brad!"

"Don't tell me to settle down!"

"Brad, settle down," I heard a voice behind me say. I turned around to find Carly glaring at me. "I mean it," she snipped. "You've been needlessly snapping at everyone and acting like a dick all day, and I'm sick of it!"

I could see Freddie out of the corner of my waving his hands back and forth and mouthing "no no no!" at Carly, but I ignored all of it. I just wanted to get through this damned rehearsal already. I knew I'd feel a hell of a lot better if I could just get a few pages out on my new script I was working on, so I wanted to get to it now!

"Alright, fine. Sorry," I grumbled. "Can we just get this over with?"

Sam and Carly exchanged worried looks, but Freddie picked the binder up off the table and began leafing through it, eager to avoid another conflict.

"Okay, obviously we have a few big gaps in the production this week, what with all the bullshit," Freddie replied. "You guys didn't do your blocking again." He directed that comment at Carly and Sam, who groaned. "And...I finished the prop list, but I never got around to making sure we had them all in here."

I took the prop list out of Freddie's hand, reading over it. "I know some of these are in storage," I told him. "I'll get them."

"Is that a good idea?" Freddie asked. "I mean, with your hand and all, maybe you shouldn't be moving shit around..."

"I got it," I replied. "I need some fresh air anyway..."

"...in the basement?" Sam asked, giving me a strange look. I glared at her, but she just rolled her eyes and went back to her blocking chart.

"I'll be back," I told them, walking out of the studio.

I had every intention of getting the props out of the storage unit in the basement, but first I had a little pit stop to make. As I walked down the stairs into the living room, I rolled my eyes at the sight on the couch.

"Okay, do I have to make it an official rule in this house...NO MAKING OUT IN FRONT OF KIDS!" I barked at Heather and her new boyfriend Chuck. I guess nobody who lived in Bushwell EVER left, because apparently everyone had history with this kid too. I didn't know much about him, other than Spencer being afraid of him for some reason. I couldn't see why, kid was skinnier than I was.

"Geez, sorry..." Heather grumbled. "If you would've let me go out..."

"What, you could've made out in private? Wrong thing to say to your older brother, H. You're lucky I'm letting him hang out here at all!"

"Fine, point taken. Don't you have things to do?" she shot back.

"Yep. And on my way to do them."

"Why are you acting so damn butthurt all of a sudden? Geez, you'd think you just had a near-death experience or something..."

I didn't respond to that, but made a mental note to remind my sister about considering a career in psychology when she got older.

"Carly is upstairs, just keep that in mind," I reminded her. "Later."

With that, I walked out of the apartment, pulling my phone out of my pocket and dialing a number.

"Hey, Tom."

"Harrison!" he exclaimed. "What up, man? Haven't heard from you in awhile."

"Yeah, been busy with the runts. Hey, does that guy you get your stash from still live in my building?"

"Yeah, why? Thought you didn't chief."

"Had a rough few days and I definitely don't want to go back to the bottle, if you know what I mean."

"Right, right...yeah, he's in 3-C. So you're trying to get blazed, huh?"

I laughed. "No, not a full-on blaze, just something to take the edge off."

"Word. Alright, I'll text him and let him know you're coming by. His name's Tino."

"Cool, thanks."

I decided to take the stairs just to give this Tino guy a little time. I'd pick the stuff up first and THEN go down to storage and grab the props. If I was going to get through tonight I needed something. Not only that, my hand was killing me and I didn't want to go to the ER.

Tom texted me back promptly to let me know everything was kosher, so I headed down to 3-C and knocked on the door. It opened the door a moment later, revealing a guy that looked a little older than me...and stoned out of his head.

"Hey man," he greeted me. "You Brad?"

"Yeah," I responded. "Mind if I come in?"

"Nah, come on." he waved me in, and as I did, he observed the large bandage wrapped around my arm. "Whoa, pretty gnarly bandage, bro...you get shot?"

I had to laugh at that. I guess that was the one thing worse than being caught in a housefire.

"No, just a wicked bad burn. That's kinda why I'm here. I didn't want to go to the ER but I had to get something."

"Word, I gotcha. Tom said you didn't smoke all that much..."

"...or ever," I filled in.

"Right. So you probably shouldn't take more than ten's worth..." He sat down on his sofa, opening a wooden box, and the smell nearly knocked me over.

"Dude..." I covered my nose. "That shit's rank..."

"That's how you know it's good, bro!" he replied. "One J of this, and you'll be set..."

"Thanks." I pulled out a ten dollar bill and handed it to him. "Hey, you think maybe you could help me out?" I held up my bandaged hand, and he seemed to get it.

"No problem. Man can't roll his own, that's a downright travesty."

It took Tino all of two minutes to roll my purchase into a neat little joint, which he handed to me, along with a lighter.

"You don't smell like it cigs, so I'm guessing you don't have one of these either. Remember, you like this shit, there's more where that came from."

I nodded. "Thanks man. I really appreciate it. I gotta head out now, I've got a bunch of other shit to do."

"Word. I'll see you later," Tino responded.

With that, I was out the door, and headed to the elevator.

Okay, where could I smoke this? My only option was really the fire escape, and with everyone else in the studio frantically trying to piece together this week's show, I knew I wouldn't get caught. They were already suspicious of the way I was acting, the last thing I needed was an intervention for an addiction I didn't have.

I lifted the window to the fire escape and slid through, but then I did a double take.

"Oh, you have GOT to be kidding me..." I grunted as I took in the sight in front of me.

I expected Sam and Melanie to go off the rails after what happened with their mom. I expected Melanie to start up some sort of drama before she finally left town. But I NEVER expected to see her kissing a guy...and for that matter, Gibby.

Gibby looked pretty damn proud of himself, and Melanie just had this look of 'I have a LOT of explaining to do.' She was right about that...

"Uh, hey..." Gibby greeted me. "What are you doing here?"

I shrugged. "I'd ask you the same thing, but it's kinda obvious." I looked over at Melanie. "Thought you were into chicks."

"I am. I mean, I was," she stammered. "I mean...I don't know...I..."

"Can we just not talk about this?" Gibby stepped in front of Melanie, a protective gesture. "She's already pretty stressed."

I held my hands up. "It is so NOT my place to judge."

"How's the hand?" Melanie asked, peering around Gibby.

"Hurts like hell, no thanks to you."

She sighed. "Brad, I'm really sorry. Okay? But...I wanted you to know that I really appreciate what you did."

"So do I," Gibby added, glancing over at her. She looked back, and they exchanged some sort of secretive smile.

WHAT IS HAPPENING TO THE PLANET?!

"So your hand really hurts that bad?" Melanie asked, retrieving her purse from the steps and fishing around in it. "Here."

She handed me a bottle, and upon closer inspection I could see it was percocet.

"Mel!" Gibby chastised her. "I thought you threw everything out."

"I did!" she shot back. "I was saving these to give to him because I made him fuck his arm up!"

I was shocked. "Wow, Melanie, uh...thanks? That's really...human of you."

"I just feel really bad, okay? I wanted to make up for it."

"Well, this is definitely a start," I replied.

"So what are you doing out on the fire escape anyway?" Gibby questioned me. "I thought you guys were rehearsing."

"Uh, we are. I had to go down to storage to get some props."

"I don't see any props, Brad."

"Well, I haven't been down there yet. I went to go pick something up from someone," I replied, fishing the joint out of my pocket. "Just for my hand," I added quickly.

I didn't miss how both Gibby and Melanie's eyes lit up.

"Feel like sharing?" Melanie asked.

I wasn't that surprised that Melanie was down, but I was a little surprised at Gibby. Then again, we'd tried to get baked together before, a few years back, but then Freddie had found it and it was game over.

"So you're cool with this?"

"Do you have any idea how many dispensaries are in California?" Gibby shot back, jerking it out of my hands. "Here, I'll light it, save you the effort."

"Uh...okay," I replied, sitting down on the steps, a little dumbfounded. I honestly did not expect to find myself getting high with Melanie and Gibby, that was for sure.

Again, what was happening to the planet?!

Even though it was my stuff, I'd only smoked maybe two or three times my entire life, so I was content to let Gibby and Melanie take the lead on this one. Obviously they were experts...

Gibby took a few puffs before letting out a huge cough and handing it to Melanie, who took a long drag and held it, not batting an eye. She didn't even cough at all. Gibby gave her the hairy eyeball.

"Clearly one of us has more experience than the other."

She looked at him pointedly. "Likewise."

"Okay, point taken," he replied, and she shrugged, then handed the joint to me.

"Here, Brad. This'll definitely get rid of the pain. I can't even feel my legs right now."

"Yeah, this stuff is GREAT," Gibby added.

I shrugged. "Alright, here goes nothing..." I took a tentative drag, and then burst into a fit of uncontrollable coughing, prompting Gibby and Melanie to burst into laughter.

"Aw, Brad, you're such a novice," Melanie laughed, clapping me on the back several times.

I tried to wrap my head around the fact that Melanie was being completely out of character, but it was getting kind of difficult, seeing how my brain was getting fuzzier by the second. Geez, this stuff was strong...

"Why are you being so nice to me?" I managed to get out.

"Maybe because you saved my life?" she responded. "I mean, don't get me wrong, I still think you're annoying as hell and WAY too cocky, but...I kinda owe you one."

"Right," I nodded. "Just...do me a favor and don't tell anyone, okay? Might tarnish my rep."

Melanie let out a laugh. "Like I want people to know I'm hanging out with some emo filmmaker?"

"I'm not emo!"

"What's your thoughts on Dashboard Confessional?" Gibby asked.

"TOTALLY underrated and they do not get enough mainstream play," I responded.

"Emo," Gibby and Melanie said together. I just rolled my eyes.

"How's your hand now?" Melanie asked.

"What hand?"

"It works," Gibby said with a grin. "Smoke more."

I did. All of us did, and before I knew it I was talking to Melanie and cracking jokes with her. Like she was an actual person. Like we were...friends.

"Shit, what time is it?" I asked, standing up.

"Eight thirty," Gibby replied, looking at his watch.

"Oh god," I mumbled, scrambling through the window. "I've been gone for forty minutes. They're probably on the phone with the National Guard right now."

"Yeah, you better get back before Carly has a freak attack," Gibby added. "We're probably gonna head out."

"You're not driving like this, are you?" I asked, barely even able to stand up straight. "How can you do anything on this shit? I feel like I'm gonna fall over!"

"You get used to it, don't worry," Melanie said.

"I...alright," I replied. "Later."

With that, I hurried back to the loft, flinging open the door, to find Chuck gone, but Heather, Carly, Sam, Freddie, and Bryson sitting around waiting for me.

"Where the hell have you been?!" Carly demanded.

"Uh..."

"Where's the props?" Freddie shot out before I could answer Carly's questions.

"What props?" I asked dumbly. Oh crap, I forgot about the props! Guess there was that short term memory thing I'd read about...

Freddie and Sam exchanged worried looks, but Carly just crossed her arms over her chest and leered at me.

"I'm getting REALLY sick of this, Brad. You're blowing off everything! What's your deal?"

I rolled my eyes and walked past her, heading for the fridge.

"I really don't have to take this right now."

"Yeah?" Carly shot back. "The 'I almost died in a fire' thing is only going to give you a pass for so long..."

"Well maybe it should be for more than twenty four hours, you think?" I fired back. "Or are you the expert on personal grieving?"

"You almost died in a fire?!" Bryson exclaimed, looking worried, as did Heather.

"Good job, Carly," I hissed. That fuzzy feeling in my head was going away, and my arm was starting to hurt again...

As I walked past Heather, she made a face, then leaned forward and sniffed me.

"Wha- I know that smell! You smell like pot!" she exclaimed.

Oh god. Busted.

"How would you know what pot smells like?" Freddie turned around on the bar stool and looked at her pointedly, and the rest of us followed suit. Heather looked like she wanted to disappear.

"Uh...no reason...I uh..." she stumbled over her words, then pointed at me. "He's stoned!"

And now everyone's looking at Brad again. Great.

"So...why exactly why you were getting high instead of getting the props?" Freddie demanded.

"Dude, back off! You don't have the right to comment on what I do!"

"I do when it affects the show...you know, how I make money to support my kid?" he shot back.

"Brad, what were thinking?!" Carly exclaimed. "I mean, why?"

"Why?" I asked, staring at her. "Are you kidding me?" I reached down and began furiously unwrapping my arm, ignoring how much it was hurting, and then held it up. "This is why! Look at this shit!"

Sam covered her mouth with her hand. "Oh my god, Brad, you didn't tell us it was this bad!" she hopped off her barstool and walked over to me to further examine it. "God, your arm is covered in blisters...you need to go to the hospital."

I shook my head. "I'm fine, Sam."

"It's going to get infected!" she cried.

"Look, Brad, I'm sorry about your arm, but..." Carly began.

"Carly, lay off!" Sam cried. "You've never had a horrible burn like this before, you don't know what it's like!" Sam still wore the scars from most of the burns she'd gotten from her childhood, and I suspected she hadn't forgotten what it felt like. Despite the fact that I probably had fucked up, Sam was in my corner. I had both of the twins in my corner. Now THAT was weird.

Freddie shook his head. "Okay, I'm gonna go across the hall and get my mom. If anything she can get some painkillers for you..."

"Already got some," I responded.

"You are not self-medicating with pot, Brad!" Carly cried.

"No shit!" I replied, pulling the pill bottle Melanie had given me out of my pocket. "I've got percocet."

"Did you buy those from your weed dealer?" Freddie asked in a sarcastic voice.

"No. Melanie gave them to me," I responded.

"MELANIE?!" Freddie and Carly cried, while Sam didn't seem surprised at all.

"Yeah, you know, kind of a present for saving her life?"

"I thought she left with Gibby," Sam said, and I shook my head.

"Not quite. They were on the fire escape. KISSING."

"WHAT?!" Everyone exclaimed. I shrugged.

"I dunno, man, but...she gave me those pills, the three of us hung out, it was kinda nice..."

"So you're getting high with Gibby and Melanie instead of doing your job?" Freddie looked exasperated.

"Sue me," I replied, popping one of the pills into my mouth. "Now, if you'll excuse me, I'm gonna go wrap this back up, and go the hell to bed."

"We have a show to rehearse!" Freddie cried.

"Deal with it!" I shot back. "I'm just the assistant anyway, right?"

"What...Brad!" Carly yelled as I went upstairs. "We're not done talking about this!"

But I was. I was DONE talking about it. Everyone had totally overreacted with me. I smoked one time after nearly burning half my arm off, big freaking deal. I deserved to blow off a little steam once in awhile. I had too much on my plate, between the show, being a full-time college student, shopping my screenplay, AND raising four kids. They were lucky I wasn't still a blazing alcoholic!

I quickly spread a thin layer of antibiotic ointment over my arm, wrapped it up, and then pretty much fell into bed, and within no time, I was out, the events of the last few days far behind me.

~*Carly*~

I was absolutely fuming, pacing back and forth, my jaw twitching back and forth.

"Carly, maybe you should calm down..." Freddie said gently.

"ARE YOU NUTS? I CAN'T CALM DOWN! DON'T TELL ME TO CALM DOWN!"

"Whoa..." I heard Bryson say. I sighed, looking over at them.

"Bryson, go upstairs. Heather, go to your room."

"But-"

"Now," I said firmly, not in the mood to argue.

Bryson sighed. "Fine. Bye Sam!" he waved at her and gave her a big smile, then bounded up the stairs. I looked at Freddie and Sam strangely.

"Uh, what was that about?" I asked.

They both looked uncomfortable. "Uh, Bryson may have seen a little more of Sam's cleavage than he needed to..."

"Oh, well that's just great," I replied, annoyed. I gestured up the stairs. "What are we supposed to do about him?"

"Carly, he's gonna start noticing girls more and more..." Sam began.

"I meant Brad," I replied, making a face.

"Oh. Right," Sam responded. "He'll be fine. Just give him some time."

"Fine?" Freddie nudged her. "He's sneaking off and getting high! That is NOT fine, Sam, and you know it."

"Oh, come on," Sam replied. "That's stuff's already legal half the world over! It's not a big deal. Obviously what happened yesterday scared the shit out of him. Just let him burn it off!"

"No," I replied. "This is way more than him burning off steam from last night. I'm really worried he's gonna go back to the way he was before."

"He's not!" Sam replied. "This is his first brush with death. It's rough."

"Not everyone freaks out over things like that, Sam," Freddie pointed out, and Sam glared at him.

"Oh? I seem to remember you bawling like a baby the night you went down and we found out you were diabetic."

"You promised you'd never bring that up," he said through gritted teeth. Sam ignored him, setting her sights on me.

"And you!" she exclaimed. "Remember the night we were out on the scaffolding and it broke, and we almost fell to our deaths? You almost put Ben & Jerry's out of business that month!"

"I did not..."

"You gained five pounds from the ice cream alone, Carly!" Sam replied. "So he's dealing with it a little bit differently, what's the big deal? You should be happy he's not drinking and only doing this!"

"He could get caught with it!" I exclaimed.

"And get a ticket?" she replied. "Brad knows his legal rights, almost as well as I do. He knows what he's doing." I didn't respond, and Sam continued. "Not only that, but how long have we known Brad? How many times has he resorted to drugs to deal with his problems? As far as we know, this is the first time. Did you see his arm? I'm honestly surprised he was able to do ANYTHING today, and he's taking his baby sister to see his dad, and getting the mail, and moving props and doing the show...give him a break!"

Freddie gaped at her. "Wow, you're really...upset about this."

She glared at him. "Don't you dare go where I think you're going with this. All I'm saying is I think you're both putting too much pressure on him. Brad will start acting normal when he's ready to act normal, and the sooner you back off, the sooner it will happen."

Ugh, she was right. I seriously needed to cut Brad some slack. I'd been supportive last night, but today, when all the hairy details of our lives started popping up, I'd gone back to being same old self-centered Carly. I wasn't going to make a very good wife if I didn't learn to get past that.

"Crap," I grunted. "You're right. I should probably go talk to him."

"What about rehearsals?" Freddie asked, and Sam touched his arm.

"We'll finish the logistics back at our apartment and then do a run-through two hours before the show tomorrow, okay?" she asked. He sighed, defeated.

"Fine. We better get back then."

"Yeah. Besides, I HAVE to text Melanie and find out what the hell is going on. She's being nice to Brad, so I better make sure she doesn't have a fever or something."

Freddie laughed, and kissed Sam on her forehead, standing up. "Come on, sweetheart. Let's get it done." He looked at me. "Let us know how he's doing?"

"Sure."

"Okay. Night Carly," Freddie replied.

"Night Carls!" Sam added. With that, they were gone, and I headed upstairs, where Brad was snoring up a storm. He hadn't even bothered to turn off the table lamp. Sighing, I crawled into bed and laid down next to him, pressing a soft kiss to the side of his head.

"I love you, baby. I'm sorry."

I really hoped that was Sam said about all of this wearing off soon was right, because with everything else going on right now, I could NOT handle Brad going off the deep end.


	87. Chapter 87

**A/N: This is a little bit shorter than the usual chapters, but that's because I royally screwed up the final POV. I didn't cut it, I'm just moving it to the next chapter, because I didn't want you guys to wait any longer for an update! Enjoy!**

**Chapter 87**

~*Freddie*~

"Anybody talked to Brad in the last hour?" I asked as I climbed up the ladder and peered at the light in front of me critically. "Sam, screwdriver."

Sam didn't look up from the production book, just tossed the screwdriver over her shoulder at me. I caught it pretty effortlessly.

"Wow, you finally trust my ability to catch stuff," I commented, and she shrugged.

"See, I do have faith in you. And I haven't talked to him. Carls?"

Carly looked up from her spot sitting on the desk, swinging her legs back and forth and going over her notecards. "No," she sighed. "But I mean...he knows we're shooting tonight..."

"He better not be stoned again..." I muttered. "Man, what is with him? I mean, you don't see me grabbing any substance I can just so I don't have to deal with my problems."

My wife scoffed at me and I gave her the hairy eyeball. "What?"

"Only because your blood sugar would plummet and you'd die."

I just huffed. "Fine. But still!"

"And he hasn't even been smoking that much...his arm's still pretty fucked up, so I say free pass."

"Yeah, but for how long?" Carly chimed in.

Sam shrugged. "As long as it takes. He'll perk up eventually."

Carly shook her head. "I dunno, it's not really about perking up, he's actually doing okay, he's just being a little out of character. I mean, Brad and Melanie are like...getting along."

Sam just made a face and looked back down at the production notebook.

It had been about two weeks since the whole fire incident, and things were slowly getting back to normal. Normal being a relative term, that is. I couldn't remember the last time Sam and I had a real argument, other than our day-to-day spats, and she didn't seem to be traumatized by her mother suddenly disappearing. I think deep down, even though Sam desperately wanted a real relationship with Pam, she knew it was coming. She'd barely mentioned it at all.

Melanie seemed to be improving too, what little bit I'd seen of her. She'd been spending most of her time with Gibby, and it was definitely having an effect on her, in the best way possible. She wasn't half as nuts as she'd behaved in the past. Of course, the inevitable was coming. Melanie would have to return to North Carolina soon, and Gibby had to head back to Los Angeles. They'd have to figure out a bi-coastal relationship, or someone would have to move. I guess time would tell.

The only wild card in our situation was Brad. He was still behaving pretty erratically. He wasn't acting out per say, just generally being very un-Brad-like. Not wanting to hang out with us as much, preferring to lock himself in he and Carly's room writing or going out by himself, or even hanging out with Gibby and Melanie instead of us. Because of it, he and Carly were arguing more and more.

"You know, I bet they just sit around and smoke weed together, him and Gibby and Melanie," Carly said out of nowhere. Sam and I exchanged a Look.

"Carly," Sam began. "Do you think maybe you're a little jealous that Brad's hanging out with them?"

"No!" Carly said quickly. "I am NOT jealous. But it's just not natural!"

"What's not natural?" a voice asked as the door swung open, revealing Brad. He was followed by Gibby, but I noticed Melanie wasn't with him.

"Uh, most of the ingredients in Sam's favorite foods..." I covered for Carly quickly, and she gave me a grateful look.

Sam, on the other hand, glared at me. "For the thousandth time, there is nothing wrong with high fructose corn syrup."

My Sam was a genius. One innocuous sounding comment and then...

"Are you kidding me?" Brad exploded out. "It's liquid poison! It's a conspiracy from the government to..."

"Oh god," Gibby covered his face with his hand. "Here we go with the conspiracies again. You've gotta chill with that, man."

"I'm just saying," Brad responded miffed. "And I'll be damned if I let any of the kids eat that shit..."

"Even though the Whole Foods bill is costing you guys a fortune?" Sam asked.

"ESPECIALLY because of that! That's another conspiracy! They don't want us to be healthy, they..."

"Guys?" I spoke up. "Can we get a move on? Half hour til show time."

"Right, sorry," Brad replied, but then he caught sight of the way Carly was staring at him. "What?"

Carly didn't speak, just took a step toward him and inhaled in a very unstealthy way.

"Carly, what is it with you always sniffing me?" he snapped.

"Your eyes are pretty red right now..."

He rolled his eyes. "Lay off, JANET of all people tried calling me a few hours ago. I was not in a good place."

"He really wasn't," Gibby spoke up. "He was ready to go nuclear and hit somebody, but it's all good. Melanie talked him down, and..."

"MELANIE?!"

"And?" Brad gave Carly a challenging look.

"So your mom calls you and you talk to Melanie about it instead of your fiance?"

I sighed, my head hanging down.

"Twenty seven minutes until show," I reminded everyone as I came down the ladder and then put it away in the closet. I came back out, settling down into one of the beanbags so I could go over final production notes in my phone, smiling when Sam plopped down on my lap and laid her head on my shoulder.

"Tired, baby?" I murmured as I kissed the top of her head. She nodded against my shoulder.

"Tired of them arguing," she grumbled. I poked her, and she understood. We'd done plenty of arguing in front of them in the past, so we really had no right to complain.

Gibby looked like he wanted to be anywhere else except here. Carly looked like she wanted to rip Brad's head off. As for Brad, he was still wearing that mask of perpetual annoyance he'd been carrying around with him for awhile now.

He crossed his arms over his chest and shook his head. "Why does it matter who I talk to about it?"

"Well...because!" Carly replied, obviously flustered. "You can't just go talking to other girls about your problems...and the lesbian card is officially null and void!"

"She's with Gibby!" Brad replied, exasperated.

"Yeah, she's with me," Gibby added. He always looked so proud every time that got brought up, but I wasn't sure if it was because he'd gotten a girl who looked identical to Sam (hello, jackpot!) or because he'd actually manage to do something 99% of guys aspired to do...convert a lesbian. Maybe it was both.

"It doesn't matter!" Carly yelled, stamping her foot, which caused me to raise my eyebrows.

"You know, we kinda have a show to do..." I began.

"Butt out, Freddie," Carly snipped.

"Carly," Sam said through gritted teeth, indicating she wasn't playing around. "Chill out. We have stuff to do..."

"Yeah, we do. Lots of stuff. But we're behind because Brad's off getting stoned with Melanie!"

I swear, Brad looked at Carly like she was an absolute idiot, then threw his hands up.

"You know what?" he started, but the sound of his phone ringing cut him off. He pulled it out of his pocket, looking down at the caller ID. "Nevermind. I've gotta take this." He put the phone to his ear and walked out of the studio. Carly practically had steam coming out of her ears.

"So..." Gibby said awkwardly. "Uh...have you guys read any good books lately?"

Just complete silence. It was awkward. There was way too much tension in the room. I let out a sigh, just to break the stale silence that hung in the air.

"I have an idea," Sam spoke up. "Call me crazy, but how about we pretend that there's absolutely no problems? Just to see how it feels."

Carly shook her head. "Easy for you to say, you guys are back to being in seventh heaven."

"...After nearly succumbing to the most epic divorce in the history of all divorces," I reminded her.

"Whatever. Brad is just acting weird. STILL. It's been two weeks, and he's still acting erratic."

"Oh come on, Carly, he's not being that erratic..." Sam began.

BANG! The door swung open, and Brad slid in with this weird look on his face that was like a mixture of shock, awe, happiness, and just...crazy.

"CARLY!" he yelled, rushing over to her and shaking her arm. "Carly Carly Carly!"

Not that erratic my ass! What was going on?

"What's wrong?" she asked.

"Oh my god! Holy shit...holy shit...holy shit!"

"Brad, what is it?" she cried, her hands on his shoulders and shaking them a bit. He stopped jumping up and down for a minute, staring at her.

"It sold."

"It sold?" Carly asked quietly.

"It sold," he responded.

"Holy shit!" Sam exclaimed. "Your screenplay?"

"YES!" Brad shouted, jumping up and down. "For twenty grand! Can you believe this?!"

"Aaahhh!" Carly screamed, seemingly forgetting she was angry with Brad and leaping up and down. "Oh my god!"

Sam scrambled out of my lap as Gibby slapped Brad on the back, offering his congrats.

"Oh my god, that is awesome!" Sam exclaimed. "Brad, that's so..." She looked back at me and immediately knew what she was thinking.

Are they going to quit the show? How are we going to take care of the baby?

For a split second it had crossed my mind too, but I shook it away, choosing instead to congratulate Brad.

"Dude, this is really awesome," I told him. "It's exactly what you wanted, right?"

"Yeah...oh my god," Brad said, still shocked. "And they said they want me to keep working on my current screenplay so they can try to sell the next one, maybe even have me try my hand at directing, my god, can you believe this?"

"Baby, I'm so proud of you," Carly said, standing on her tiptoes and kissing him. "I mean, really."

"Thanks, babe." He beamed at her. Guess the fight had been averted for now.

"So..." I struggled for a way to tastefully approach the subject. "Does this mean...you know, that..."

Brad met my eyes and shook his head. "Nah, man. We're still doing the show, don't worry."

I breathed a sigh of relief. "Thanks, man. I mean, until we're finished with college, this is really the best bet for us..."

Oh man, several tragedies avoided at all once. Always a good thing when that happens.

"Hey, Spencer's still coming tonight to reprise the baby Spencer gag, right?" I asked Carly, looking down at my watch.

"Yeah, he should be here any second," she responded. "I don't know what's keeping him..."

"AAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHH!"

We all jumped in shock at the sudden yell that floated up from downstairs, and Brad and Carly scrambled for the door.

"Oh my god, what was that?"

Sam, Gibby, and I followed them out of the studio and quickly down the stairs. So fast we almost crashed right into Carly and Brad at the bottom of the stairs, who looked less than pleased. Carly had her hands on her hips and Brad had his head in one of his hands.

Oh look, Spencer's here.

Standing next to the couch was Chuck, looking thoroughly annoyed. But in the kitchen was Spencer, who had a hold of Heather and was effectively using her as a human shield and pointing a broom at Chuck.

"Oh dear god," I grunted.

"Brad!" Heather waved her arms frantically. "Deal with this!"

"Stay back!" Spencer yelled at Chuck, waving the broom at him menacingly.

"Spencer for God's sake!" Carly yelled, shoving past Brad and walking over to him. "Let go of Heather and put the broom down!"

"No! Why would you let him in the house?"

Brad rolled his eyes. "Spence, he's fifteen, do you honestly think he's concerned with messing with you? The only thing he cares about are girls and..." he trailed off, frowning. "On second thought, get out!"

"BRAD!"

"That's right!" Spencer yelled.

Sam and I just looked at each other like everyone had lost their minds, while Brad, Carly, Spencer, Heather, and Chuck began to squabble amongst themselves.

"Just think, we have this chizz to look forward to in sixteen years or so..." Sam commented.

"False. Freddie Jr.'s a boy," I grunted. "And we don't have a psychotic brother to contend with."

"Yeah, but if we have a girl..." she responded. "You'll start acting like Brad."

I thought about it for a second. "Alright, I'll give you that."

We were still standing on the stairs while everyone around us argued, but we weren't paying attention. We kinda checked out mentally. We weren't used to NOT being the epicenter of the drama, so we just talked about random stuff like absolutely nothing was wrong. It was kinda nice.

I was REALLY psyched about the trip to Italy with Sam and the baby. Just two weeks with nothing to worry about except each other. We'd had to delay the trip until after Christmas, but it would give us something to look forward to. Midterms were coming up, so we had that added pressure, along with just trying to piece things together with the two of us.

We'd been to marriage counseling twice, and while I wasn't sure whether or not it would help us out or if we even needed it, Sam was in therapy twice a week and she was already making really good progress. We hardly even argued anymore!

"So, this weekend," Sam commented, not paying attention to the shouting going on in the background.

"Yep."

"Carly's pretty adamant about having a party."

"Yeah..." I responded. "What do you think?"

"A little bit of partying could do us some good. And three birthdays to celebrate...it's a lot. Besides, Brad just sold his screenplay! He deserves to celebrate!"

"Well," I slid an arm around her and pulled her against me. "Any excuse I get to grind all over you is alright by me."

"Somebody's gonna have to keep Brad from getting baked out of his mind. And it's not going to be Gibby or my sister."

"Ugh," I grunted. "If everyone doesn't kill each other first."

At that statement, Sam looked down at the scene in the living room and rolled her eyes, leaning down to nudge Gibby.

"Hey," she said. "Go deal with that."

He looked at her like she was insane.

"Why me?"

"Because if either one of us tries to they'll yell at us about the pot calling the kettle black or something..." I responded.

"Right," he said with a nod. "Okay." He walked down the stairs, right in the middle of all the action, looking all imposing with his Gibby super muscles. "EVERYBODY SHUT UP!"

Everyone stopped what they were doing and stared at him.

"You guys have to shoot in like ten minutes, have you forgotten that?" Gibby yelled. "What is with you guys? Spencer, Chuck is not trying to kill you! Brad, you can't protect Heather forever! Are we done?"

Spencer leaned towards Brad. "Did we just get yelled at by Gibby?"

"MOVE IT!" Gibby roared.

That got everyone going. Carly, Brad, and Spencer practically knocked Sam and I over as they scrambled up the stairs, and Heather and Chuck just sat down on the couch, not sure what to do. After the rest of the iCarlys were safely upstairs, Gibby turned to look at us.

"Good enough?" he asked.

"I LOVE your muscles," Sam responded, giving him a fist bump. Gibby gave me a fake cocky look.

"Hear that, Benson? She loves my muscles."

I just laughed, knowing he was just goofing around.

"Don't start with me, Gibs. Upstairs. You can feed baby Spencer."

"Sweet!" he yelled, pushing through us and heading upstairs.

Sam and I just shot amused looks at one another.

"How many kids do we have again?" she asked.

I laughed. "Come on, sexy. Up the stairs."

~*Carly*~

After all the hustle and bustle of the show had come to a close, Brad was still on cloud nine for finally getting his screenplay sold. While I was really happy for him, I couldn't forget about the fact that he'd talked to Melanie about his problems...and then got stoned with her. I didn't care that she was with Gibby...

I mean, they'd hated each other forever, and now suddenly he's best friends with a carbon copy of my best friend?! It was no secret that Brad was attracted to Sam. We all knew it, we just kind of ignored it, and didn't worry about it much because Sam was with Freddie.

But Melanie was NOT Sam. And she hated me.

I couldn't stop freaking out about it.

Brad had been on the phone for over an hour and a half, with various people talking about contracts and public relations and all sorts of things while I sat on the bed and strummed my guitar awkwardly.

I still hadn't talked to Brad about the phone call with Breeze Records, because I figured he'd be too stressed out. But now all this stuff was happening with him and I was getting shoved into the background again.

I grew more and more irritated, and purposely strummed an obnoxiously off-key note on my guitar as loud as I possibly could, causing Brad to scrunch his shoulders up and turn around to give me a sour look.

"One sec," he told whoever he was on the phone with and pressed it to his shoulder. "Knock it off, I'm on the phone," he hissed at me with gritted teeth. I just scowled at him, grabbing my own phone and scooting off the bed.

I dialed a number, hoping it wasn't too late.

"Hello?"

"Hey, Rita. It's Carly Shay."

"Carly! What a surprise! I figured you'd lost interest in working with us!"

"Oh not at all, just busy with work and school, you know...actually I was calling to tell you that I'm interested in signing with you."

Brad's head snapped up, and he turned around to stare at me.

"I'm gonna have to call you back," he said into the phone, hanging up and then staring at me with his arms crossed over his chest.

"That's great to hear, Carly!" Rita said. "I'll be sure to fill in our A&R people and the legal department...perhaps we can talk tomorrow to discuss things further?"

"Absolutely. Sounds great."

"Okay, thanks Carly, we'll be calling you tomorrow morning. Have a great night."

"Yeah, I'll try," I replied into the phone sweetly, all the while giving Brad a dirty look. "Bye now." I hung up, looking at him innocently. "What? You think you're the only one who gets to be successful?"

He lifted an eyebrow. "So, who was that?"

"Breeze Records."

"A record company?" he asked. "You're signing with them."

"Yep."

He shrugged. "Didn't think to let your fiance know?"

"Just like you didn't think to let me know about your mom? Or about you cavorting with Melanie?"

"Okay, number one, we weren't hanging out alone, Gibby was with us, and number two, I do NOT cavort!" Brad snapped. "Geez, Carly, I was going to talk to you about it after the show! What's your damage?"

"How about the fact that you've been pulling away? Or the fact that you spend all your time with Gibby and Melanie? You don't even make time for Freddie and Sam anymore! Oh wait, let me rephrase, you don't make time for Freddie anymore. You'll always make time for Sam. And now Melanie."

"Oh god," Brad rolled his eyes. "THAT'S what this is about? Are you jealous?"

"Am I jealous that you're hanging out with a girl you professed to hate for years? After watching my two best friends who supposedly hated each other fall in love? Am I jealous that you're hanging out with a girl who is a carbon copy of a girl you've been drooling over for four years? No, I'm not. It's just really shitty on your part, Brad! You're never even here anymore!"

"Number one, I do NOT drool over Sam, or Melanie for that matter. Number two, I have a lot going on right now, if you haven't noticed!"

"Well now I do too!" I shot back. "How about that?"

He scoffed. "You're going to make career choices based on getting back at me? Real mature, Carly. You screw this up, you don't get another shot. And what happened to the hiatus?"

"You don't dictate my career, Brad!"

"I never tried to!" he barked. "I never wanted you to quit! I'm the one who kept pushing you to do it. Even after you kept it a secret from me! Come to think of it, you wanna talk about cavorting? I seem to remember your little 'trips' to the coffee shop just being an excuse to hang out with that creepy stalker guy!"

"At least creepy stalker guy paid attention to me!"

"Oh my god, Carly!" Brad groaned. "Look, I'm sorry you felt neglected, okay? But did it ever occur to you that I'm not spending all that time with Gibby and Melanie so I can hang out with Melanie? Gibby's one of my best friends, and they're a package deal now!"

"Why can't you just hang out with Freddie instead?" I responded. "At least I know Sam won't try to make a pass at you!"

Brad laughed then, shaking his head. "And neither will Melanie. She didn't even fall in love with Gibby because he's a guy, she fell in love with him because he's GIBBY."

"Well maybe I don't want you hanging out with Gibby either! You guys just sit around and get high!"

"Carly," he grunted. "You forget it's legal out there! He even has one of those medical cards! I've been really stressed out lately, and I don't like the way those painkillers make me feel."

"Whatever," I replied snottily. I wasn't even sure what had gotten into me, all I knew was that I was getting shoved to the backburner and I didn't like it. It'd been at least a month since we even had sex! So, keeping that in mind, the fact he was hanging out with another girl who looked a whole lot like Sam, it bothered me. It bothered me a lot.

Brad just shook his head at me, walking over to the bed and grabbing one of the pillows, then booking it for the door.

"Where are you going?"

"The couch," he replied. "Let me know when you wanna stop acting like a jealous housewife."

"At the rate we're going, we'll never even get married!" I yelled after him.

He didn't respond. I let out a sigh, flopping back down on the bed. I laid there for a moment, staring at the ceiling. Suddenly, I heard the chirp of Brad's phone, signaling he'd gotten a text message.

Seriously?! Melanie!?

Melanie: Hey you wanna come over to Gibby's mom's? He got ahold of some really good stuff and there's an Aqua Teen marathon on. Stuff of dreams... :)

I glared at the message for a minute, before firing off a response.

'No. Look, I know you wanna play the grateful damsel routine, but you forgot I hate you. I've put up with it long enough. Thanks for the pot, but I'm good.'

For a minute, I hesitated; but then, remembering how pissed off I was about the situation, I pressed send.

I was sure I'd hear about it tomorrow, but right now, I didn't even care.


	88. Chapter 88

A/N: Hey guys, sorry for being lazy with the updates this week...I've had a cold and it definitely did not motivate me in the slightest lol. Also, once again, I had to split the chapter in half...it was just too much ground to cover in one chapter and it would have been WAY too big...the next one should hopefully be ready tomorrow night. Enjoy!

**Chapter 88**

~*Freddie*~

"Sam, will you get off the counter already?" Spencer barked at Sam across the massive kitchen of his and April's mansion. "That's like April's number one rule!"

Sam grinned at him, doing a little wiggle on the flawless granite counter top.

"Sounds like you need to get a handle on wifey then," she teased him. Spencer didn't respond, just shot a telling glance my way. I shook my head, crossing my arms over my chest.

"Don't even go there with me, man." I leaned against the counter next to Sam, and she shifted a little so I was between her legs, leaning down to wrap her arms around me, her mouth close to my ear.

"You smell amazing," she said lowly in my ear. I just smiled, reaching a hand up to rub her arm.

What had started off as a simple birthday party had quickly escalated into a fiesta of epic proportions. Sam and Melanie's birthday. My birthday. Spencer's first big time solo art show. Brad selling his screenplay. And now Carly signing a record deal. There was definitely a lot going on, a lot to celebrate.

Sam and I were getting along better than ever, and that was certainly worth celebrating, but I couldn't say the same for Carly and Brad. The two of them were in the midst of their greatest professional success ever, and rather than being happy for each other, they were spending all their time bickering. Brad was annoyed with Carly because he thought she couldn't handle not being the center of attention, and Carly was becoming more and more insecure about Brad always hanging out with Melanie and Gibby.

The plan was that we would all co-host this mish-mash of a party at Spencer's house, and Sam and myself, Carly and Brad, and Gibby and Melanie were welcome to stay overnight. Brad's siblings minus Heather were spending the weekend in Tacoma, my mom had the baby for the night and part of tomorrow, and April and Maggie were currently visiting April's parents at their main house in Chicago. The party had taken less than seventy two hours to plan, but the guest list was enormous. People from mine and Sam's circles, Spencer's art friends, Carly's coffee house people, Brad's film snob friends, a few people Melanie knew from Seattle's limited but developing fashion industry. We'd even negotiated a shaky truce so Heather could bring Chuck.

Carly had wanted to head over to Spencer's early in the afternoon so she could get ready there, and Sam and I had agreed, but I think Carly just wanted to get away from Brad for a little while. It had only been a few days since the whole incident with Brad selling his screenplay and Carly's record deal, but their arguing was getting to be too much, even for people like Sam and I, who could be combative as hell.

After a few more pointed glares from Spencer, Sam had hopped down from the bar, deciding to lean against me instead. Carly was still upstairs 'taking a nap', or so she said. She was probably on the phone with Brad, arguing.

"Okay, so let's just go over the rules again, just so we're clear..." Spencer began. Sam and I exchanged a Look.

"I feel like we're back in high school all of a sudden," she chirped, then leaned across the counter to swipe a bottle of champagne after an attendant had barely had the chance to set it down. "Can I open this now?"

"Sam, the party doesn't start for another three hours!" Spencer replied. Sam ignored him completely, ripping the foil off the bottle and proceeding to untwist the metal cage. Spencer gave me an exasperated look, but I just held my hands up.

"It's her birthday, let her drink," I responded. Sam RARELY drank, and I knew after the last time, when Melanie spiked her drinks and she had a zombie-level hangover, she wouldn't overdo it. I really didn't have a problem with it at all.

"Yeah, Spence, it's my birthday, let me drink!" Sam put in.

Spencer glared at me. "You just wanna get her drunk so you can have sex in my house."

Sam scoffed as she popped the cork. "Like he'd really have to get me drunk to get me to have sex anywhere, let alone your house," she responded, lifting the bottle to her lips. I made a clicking noise with my tongue as I pulled the bottle away from her.

"Use a glass, sweetheart. Pretty little thing like you needs to keep it classy."

She fake rolled her eyes. "I thought you liked it when I wasn't classy," she replied with a smirk, but reached for one of the champagne flutes anyway. I just nodded; girl had a point.

"We've come a long way from bonfires and keggers, you know?" she asked as she lifted the glass to her lips and took a sip. I nodded.

"Because parents don't go to keg parties."

"Well, not good parents anyway," Sam responded.

"Give me one of those," Spencer said, grabbing one of the flutes and filling it up. "Okay, so let's go over the rules again, just for my own personal comfort level. Number one, no hard drugs."

"Duh," Sam and I said together.

"You're talking to the wrong people here...now...some of the people Brad associates with, I wouldn't be too surprised if somebody was carrying around some blow or something," I said, and Spencer nodded.

"I already took care of that. He knows the score. Anyone with hard drugs gets thrown out, and he and Gibby have to keep smoking confined to the great outdoors. April would have a shit-fit if she came back from her parents' and the house reeked of the ganj."

"Any clues to when Brad's gonna grace us with his presence?" Sam asked, taking another sip of her champagne.

"I talked to him about an hour ago. He said something about he needed to squash some beef with Melanie and Gibby, and then he'd be on the way."

Sam's adorable nose wrinkled up in confusion. "Beef? I thought they were like the three musketeers these days – the Jamaican edition."

"He wasn't too sure himself, he just figured there must've been some sort of huge misunderstanding."

"Anyway," Spencer interrupted. "I know it's pretty much pointless to tell you two, but everybody who's not...you know, in our circle, needs to stay the hell away from upstairs. I don't want a bunch of random people having sex in my house."

"Just the ones you know?" Sam teased, and Spencer made a face.

"Whatever, just make sure you pull the sheets off the bed afterwards."

"Anything else?" Sam asked.

"Keep Chuck the hell away from me!" Spencer replied. "I don't care what you say, I don't trust that kid."

"Duly noted," I responded. "Okay, so...since Brad's conveniently missing and Carly's comatose, we should probably finalize the checklist ourselves..." I grabbed my PearPad off the table, turning it on. "DJ's supposed to be coming in two hours..."

"I still think we were taking a big risk letting Gibby pick the DJ..." Sam commented.

"I wonder if it's a co-worker," Spencer cracked, and I gave him a look that blatantly said 'dude, shut up!'

Sam just gave us a confused look. "Huh?"

I waved her off. "Never mind. Okay, so we have two bartenders, four attendants to walk around and take care of party-goers..."

"Still don't know why you guys didn't hire some cocktail waitresses," Spencer grumbled.

I snorted. "Please. Carly would've gone postal, and as for me, no interest."

Sam gave me a smile, leaning over to kiss me on the cheek. "And that's why you're my favorite man."

"Better not be the only reason," I responded.

"Well, I think this covers everything..." Spencer said.

"Not quite. Brad and I pulled some strings at the gym, got some of the bigger guys to give help us beef up on security," I spoke up. "Anyone who acts up or tries to get any...compromising photos...gets thrown out."

Spencer just shook his head. "I wonder if we'll ever stop using our connections for personal gain."

"Probably not," Sam replied with a shrug.

Spencer just laughed. "I should probably go check on my sister, make sure she's not in a screaming match on the phone with Brad or Melanie or both..." He downed the rest of what was in his glass, then set it on the table. "See you guys in a bit." With that, he left the kitchen to head upstairs, leaving me and Sam alone, save for a few attendants and caterers running around trying to get the place just so.

"You know, I never thought we'd get to the point where we'd be having these kind of parties," Sam said off-handedly. I understood what she meant. My sweet baby had grown up in a trailer with practically nothing, and now here she was in a mansion, having a birthday celebration with caterers and bartenders and DJs and dresscodes and security. Yes, iCarly had left us pretty well-off, but we generally didn't live like it. Sam and I weren't partiers, and she wasn't interested in designer clothing or being a celebrity. She just liked goofing off on camera and getting paid for it.

"Well, here we are," I replied, kissing her. "Besides, Brad and Carly are about to hit the entertainment business hardcore. This is what their lives are going to be like now, so they're gonna start acting like it. Hollywood power couple and everything."

Sam shrugged. "Maybe. If they even stay together. I mean, they're not doing good, baby. Have you talked to Brad about it at all?"

"Yeah, we talked about it last night at the gym. The whole tit-for-tat and insecurity bit, it's really turning him off."

She shook her head, unsure of what to say. "Best to let them deal with their own problems, I guess," she replied. "So..."

"So..."

"The uh, extra pens are upstairs in the room we're staying in. Regular ones and fast-acting ones. Just in case," Sam said. She bit her lip. "Are you sure, Freddie? I mean, really?"

I nodded. "Yeah, I'm sure."

"But..."

I cut her off, taking her hands in mine. "Look, in the beginning, it was really important for me to stay away from anything that could throw my glucose levels off. Because we were still learning how to manage it. And yeah, if I over-do it, it's gonna end badly, but I'm not going to, okay?"

Sam looked dubious, and I kept talking.

"You don't know how...annoying it is to be in college, at a party, surrounded by your friends taking shots and doing kegstands and you can't even have a beer!" I shot back.

"Yeah, but if it makes you sick..."

"We did the research. Robert said my glucose levels are relatively normal for someone with Type 1. I never miss a dose. I haven't had to go to the hospital for it in over two years," I replied. "Every single piece of literature we've read on the subject clearly states that some alcohol in moderation is okay, as long as your glucose is well-managed."

Sam looked at the ground for a moment, trying to think, and I lifted her hand to my mouth, planting a gentle kiss on her soft skin.

"We've discussed this for the last month, baby. I'm a grown man, a married man with a child. Who is in complete control of my diabetes, and has been for the last three years. It's my birthday, and I think I'm entitled to one or two drinks."

She finally looked up at me and managed a small nod, then sighed. "Okay. But I'm not going to let you out of my site the entire night."

"What makes you think I want to?" I replied with a smirk, kissing her. "Come on, sweetheart, I'll be fine. Spencer, Brad, and Gibby all know to keep an eye out too."

"Right," she replied. "Well, we should probably get the test run over with then..." We were quiet for a few moments, and then Sam reached behind me, grabbing another champagne flute off the counter. She filled it halfway, then handed it to me before re-filling our own glass.

"What should we toast to?" I asked.

"How about you not dying?" she said snarkily. I gave her a Look.

"Samantha."

"Sorry," she replied, brushing her hair off her face. "How about...survival?"

"Survival?"

"We've been through a lot this year. Almost made our first year look like a cakewalk."

I had to laugh. "Well, not quite, but yeah, it was pretty intense. But I don't think I want to toast to that."

"Then what?"

"How about...not giving up? We've been through hell this year and back. And yeah, we almost did give up but...it's obvious, you know? Nothing could split us apart ever."

"That's quite a mouthful to toast to," Sam commented, and I laughed.

"Fine. Here's to..." I couldn't help but smile. "Seddie."

A grin spread across Sam's face, and she nodded.

"Okay," she replied as we clinked glasses. "Here's to Seddie."

~*Brad*~

"Mel, I'm telling you, I did not not send that text!" I told her as I attempted to pin the phone between my head and shoulder while I poured my seventh cup of coffee for the day.

"Well, if you didn't send it, then obviously Carly did," Melanie replied icily. "You know she hates me."

"Well you did rip out half her hair," I replied. "And Carly's a big fan of her hair."

"Seems like Carly's a big fan of herself in general these days," Melanie commented. "Like nobody's allowed to make any mistakes around her, but Carly's just prissy little miss perfect."

I just grunted; I wanted to defend my fiance, but right now, I really couldn't, because Melanie had a point.

"Look, I'm sorry you got upset, okay? I'll ask Carly about it...who knows, maybe Heather did it."

"It couldn't have been Heather. I mean, for one thing, she doesn't know you smoke pot, and for another, she won't interact with me at all. I think she's afraid she'll catch the gay."

Melanie managed to say this just as I had lifted my cup to my lips, and just like that, I sputtered coffee all over the counter.

"Jesus," I grunted, coughing a little.

"What the hell are you doing?" Melanie demanded. "Are you toking up? You better not be holding out on us, Brad!"

"No!" I managed to choke out. "You just made me choke on my coffee!"

"It's like three o'clock...you're not caffeinated enough yet?"

"No way," I told her as I went back to chugging away at the caffeine-laden beverage. "I was up all night writing, and then I had to drive the kids out to Tacoma. No sleep at all."

"You're such a good daddy."

"Very funny," I responded. "Look, point blank, I didn't send that text. So are we cool?"

"Of course," Melanie replied. "Gibs and I will see you at Spencer's tonight?"

"Hell yeah. We're gonna party our asses off. Just...steer clear of Carly, okay? I'll try to talk to her." Even though I really didn't want to, I silently added.

"Okay, we'll see you there," she responded.

"One more thing, Spencer said nothing harder than reefer, so..."

"...so Gibby made me throw out everything I had. I don't even have my adderall any more! At this point I probably drink more coffee than you do! I'm straight, okay?"

"And try not to get too plastered," I added.

"I'm not making any promises, but I'll do my best," she responded.

"Word. See you there. Tell Gibs not to smoke up the whole stash before you guys get there."

"Again, I'm not making any promises." With that, Melanie hung up. I set my phone down on the counter, then turned and hopped up onto it, chugging the rest of the coffee in my cup and refilling it again. "HEATHER!"

"WHAT?!" she barked.

"Don't 'what' me, get out here!"

The door to Heather's room swung open, and she stalked out, a towel wrapped around her head.

"What?" she repeated, looking thoroughly annoyed.

"Dude, chill out, I'm not about to attack you or anything, so cease with the attitude."

"Fine," she replied. "What's up?"

"Look, I hope you know I'm really going out on a limb letting you come to this thing tonight."

"Brad, I'm almost fifteen!"

"Exactly my point, Heather!" I responded. "And this is an adult party, so you better behave yourself. And absolutely NO drinking!"

She scoffed. "Please, you drank when you were fifteen."

"And I was in AA before my twentieth birthday, so that ought to tell you something," I responded. "I'm serious, Heather. And another thing, you're lucky I was able to get your boyfriend in tonight too. Spencer and him are like Tom and Jerry or something..."

"Spencer's a weird guy," Heather replied with a shrug.

"And so is Chuck! Any kid who spent his pre-teen years doing battle with a grown man, there's something not right in the head. What kind of kid does that?!"

"I guess not the kind who were Mr. Popularity and the basketball super star of the entire town," Heather replied with a raised eyebrow, and I scowled at her. I HATED anyone bringing up my old life in Tacoma, where I pretended to be something I wasn't. The kid from Tacoma with shelves of sports trophies, a plastic queen bee girlfriend, and a constant fixture of the in-crowd was a far cry from the serious filmmaker with depth that I'd turned into, and I liked to keep the two as separate as possible. Some guys may have worn my old reputation like a badge of honor, constantly reliving their "glory days", but not me. I was actually pretty ashamed of it. Heather knew that, and she took every opportunity she could to make fun of me for it.

"Shut it, Heather."

"Aw, what's wrong? You were a regular Troy Bolton..."

"Oh my god shut up!" I hollered at her.

"I better go back in my room before you break into song..."

"I hate you so, so much..."

"I know!" she called in a sing-song voice. "Don't leave without me, big brother!"

"Call me Troy Bolton again and I just might," I threatened.

She stuck her tongue out at me, shutting the door behind her.

I looked down at my watch and sighed. I'd better start getting ready. I was supposed to stay over at Spencer's tonight, but I wasn't sure if I was up to it. Carly and I either didn't talk or we just argued; to be honest, I'd spent the last few nights on the couch because I just didn't want to keep going through it with her. I was also pretty irked about the fact that she had signed a recording contract just to get back at me, as if to say "I'm important too! Nyah nyah!"

I was happy for Carly, of course, because I knew she wanted it, but if the situation was a little different, if she had handled things differently, I would've been happier. As it were, our future "power couple" status in Hollywood was on the line, but I didn't even care about that. It was always something with her. Always insecure about something, and I'd never given her a real reason to act that way. I'd never cheated on her. Any time I screwed up, I made an immediate effort to rectify it. I tried really hard to keep her a priority in my life no matter how much I had going on. But it still wasn't enough, not to her.

I loved Carly, and I didn't want to lose her, but I couldn't keep living like this.

Maybe I'd feel better after I blew off some steam at the party tonight. And maybe Carly and I could put everything aside for one night and just have a good time. I'd feel better after that too.

And maybe after I got some sleep, I thought to myself as I chugged the rest of my lukewarm coffee quickly, slamming the cup down on the counter with a grimace. Once I was confident that I'd downed enough caffeine to keep me from falling asleep in the shower, I started to head up the stairs, stopping when I heard a knock.

I sighed, shuffling over to the door, my head hanging down in immense self-pity. Brad. Needs. Sleep.

As I pulled the door open, my eyebrows went up in shock, but that surprised look quickly morphed into a pissed-off one.

"Oh, you have GOT to be shitting me," I growled as I leaned against the doorframe. "I thought I was pretty clear the other day when I told you to leave us the hell alone!"

My mother looked up at me from under her thick eyelashes, splayed across those puppy dog eyes she used to always use on my dad when he didn't give her what she wanted. It used to work on me too, but not anymore.

Janet looked down at her hands, like she was trying to choose her words, before looking up at me.

"Bradley, can you just give me a few minutes?" she begged.

"I'm a little busy right now," I gruffed, looking down at my watch. "About to go celebrate selling my first screenplay, my fiance signing a record deal, that kind of thing. I'm sure you understand."

"You finally sold it," she commented softly. "Wow. That's...that's incredible."

I shook my head. "Why are you here?"

"Like I told you on the phone the other day. I...I made a mistake, Bradley. A huge one."

"I'll say," I grunted.

"I just want my family back," she responded.

I opened my mouth to say something, but before I could, I heard Heather's bedroom door open, and felt her walk up behind me.

"What the hell are you doing here?" she hissed at our mother. Under normal circumstances, I probably would've chastised Heather for swearing, but not this time. Janet deserved a lot worse, as far as I was concerned, giving up four of her children and placing the burden on her oldest son's shoulders.

"Heather..." my mom reached out to touch her, but Heather jerked back like Janet was a poisonous snake. Janet stared at her for a second, not sure what to say. "You look good."

"I am good," Heather responded, bristling up. "Brad takes good care of us. Then again, he always did, because we all know that you didn't do a damn thing."

I glanced over at my sister, who just lifted her eyebrows at me in silent communication. Basically saying, 'I'm going to let her have it, and there's nothing you can do to stop me.'

Well, who was I to stop her? I simply gave a nod, and Heather turned back to our mother, the woman who abandoned all of us, and her eyes narrowed.

"You have a LOT of nerve showing up here, you know that? You just gave up, because you were too lazy to handle anything, and now that your guilt's finally overwhelmed you, you think you can just show back up and everything will be okay again?!" Heather shook her head. "Forget it! God, I'm just glad Bry and the girls aren't here for this..."

Janet frowned. "Where are they?"

I crossed my arms over my chest. "Not that it's any of your business, but they're in Tacoma for the weekend. With their grandparents, who love them and support them, which is more than I can say for you."

"Look, I feel horrible about what I did, okay? Every night, I lie awake thinking about it! I feel awful!"

"Good!" Heather shouted. "You should! You deserve to feel horrible!"

"I'm sorry! Heather, please..." Janet looked grief-stricken. "I'm your mother..."

"I have NO mother," Heather hissed. "I hope this haunts you every single day for the rest of your life. You abandoned your family when they needed you the most. You're disgusting!" She glared at her, looking her up and down. "You should've stayed away. We're better off without you. The whole world's better off. You know what? You should just..."

"...drop dead." I finished. Heather's eyes darted over to me, nodding in agreement.

Janet just gaped at us, unsure of what to say, and before she could get the chance, Heather unceremoniously slammed the door in her face.

We both seemed to back away from the door slowly at the same time, as if we were afraid some sort of evil presence would come bursting through the door before turning to look at one another.

"We're vindictive assholes, you know that?" I sighed.

"True that," Heather replied with a shrug.

I shook my head, heading for the stairs. "Finish getting ready, call Chuck, and then let's get the hell out of here."

~*Carly*~

I'd been so stressed out with all the fighting with Brad that I hadn't been sleeping much, so when Sam, Freddie and I got to Spencer's, I'd pretty much passed out in one of the guest bedrooms the second I got there. Regardless of how stressed I was, all the beds in Spencer and April's house felt like they were stuffed with freshly plucked angel's wings covered in baby bunnies. Sleep was unavoidable.

I came to slowly as I heard a rapping sound at the door.

"Come in," I said groggily.

The door opened, revealing my brother.

"Hey kiddo," he said, walking in. "Caught up on some sleep?"

I sat up, stretching. "Enough to sustain me for tonight."

Spencer sat down next to me on the bed, looking concerned.

"How you doing?"

"I'm alright," I replied, hugging my knees to my chest. I hadn't talked about it too much, but Spencer knew Brad and I were having problems. Everyone knew we were having problems. I loved my friends and family to death, but in our circle, there were absolutely NO secrets.

"I may have overreacted over the whole Brad and Melanie thing..."

"No kidding," he replied. "Sam mentioned you said you sent a text to her from Brad's phone?" His brow furrowed. "That's not like you at all, Carly."

"I know," I groaned. "God, I just...Spencer, he's really the only guy I've ever...I can't lose him."

Spencer shook his head. "You're not going to lose him to Melanie."

"He used to hate her, and now they're cool."

"He pulled her out of a fire that both of them could have been killed in," Spencer replied. "Situations like that...it kind of forces people to get over their issues, you know?"

I looked dubious, and Spencer continued.

"I know what I'm talking about, Carly. Remember how it was when Freddie, Brad, and Gibby and I did what we did? To Bill? You put people in those kind of situations, anything involving that much danger, it binds them together."

"I don't want Melanie bound to my fiance," I grunted. "Even if he did save her life."

"You don't have a choice, Carly," Spencer replied. "What would you have preferred? That he let your best friend's sister DIE?"

"Well, no...but...I don't know," I sighed. "And now he's on the verge of really making it big...I just feel like I'm losing him."

"You're on the verge of making it big too!" Spencer reminded me. "You're the heart and soul of iCarly, the biggest web show that has ever existed in the history of the internet, and you just signed a record deal. You are literally going to BLOW UP. Do you realize that?"

I shook my head, and Spencer smiled.

"You don't, do you?" he asked. "Well, you are. Both of you. And if you play your cards right, you two are going to end up being a power couple...and in Hollywood, no less. But none of that's going to happen if you let little issues like this bother you."

"What if it doesn't work out though?" I asked. "What if everything you say will happen, happens, and we can't handle it, and the industry ends up pulling us apart?"

"Carly, you can't let fear dictate how you run your life. And I mean, you're forgetting a few people in this."

"Who?"

"Bryson and Heather and Leah and Katie," Spencer pointed out. "You're a fixture in their life. If you guys can't make it work, and they have to be uprooted again and start over, you have no idea how bad it's going to screw them up." He paused. "You know what it's like to constantly start over, being shuffled from place to place. We did it with Dad being in the military."

"So I should stay with him for the kids?"

"Well, no," Spencer said, frowning. "You should stay with him because you love him."

"I do love him," I sighed.

"Then you have to trust him," Spencer replied. "Has he ever given you a reason not to?"

"Everyone knows that he's attracted to Sam. No matter how hard he tries to hide it. And now he's hanging out with her identical twin."

"And did he ever ACT on that attraction?" Spencer asked. "EVER?"

I shook my head. "No."

"Then what makes you think he'd do it with Melanie?"

"Ugh, I don't know, Spencer!" I cried. "Every time I think about it, I think about how much they hated each other, for four years straight. And then I think about how long Sam and Freddie hated each other, and look how that turned out!"

"That is a totally different story, and you know that. We ALL knew those two were going to end up together, even when you guys were kids. All that hatred was just a cover up for really deep feelings that scared the hell out of both of them. Melanie and Brad actually DID dislike each other, they just finally put it all aside."

Ugh, I hated when my brother was right. Considering how goofy he could be, I REALLY hated when he was right.

"You know I'm right," he replied, reading my mind.

"Shut up," I said softly, looking down. He nudged me, and I looked up at him.

"So what are you going to do about it?"

I sat there for a moment, thinking things over, and took a deep breath.

"Fix it."

"That's right, you're going to fix it, and then you're going to get over it. For him, and for you, and for the kids."

"Right," I said softly. "Thanks, Spence."

"Hey, it's not often I get to give you advice, but when I do...I kinda relish it."

"Yeah, yeah, I know," I said with a smile. "So...how long was I out for?"

"Awhile. Party's in three hours," Spencer replied.

"Oh man," I groaned, swinging my legs over the side of the bed and standing up. "I've gotta get ready. Where's Sam?"

"Uh, downstairs...they're a little occupied right now."

I gave him an incredulous look, and he laughed.

"Not like that. They promised they'd keep THAT confined to the other guest room."

"So..." I trailed off, not getting it.

"So, just like everyone else, you gotta keep an eye on Freddie."

I groaned. "I don't know why he's so hellbent on doing this."

"Because he wants to be normal, like everyone else," Spencer replied with a shrug. "But Sam demanded a test run beforehand, just in case."

I headed for the door. "I'm gonna go see how that's going."

"Okay. I'm gonna go hop in the shower. Hey, do me a favor and make sure the caterers don't steal anything," Spencer called as I headed for the stairs.

"It's not like you don't have the money to replace it!" I called back as I headed downstairs. I went down into the kitchen to find Freddie sitting on the counter and Sam making a fuss over him.

"Spencer's gonna go postal if he sees you sitting up there," I told Freddie, and he shrugged. "How you feeling?"

Freddie shrugged again. "A little buzzed, actually."

Sam grabbed his wrist, pushing his sleeve up above his elbow, and pulled out the glucose meter they used to check his blood sugar.

"Hold still," she said, and without much fanfare, pricked the inside of his arm. I couldn't help but watch. Freddie was pretty discrete about checking his blood sugar and taking his insulin. I'd only seen him check his glucose levels a few times, and he'd had diabetes for about four years now. In the beginning, he'd whine like a little kid, making all kinds of dying whale noises, but now, the only reaction he had was a quick, almost imperceptible knitting together of his eyebrows. He didn't even react to the blood, nor did Sam. I guess they'd had it down to a science by now.

Sam quickly loaded the testing strip into the glucose meter and peered at it critically, shaking it when the result wasn't coming fast enough.

"Easy, honey," Freddie said, taking the meter out of her hand. "It's not a magic 8 ball. And I feel fine."

She huffed. "I know, I'm just..."

"Shush," he responded, bending down to kiss her. The meter beeped just as their lips touched, and Sam pulled away quickly, grabbing it out of his hands like a lifeline. He rolled his eyes, and then turned his attention to me.

"Still hyper-stressed?" he asked me, and I shrugged.

"I feel a little better after sleeping. The beds in this house, I swear...they will just swallow you up," I said. "I've got to upgrade me and Brad's mattress."

"So I guess that means you're over the whole Brad and Melanie thing?" Freddie asked.

"I...I don't know," I admitted. "But I feel a little better talking to Spencer."

"Geez," Sam commented. "You going to Spencer for advice and Brad getting advice from my sister? It's like an alternate dimension..."

"Sweetheart?" Freddie asked.

"Yeah?" Sam asked, oblivious to the smoke coming out of my ears for bringing up Brad getting comforted by Melanie.

"Shut up," he replied, bursting into laughter when Sam glared at me. "Aw, baby...come on. What does the meter say?"

"It says your levels are normal." She looked at him accusingly, and he tossed her an annoyed look.

"I didn't tamper with the meter, Sam."

"I'm not saying that..."

"Come on, you think I'd be sitting here fully conscious having a conversation with you if my levels weren't normal?" he pointed out. He hopped down from the counter and put his arms around her. "I'm FINE."

"I'm just worried," she replied.

"Yeah, no kidding," I spoke up. "Seriously, Freddie...do you have a death wish or something?"

"No, but a wish for formality, definitely," he replied. "Look, Brad already broke everything down for me. Stay away from hard liquor and beer, stick to drier wines. No big."

Sam put her hands on her hips. "And what makes you think Brad knows anything about it?"

"The man has a surprising wealth of information on what alcohol does to your body," Freddie said with a shrug. "Probably all the hangovers."

"I hope he still remembers how to make that hangover drink," Sam replied. "Some of us might need it."

"Just because you don't have diabetes doesn't mean I want you overdoing it," Freddie warned her. "This is the first time I've drank in years...if you pass out on me tonight, I swear to god..."

"Please," Sam snorted. "No way. Massive sexy time tonight when the party gets boring. You know, they did just install that hot tub..."

"Oh god," I said with a laugh, covering my face with my hands. "I'm not listening to this. Are we going to get ready together or not?"

"Definitely," Sam replied. "I need help with my hair." She turned back to Freddie. "No more drinking til I come back."

"Yes ma'am," Freddie responded. "If you need me I'll be in the game room, shooting pool."

"Okay," she leaned forward and kissed him, then tried to pull away. Except he wouldn't let her. His arm went around her waist and he pulled her back to him aggressively, kissing her again.

"Oh god," I groaned. "The booze is getting to him already. Sam, come on..."

"But..." Sam whined as I grabbed her arm and dragged her away.

"No buts...if you don't get ready he doesn't get to see that thing you bought yesterday."

Freddie's eyes lit up. "You bought a thing? What kind of thing?"

Sam laughed. "Several things, actually. Birthday presents."

"For you or for me?" Freddie responded, looking at her like he was about to eat her alive. Ugh, those two...

"Both," she said with a wink. "See you in a few, sexy..."

"Not if I see you first."

"My god, are you two ever going to STOP being horny teenagers?!" I groaned as I grabbed Sam again.

Still, I couldn't help but be a little jealous. No matter what those two had been through, nothing could split them apart, and they'd retained their over-the-top fervor for each through all of it.

I could only hope that Brad and I could be that lucky...


	89. Chapter 89

**Chapter 89**

~*Sam*~

"Oh my god," I exclaimed to Freddie as I took in the sight of Spencer's house. Two hours ago, the place had been practically empty, now it was absolutely CRAWLING with people. The entire early 20's demographic of Seattle had to have been crammed in here!

Okay, maybe I was exaggerating, but barely. I didn't know most of the people here, but it didn't matter, because I was having a blast. Spencer and April were no strangers to hosting parties in their house, but it was always high society functions or parties with the artsier crowd. Those parties were Royal Balls compared to this. The music was blasting, there was food and drinks and all manners of debauchery in the best way possible. And I had Freddie next to me. That was the important part.

Freddie made a face, then leaned closer to me.

"What?!" he yelled.

"I said oh my god!"

He just looked around for a second and then nodded, grinning at me.

I'd been really worried about Freddie at the beginning of the night. He was determined to have a drink, even though it wasn't the wisest decision for someone with diabetes, and ultimately, using very pervasive research (which was a very Freddie thing to do), he'd made a pretty convincing argument. I could tell he was steps away from making a PowerPoint presentation. I finally gave in, but only after I'd told him I'd be watching him like a hawk the entire night.

So far, he'd been doing alright though. He'd even humored me with a second glucose level check about thirty minutes ago. I think it basically boiled down to Freddie getting tired of watching everyone around him being able to cut loose, and he had to hang back for fear of health complications. While he was far from being out of control – he'd only had three glasses of champagne so far – he was definitely enjoying himself. I'd even suspected he'd snuck in an extra one of his anti-anxiety meds earlier in the night, but I couldn't be sure, and it definitely wasn't worth starting a fight over. Besides, I was having way too much fun!

Freddie put his arm around my waist as he tried to navigate me through the sea of people. The noise from the loud bass of the music was nearly deafening and slightly disorienting, and the champagne had gone to my head a little, so I stopped in my tracks, leaning against the wall for a second.

Freddie looked at me, seeming concerned, but I just shook my head and gave him a smile, indicating I was okay. He smirked at me as he closed the distance between us, his lips finding mine and pressing his body against me. I sighed against his mouth as I felt his hands run up my bare legs and begin the slow ascent under my dress. I giggled, pushing his hands down a little, and then burst into full-on laughter when I heard him groan in frustration against my mouth.

"Easy, we're in public," I told him as I tore my mouth away from his.

"Then let's get private," he replied, kissing my neck.

Oh god...he's biting my ear. Shit. I felt my knees buckle a little, but Freddie had me pinned to the wall, so I definitely wasn't falling.

"Ten minutes," he breathed into my ear. "Or more if you want..." His hand started traveling up my leg again.

I was about to yell "Hell yes!" and drag him upstairs and spend a good hour playing with the only birthday present I was interested in, but as usual, we got interrupted.

"Geez, you guys never stop, do you?" Freddie and I pulled away from each other to see Gibby and Melanie standing there.

"Hey!" I hugged my sister, choosing to ignore Freddie swearing under his breath next to me. He was certainly impatient, but we'd definitely get to it eventually...

"Did you guys just get here?" Freddie asked, recovering from the momentary frustration. Gibby nodded.

"We got a little lost, but..." Gibby trailed off, noticing the way my sister and I were staring at each other. His eyes darted back and forth between us, and he grinned. "Hey, you guys look like twins!"

"Gibby!" we both exclaimed, frustrated. Gibby frowned.

"What?"

"They ARE twins, dude," Freddie replied with a roll of his eyes. "Did you guys do this on purpose, or..."

"No," I replied, giving Melanie the hairy eyeball. "Nice dress, Mel..."

She looked me up and down. "I was gonna say the same thing about you. I thought labels weren't your style."

We were both wearing the exact same dress, an orange one shoulder number with ornate flowers swirled all over it. The second I'd figured out this was going to be a more upscale event, I'd gone to one of those high-end places to find the perfect outfit. It had ended up being way more than I'd ever imagined a dress should cost, but Freddie didn't even bat an eye when I'd told him how much I'd spent, insisting I deserved it. I really liked it. It was different, unique...or so I had thought.

"They're not, but I really liked this Versace dress..." I responded. Melanie giggled, and I put my hands on my hips. "What?"

"It's pronounced Ver-sauch-ee, not Ver-saze, Sam," she replied.

"See?" Freddie responded. "She doesn't do labels."

Gibby and Freddie kept looking back and forth, back and forth, and I rolled my eyes.

"Okay, one of us needs to like...take our hair down. The last thing we need is these two getting confused..."

"I would never mix you two up!" Freddie said, sounding slightly offended, and I poked him in the ribs.

"Maybe not sober..."

Gibby shrugged. "I don't think I'd mix you guys up either, but I'm not taking any chances..." He unceremoniously pulled the pin out of Melanie's hair, sending it tumbling about her shoulders.

"Hey!" she exclaimed, scrambling to fix the cloud of fluffy blonde hair, looking miffed. "Fine, but I'm with the guys, I don't think they could mix us up...I mean, no offense, but I'm thinner than you, and..."

"What?!"

Freddie stepped between us, facing me, trying to damage control. "It's not her fault, honey," he replied smoothly, his hand going to my waist and pulling me against him. "Not all women are lucky enough to look like you, not even your twin sister..."

I gave him a Look, half annoyed, half amused. "Nice save."

"Just saying, that ass..." I jumped a little as he gave it a firm squeeze.

"Hey, there's nothing wrong with MY ass, Benson," Melanie replied.

Freddie shrugged. "If you say so. Wouldn't hurt you to bulk up a little..."

"FREDDIE!" Melanie looked offended.

Gibby laughed, putting an arm around Melanie's shoulders. "You gotta understand, Mel, Freddie's got a thing for curvier girls..."

"So I like my woman to look like a woman," Freddie replied with a shrug. "Sue me."

Melanie and I looked at each other for a moment, both of us trying to figure out if this was worth starting a fight over, and then realized it was just too silly to care about, and just laughed.

"I can't believe out of all of the dresses in Seattle, we both had to pick the same thing," Melanie stated.

"Yeah, maybe we're more alike than we thought..." I responded.

"Maybe," Melanie replied with a shrug. "Hey, have you guys seen Brad?"

Freddie nodded in the direction of the kitchen. "He busted Heather and Chuck trying to snag a beer. He's giving them a real firm 'talking-to' right now."

Gibby's eyebrows went up. "Man, things have really changed over the last few years, you know that? Remember how many 'undercover' missions we went on trying to swipe his dad's beer senior year?"

Freddie and I both laughed.

"Oh god, that Heineken was the absolute worst!" I laughed.

"He's almost a year sober now," Freddie commented. "I mean, for the most part..." He gave Gibby and Melanie a pointed look.

"What?!" Gibby shot back. "I have a medical card!"

"For what?" Freddie responded. "For being too Gibby?"

"Headaches," Gibby replied with a shrug. "Gotta love California." He nudged Melanie.

"My boss isn't interested in setting up in LA, I told you that," Melanie replied. "You could always move to North Carolina."

"Uh...there's not really a market there for...my line of work," Gibby mumbled.

"What, promotion?" Melanie replied. "So you switch from nightclubs to a different kind of promotion! It's no big deal!"

I didn't miss the way Gibby was always extremely comfortable talking about his job, but I wasn't in the mood to push it. I didn't want to start a bunch of drama, not tonight.

"Well, whenever Brad gets done disciplining his baby sister..." Melanie said, changing the subject and looking at me and Freddie expectantly. "If you guys wanna partake..."

"No thanks," Freddie responded. "I want to party, not go into a coma."

"Yeah, I'm good," I replied. "But if you want we can go harass Brad for a bit...hey!" I grabbed Melanie's arm. "We should totally fuck with him."

Melanie laughed. "I'll go put my hair back up!" She turned to Gibby, grabbing his arm. "I'll be upstairs, okay?"

He nodded. "Hurry back..."

She nodded, seeming to hesitate for a second, before standing on her tiptoes and planting a kiss on his lips. Gibby's arm snaked around her waist, pulling her against him for a moment and then releasing her. Melanie pulled away, looking slightly red faced and flustered, and then noticed Freddie and I were staring at her.

"I uh...well...I'll be back," she stammered, still a little out of breath. She turned around, slamming right into someone and nearly knocking them over. "I...yeah. Sorry." With that, she was gone, headed up the stairs, and it was all Freddie and I could do to keep from laughing.

"Wow," I said, playfully punching Gibby in the shoulder. "Look who's got my sister all riled up. Nice work, man..."

"Yeah, well, you know," he replied with a cocky shrug.

"Have you hit the home run yet?"

"Sam!" Freddie scolded. "None of your business!" He paused for a second. "So have you?"

"Guys!" Gibby laughed. "Back off..."

"That's a no," I responded to Freddie, who nodded, and Gibby just shrugged.

"The last thing I want is to scare her off, so..." He shrugged again. "I'm not in a hurry."

"I am," Freddie growled lowly in my ear, giving my ass another squeeze. Oh, god...

"Chill," I said with a raise of my eyebrows. "We gotta go punk Brad! I should go find Carly, she can't miss this..." I frowned suddenly, realizing I hadn't seen Carly in like an hour... "Hey, where is Carly anyway?"

Gibby shrugged. "Beats me."

"I'm back!" Melanie announced, her hair pulled back in a french twist like mine was. "Man, he's gonna think somebody spiked his drink or something..."

I laughed. "Yeah...let's do it." With that, I turned to Freddie. "Do you mind trying to track down Carly?"

He nodded, kissing me. "Sure. I'll go find her now. Any special messages?"

"How about not sending fake text messages?" Melanie snapped. Freddie rolled his eyes.

"She knows. You gotta understand, Melanie, the thing about Carly is that she's been on everybody's backburner for the past year now, so she's just a little bit insecure right now," Freddie replied. "She'll get over it once she gets thrust back into the limelight and everyone starts fussing over her again."

"Let's hope so," Melanie responded. "I've had all the 'Let's Blame Everything on Melanie' I can take this year."

I was desperately trying to stay out of my best friend and my sister's spat, so I grabbed Melanie's arm. "Come on, let's go mess with Brad."

"I'll go find Carly," Freddie said.

"I'll go find...the alcohol," Gibby responded, looking a little lost.

Melanie and I crept up to the kitchen all secret agent like, peering around the corner to see Brad standing there yelling at Heather and Chuck. His back was to us, and Chuck and Melanie were both looking at the ground, identical mortified expressions on their faces.

"I'm not kidding, Heather! You know this shit runs in our family!" I heard Brad saying.

Heather glared at him. "It does not run in our..."

"We have our own hangover cure! Nana Mary wanted to get it patented!" He turned to look at Chuck. "And you! I promised your dad I'd keep you in line tonight, I can't send you back to him completely wasted!"

I giggled. "Oh my god, he sounds like Spencer when we were in high school..."

"I had no idea he'd turned into such a fuddy-duddy," Melanie commented. "No wonder he's started chiefing."

"Alright, I'm done here, but Spencer has one of those breathalyzer things, and I know where it is, and you guys are gonna have to blow tonight before we leave..." When Chuck and Heather erupted into a fit of laughter, he shook his head. "That's not what I meant...you know what? Get outta here! Both of you!"

"Sure thing, Gramps!" Heather laughed, reaching up to pat him on his head, then taking Chuck's arm. The two of them walked out of the kitchen, the opposite entrance, leaving Brad alone shaking his head. I saw him laugh a little, and that was good. At least his sense of humor wasn't completely gone.

With that, I turned to Mel. "Okay, you go around the opposite side. I'll go in first."

She nodded. "Okay."

I walked in after Melanie walked away, hopping up on the counter next to Brad. "Hey."

"Hey, Blondie," he greeted me. "What's up?"

"Not much. Pretty gnarly parenting speech."

He laughed. "You saw that?" I nodded. "I dunno, Sam, I just don't want Heather to turn out like me."

"Why not?" I asked. "You're not so bad."

"Except for the raging alcoholic part. And the neglectful fiance bit."

"You're not a raging alcoholic, Harrison," I replied with a roll of my eyes. "You're good, alright? As for Carly, I dunno..."

He shrugged, reaching his glass of iced tea, but knocked it over as he did, sending tea all over his white button up.

"Shit," he grunted, unbuttoning it and pulling it over his head. He leaned against the counter and tried to wipe the tea off his stomach and chest.

I don't know when it had happened or how I had missed it, probably because Brad didn't make a habit of walking around shirtless in front of me, but his abs were ridiculous. Freddie had incredible abs, but Brad? Good lord. Looks like he'd finally wrapped up that whole puberty thing.

I was mortified when I realized I was actually checking Brad out, feeling freaked out and guilty all at the same time. I tried to focus on something else, anything else, and that's when my gaze landed on his arm. The bandage was off now, and I couldn't help but stare a little, a slight shudder going through me.

Brad caught me looking and extended his arm, showing me the whole thing. "Pretty disgusting, huh?"

The burned patch of skin went nearly up to his elbow, a bright pink in varying shades that wrapped around his arm. The skin was a lot shinier that the rest of his skin, all the hair burned away, and had raised scar tissue in some spots. I wasn't sure if I was just afraid to or lacked the words, but either way, I couldn't comment.

"It's gonna be like this forever," he sighed.

I raised one of my legs up and extended it, pointing to a cluster of cigarette burns I'd sustained during the Bill incident.

"I know what you mean," I replied. "But...you know. We get over it. We move on."

He nodded.

"You know, I never really thanked you. For saving my sister's life."

Brad shrugged. "It's cool, Sam." He began rifling through the refrigerator for something to drink that wasn't alcohol.

"No, I mean it...whether you realize it or not, you did something for her...and for me too."

"I'd do anything for you, Sam..." he replied absentmindedly, still looking through the fridge.

My head jerked up, and I looked at him quizzically. Uh, what?

He straightened up hastily. "Uh, that came out wrong...I totally didn't mean it the way that sounded. We're friends."

"Yeah," I replied. "We are. So uh, have you seen Carly lately?"

"Yeah, she got kinda bent out of shape that I dragged Heather and Chuck away to go talk to them. I'm still the worst fiance in the world, apparently."

I shook my head. "You're not the worst fiance in the world, Brad. You've got your hands full. If Carly doesn't get that, then..."

"Then what?" he asked, turning to look at me and leaning against the counter only a few inches from me. Christ, he was still shirtless.

"Then...I don't know," I replied, hopping off the counter. "You should uh...probably go put a shirt on. Before Carly has a heart attack."

"She'd have a worse heart attack seeing her shirtless fiance hanging out with her best friend and identical twin in matching mini dresses," Brad pointed out.

I sighed, defeated.

"You're losing your touch, Blondie."

I shook my head. "Yeah, I know."

We just stared at each other for a few seconds, kind of awkwardly. Okay, that's it, I am DONE with alcohol tonight.

"I should probably go find Freddie," I said, backing out of the kitchen. Find Freddie, have him bang my brains out, forget EVER seeing Brad shirtless...oh my god, what the hell is going on?

Brad nodded. "Probably a good idea. Tell Mel to go find Gibby so we can smoke up."

"Freddie's looking for Carly..."

Brad nodded again. "Sam?"

"Yeah?"

"You ever worry about that?"

"Freddie and Carly? No...why?"

Brad shrugged. "No reason. I'll see you later."

I stumbled out of the kitchen, feeling freaked out and incredibly guilty, and let out a yelp when Melanie cuffed me on the arm.

"What the hell was that?" she demanded. "That wasn't how the prank was supposed to go!"

"Uh, we were talking, and...I just...he saw us beforehand."

"Yeah, and I saw you," Melanie replied, her hands on her hips.

I glared at her. "What is that supposed to me?"

"You know, everybody talked about it, but I never saw it myself..."

"Saw what?"

"The sparks."

I looked at Melanie like she was an idiot. "Sparks? Me and Brad?"

"Like a trailer park on the fourth of July, darlin," Melanie replied. "I mean...you were staring at him. You were looking at him the same way you look at..."

"Don't you dare," I warned her, and she shook her head.

"Sam..." she looked around, her voice dropping a little. "How long has this gone on?"

"There's nothing going on," I replied.

"So nothing's ever happened between you guys?" she asked. "Ever?"

"I would never cheat on Freddie," I replied indignantly. Melanie gave me a Look that implied she didn't believe me, and I sighed. "Fine. We kissed."

"WHAT?!"

"It was a long time ago, Melanie!" I snapped. "It was senior year of high school!"

"That's not the point, you guys have had this unresolved chemistry floating around for three years and never did anything about it?"

"I am MARRIED, Melanie!" I replied. "Not only that, Freddie and I have a child, and Brad is engaged to Carly and we don't even have feelings for each other! God, you act like I'm going to leave Freddie just because I suddenly found out Brad has the abs of a Greek God."

Melanie sighed. "Okay, I'll give you that. He totally does, but I think there's more to it."

I silenced her with a death glare. "I'm gonna go find Freddie."

"Probably a good idea," she stated.

I rolled my eyes. "Shut up, Mel."

~*Carly*~

"Maybe you should lay off the champagne, kid..." Spencer warned me as I threw back another glass.

"Why?" I growled. "Maybe I should develop a drinking problem too, maybe then my fiance would pay attention to me..."

Spencer sighed, shaking his head. "You remember Moni?"

"The girl you ran over with your car?" I asked as I grabbed another glass of champagne, which Spencer promptly yanked out of my hand. "Spencer!"

"Yeah, her," he replied with a roll of his eyes. "Anyway, contrary to popular belief, she did NOT break up with me for that."

"What's your point?" I snapped, yanking the glass out of his hand and drinking it.

"She dumped me because of you, Carly!" Spencer replied. "Because as she put it, I never had time for her any more because I always had too much going on. You're starting to behave the same way."

I rolled my eyes. "I am not."

"You are! You just can't handle not being the center of attention, can you?" Spencer replied. "Brad had to go deal with Heather because she's only fourteen and drinking and he didn't want what happened to him happening to her."

I shook my head. "No, you don't understand..."

"No, I think it's YOU who doesn't understand, Carly!" Spencer replied.

"You used to be on my side," I commented, and Spencer rolled his eyes.

"I'm still on your side, okay? I used to not be the biggest fan of Brad, if you'll recall," he responded. I stared at him, continuing to sip at my champagne. "But he's changed a lot. Especially stepping up to raise those kids. You need to cut him some slack."

"Maybe all of you need to cut me some slack!" I snapped. "And if Brad doesn't want to pay attention to me, I'll find someone who will!" At that statement, I grabbed the next guy that walked by, some random dark-haired guy who looked closer to Spencer's age than mine. "Dance with me," I told him.

The guy looked totally awestruck and sidelined, but managed a nod. "Okay..."

I said nothing to Spencer, just slammed the empty champagne glass into his hand and gave him a smirk, leading the guy away.

"What's your name?" the guy asked me as I threw my arms around him and we began to dance.

"Does it matter?" I asked, and he laughed.

"Probably not," he responded.

I'd lost count of how much I'd drank, and it quickly began to kick in, and I lost track of pretty much everything, just focused on dancing and forgetting everything.

I was so lost. Everything had ran away from me. Brad and I had been the perfect couple, now we rarely spoke except to argue, and we hardly ever slept together. Our entire lives revolved around his siblings and his career. I took a backseat to everyone and everybody. I wasn't even the star of my own show anymore! I didn't care how 'unreasonable' I was being. It hurt, being left out of everything...

I let out a squeal of alarm as someone grabbed my around the waist and yanked me away from my dancing partner.

"Hey!" I shouted.

"What the hell are you DOING, Carly?" It was Freddie who had grabbed me, and he did not look happy. I glared at him.

"Dancing, what does it look like I'm doing?" I snarked.

"Looks like you're well on your way to doing something you can't take back," he responded.

"Why do you care?"

"Yeah, man, why do you care?" the guy I'd been dancing with snapped at Freddie, trying to look intimidating.

Freddie was shorter than him, but a lot more muscular, and regarded the guy like he was an annoying insect.

"Dude, you're boring me," he said flatly to the guy, which only made him madder.

"You wanna go?" he yelled, puffing up. Freddie barely reacted at all, just reached out with one strong arm and sent the guy flying into a group of people dancing, knocking them all over, and then glared at me, getting ahold of my arm.

"Come on," he said.

"No!" I shouted. "You can't tell me what to do!"

"How much have you had to drink, Carly?" he asked, looking me up and down. "You smell like a mini-bar!"

"None of your damn business!" I shoved at the hand wrapped around my arm. "Now leave me alone!"

"So you can cheat on my best friend?" he shook his head. "Forget it."

"I'm not moving."

"Fine," Freddie shrugged. Then without any warning, he leaned down, grabbing ahold of my waist and tossing me over his shoulder.

"FREDDIE!" I hollered as he carried me through the crowd, beating on his back. "Put me down!"

"This is for your own good, Carly," he told me, oblivious to me hitting him.

"What the hell?" I heard a voice that belonged to Sam as Freddie continued to walk through the house and up the stairs.

"I'll explain later. Where's Brad?"

"Probably getting stoned with my sister."

"Aaargh!" I began kicking furiously. "Put me down!"

"Nope."

"I hate you, Freddie! You can't force everyone around you to be happy!"

"Yeah, I'm the asshole," Freddie grumbled as he continued up the stairs. "Keep telling yourself that."

"I'm gonna get Spencer," I heard Sam say.

"I hate him too!"

"Hurry up!" Freddie called to Sam. He reached the top of the stairs and carried me in the direction of the guest bedroom I was staying in, throwing me down on the bed.

"What is your problem?!" I yelled as I scrambled to my feet, only to find myself pushed onto my back again.

"Sit down and shut up," Freddie growled. I sat up, glaring at him.

"What makes you think you have any right to get involved with me and Brad's relationship anyway?"

"Because you guys did it for me and Sam," he responded, shutting the door behind him. "Carly..."

"Just leave me alone, okay?" I snapped. He shook his head.

"I'm not going to do that," he replied. "You know, believe it or not, I do get what's going on, okay? I understand."

I shook my head. "You couldn't possibly understand."

"I know what it's like to get pushed to the backburner and feel like you don't matter," he replied.

"You couldn't," I replied. "Not with the way you and Sam are..."

"Hey, I'm competing for attention too you know, with my son," he replied. "I realize that's not the same thing, but I mean, total nerd in school, being the tech producer who's only on camera when there's no other options? I understand what it's like to be overlooked! Hell, sometimes I even feel like that as far as Sam and I are concerned. She's always been the one to hold everyone's attention, you know?"

I was silent.

"You're not the only one who's romantically involved with...well, a star." He sat down next to me. "But you're a star too, Carls. In your own way. And after you record your album...come on, singers get way more attention than directors."

I shook my head. "It's not that. I'm losing him, Freddie." I was starting to feel dizzy, and not very good...

"No," he replied. "You're not. He loves you. But he doesn't know how to deal with the way you're acting. He doesn't need you complaining, he needs your support."

"He won't even stick around long enough for me to give him that," I sighed, and Freddie shrugged.

"Maybe not right now. But a time's gonna come where he really needs you, you know that. And if you're not there when the time comes, he's not gonna make it."

I was silent, unsure of what to say, and getting queasier by the second when the door creaked open, revealing Sam and Spencer.

Freddie stood up, stopping when I grabbed his arm.

"Carly?"

"I'm gonna puke..." I said weakly, putting my head between my legs.

"Oh lord, not the carpet!" Spencer yelled.

~*Freddie*~

"Maybe we should just stick to the whole us never drinking agreement," I told Sam after we'd walked out of Carly's room, Spencer giving us assurance we'd take care of her while we found Brad.

"Speaking of all that, are you still feeling okay?" Sam asked me, and I nodded.

"I feel fine, baby," I replied. "Not dizzy or anything."

She nodded. "That was really cool of you, corralling Carly like that."

I shrugged. "Hey, what was I gonna do, let her cheat on Brad? He'd certainly never let that happen to me."

Sam nodded again. "We should go find him."

I sighed. "At this rate we're never gonna..."

Sam stopped in her tracks and gave me a look, one I recognized, and I shook my head halfheartedly.

"We're supposed to find Brad..."

"Hold that thought," Sam replied as she looked around for a moment, leaning over the banister. "WENDY!"

The tiny redhead looked up and saw Sam frantically waving at her, and came around to the staircase.

"Hey, you guys!" she greeted us. "Wow, Sam, I love your dress!"

"Thanks!" Sam called back. "Hey, can you find Brad and tell him Carly's sick?"

Wendy frowned. "Is she alright?"

"Too much booze, but she'll be fine. Just...find Brad, okay? We have something to take care of?"

"Like making another baby?"

"WENDY!" I scolded her, and she just grinned at me.

"Yeah, I'll find him...you two have fun!" she winked at us, and then headed off to find Brad.

Sam smirked at me. "I've always liked her."

"Part of me feels kind of guilty about this," I told her as she dragged me off to the bedroom we were staying in.

Sam shut the door behind her, stepping toward me and planting a fiery kiss on my lips, one arm going around my neck and the other one grabbing my package, giving it a firm squeeze. I groaned against her lips.

"Not that part," she murmured against my mouth, kissing me again. She let her lips trail across my cheek to my neck, digging her teeth in a little. I moaned, my hands going to the backs of her thighs and pushing her dress up.

Sam backed me up until my legs hit the bed and then gave me a firm shove, sending me onto my back and suddenly straddling me.

"Damn, baby," I hissed as she went back to kissing my neck, all the while unbuttoning my shirt. "What's got you so worked up?"

"You," she replied, spreading my shirt apart. "I love you so much, Freddie..."

"I love you too, baby..." I managed to get out as she kissed over my chest. God, I loved her mouth...

She kissed lower and lower, over my chest, across my ribcage, nibbling, licking, and kissing all across my abs. I was already hard as steel, groaning as she nibbled on my hipbones while she made quick work of unbuckling my belt.

"Sam..." I hissed as she yanked my pants and boxers down, taking me into her mouth in one quick motion. "Oh my god, baby..."

She didn't respond, just continued to bob her head up and down, taking all of me in. I felt lightheaded and dizzy, my heart thundering inside my chest, and I knew it wasn't because of the alcohol I was test-driving tonight. No, I was completely drunk on my beautiful wife.

I realized she was focusing on me entirely, and while I loved that, I wanted to make her feel good too. I sat up, pushing her away and then picking her up and pulling her onto the bed with me, claiming her lips with a searing kiss. She moaned, the sound muffled against my lips, as I ran my hand under her dress and rubbing her through her silky panties.

"God, Freddie..." she whispered as I slid the tiny scrap of fabric aside and continued to rub.

"Mmm, feels like you're already ready to go..." I stated, kissing her neck.

"I am," she panted, bucking her hips against my hand. "Baby..."

"You're so fucking sexy, do you know that?" I told her as I reached around her to find the zipper on her dress and pulling it down, wasting no time yanking it down her beautiful body. I tossed the dress to the floor, sitting up so I could admire her in nothing but the black thong she wore and a pair of orange stilettos. "Jesus..."

"I need you, right now..." she panted. "Now..."

"Impatient, aren't we?" I teased as I shook my shirt off my shoulders and pulled my pants the rest of the way off, laying between her legs.

"You have no idea," she replied as she gripped my biceps and kissed my neck. I smirked at her.

"What, last night wasn't enough for you?" I taunted as I ground my hips into her. She shook her head, biting my shoulder.

"Never enough," she hissed. "Baby, please..."

"Oh, alright," I responded, kissing her slowly, trying to get her even more turned on. "I guess just this one time..."

I slid into her slowly, inch by inch, and then pulled halfway, eliciting a groan of frustration from her.

"Stop teasing me..." she begged. "Please..."

"Mmm, I love it when you beg..." I told her, suddenly slamming all the way into her.

"Aah!" she cried out, bucking her hips. "Oh god, baby..."

"Is it working for you, gorgeous?" I asked her as I thrust in and out of her slowly, rolling my hips. I hooked my arms under her legs, making it easier to hit that spot she liked, the one that drove her insane. As far as I was concerned, I could do this the rest of the night.

I'd never, ever get tired of making love to Sam. Ever. The way she whimpered into my neck at even the slightest movement of my hips, her legs trembling, nails digging into my back, begging for more...I'd never get enough. She was my light, my world, my everything.

"I love you so much, baby..." I whispered in her ear. "You feel so good..."

"You do too...oh! Freddie...don't stop...please don't stop!"

I would have liked to keep going, to never stop, but it was getting damn hard. I didn't know if it was because of the alcohol or because my wife was just SO damn hot, but it didn't matter, I was fighting a losing battle here!

"Sam..." I groaned. "Tell me you're close..."

"God, I'm so close..." she cried, bucking against me furiously. "Please..."

I reached between us to rub at her, eliciting another moan that bordered on a scream. "Take me with you..."

She was completely gone, unable to respond, eyes rolled back in her head, mouth opened, back arched, her entire body shaking. One of these days I really needed to bust out my camera and get a video of this exact moment, because it was the hottest thing ever.

"Yeah..." I encouraged her. "Come on, baby. Come for me...let me feel it...come on..."

"Freddie!" she cried out, her entire body tensing up. I felt her muscles clench around me, and at that moment, it was game over for me too.

"Shit, Sam!" I groaned as I exploded into her, seeing stars. "Fuck!"

I collapsed on top of her for a moment, completely out of breath as I tried to regain my bearings. I lifted my head to brush my lips across hers softly, and then pulled out to lay down next to her. Immediately she rolled over so she was snuggled against me, laying her head on my shoulder and tossing a leg over my waist. I put my arm around her, kissing her on top of her head.

"Sorry," I said. "I think it's the booze."

"What?" she asked, lifting her head.

"Could've been longer."

She shook her head, kissing me. "Don't worry about that...besides, we've got the rest of the night as well," she teased.

I grinned at her, and then let out a happy sigh. "Aside from Carly's stomach pyrotechnics, tonight's turning out to be a pretty good night."

"Yeah," she replied, kissing my neck. "I love you so much, baby. You know that, right?"

"Of course, sweetheart," I responded, staring up at the ceiling. We were quiet for a few minutes, trying to recover.

As much as we wanted to lay in bed and violate each other for the rest of the night, we both agreed that it'd be incredibly rude to just lay in bed during our entire party, and besides, Sam wanted to check on Carly. We both reluctantly got dressed, preparing to face everyone else.

"I want us both naked in this bed in no less than two hours, understand?" Sam asked as we headed for the bedroom door, swatting me on my ass. I laughed.

"Yes ma'am."

I opened the bedroom door, letting Sam walk out first, and as we headed for the stairs, we both stopped in our tracks, frowning. Something was off.

"The music's off," Sam commented. "That's really weird..."

"Where IS everyone?" I asked as I took her hand and we descended down the stairs.

The party had come to a screeching halt, and nearly all the party guests were gone. The only people I could see down in the foyer were Gibby and Melanie.

"What is going on?" Sam asked, then stopped in her tracks, grabbing my shoulder. "Shit!" she pointed.

I followed the direction she was pointing in and groaned. Spencer was standing near the front door talking to two cops. Oh, great!

"How'd we get a noise complaint this far out of town?" Sam cried. "Oh god, he's going to be SO mad at us..."

"Shit, I better call Uncle Milton, just in case..." I pulled my phone out of my pocket, noticing I had eight missed calls, all from my mom. Okay, weirdness was just abounding...

I abandoned the plan to call my uncle as Sam and I walked down the stairs and things had gone from weird to oh-my-god-something-is-really-wrong-here. Heather was sitting on the couch sobbing, while Chuck sat next to her rubbing her back, trying to comfort her. Oh great, noise complaint and an underage drinking bust? If that was the case the rest of us were going down too, we were only twenty!

Melanie spotted Sam and I coming down the stairs and rushed over to us, grabbing Sam by the arm.

"Sam, oh my god..." she breathed.

"What's going on?" Sam asked, concerned.

"It's...oh god..." Melanie bit her lip. "It's really bad."

"What is it?" Now I was really concerned. "Did we all get busted?"

Gibby walked over and stood next to Melanie. "Those cops are friends of Brad's dad."

I frowned. "Something happened to Brad's father?"

Gibby shook his head. "No. His mom."

Sam and I glanced at each other.

"So what? They don't even talk. She abandoned them, remember? Who cares?"

Gibby bit his lip.

"She killed herself, Sam."

My jaw dropped, and so did Sam's.

"Oh, god..." Sam covered her mouth with her hand.

"They came to Brad and Carly's, but they weren't there, and so they went to your mom's," Gibby told me. "I guess she sent them here."

I nodded. God, this was so bad...

"Where is Brad?" I asked.

"He's out back...Carly's trying to talk some sense into him..."

Sam's jaw set in a firm line, shaking her head.

"That selfish BITCH!" she exclaimed.

"Sam!" Gibby, Melanie and I all scolded her.

Without a word, Sam turned around and ran towards the back door, her heels making a clattering sound the whole way.

"Wait, Sam!" Melanie called, moving to go after her, but I grabbed her arm.

"Let her go. Let her talk to him."

Melanie shook her head. "I don't think you want that, Freddie..."

"What?" I asked. Melanie didn't respond, just shook her head. I sighed, throwing my hands up in frustration.

"Fine, I'm going too."


	90. Chapter 90

**A/N: Surprised to have another update so quickly? Believe it or not, I am too lol. Hope you guys enjoy! :D**

**Chapter 90**

~*Sam*~

I burst through the back door and onto the back porch, scanning it for Brad and Carly. I found Carly, but no sign of Brad.

"Carly?" I called as I rushed over to her. She turned and threw her arms around me, hugging me tightly.

"God, Sam, this is so bad..."

"Where's Brad?"

Carly didn't respond, just pointed out into the yard, over towards the little pond that was in Spencer and April's massive back yard. I could make out the outline of Brad, packing back and forth, jumping as he let out a yell that sounded like he was inches away from insanity.

"How long has he been like that?" I asked.

Carly shook her head. "Almost since the second he found out," she replied, biting her lip. "The officers told him, and he like...collapsed. Fell over. And then he got up, walked into the kitchen, walked out with one of the champagne bottles, and headed out here.

"So he's drunk?" I asked with a sigh. "Great."

"Sam, what am I going to do?" Carly asked. "You know how bad this is...the kids...I mean, how are they going to deal?"

I leaned against the railing, unsure of what to say.

"Who knows? I mean..." I trailed off. "I don't know."

"I don't even know how I'm supposed to be there for him with something like this," Carly said softly as she watched Brad pace back and forth back in the moonlight. "I mean, do I force him to talk? Wait until he comes to me?"

I shrugged. "I'm not sure. But one of us should go talk to him, right?"

Carly hesitated for a minute. "Maybe you should do it."

"Me?" I asked. "You're the fiance!"

"And you're the one with all the parent drama, just like Brad. You're Catholic, just like Brad. You've been through all this shit, just like Brad..." she shook her head, looking down at the ground. "What am I supposed to do, Sam? He won't let me be there for him, and I... I don't know what to do!" she started to cry. "Sam...he was doing so good, and she had to go and do this...and look at him! He's never going to recover from this..."

I hugged her, trying to calm her down. "Carly, he'll recover. Maybe not right away, but he will. And he needs you. He loves you."

"Yeah, but I don't know what to do or what to say. Or anything."

I opened my mouth to say something, but we both jumped at the sound of glass being smashed.

"Okay, we need to go down there. Both of us..."

The back door swung open, revealing Freddie, and he walked over to where Carly and I were standing.

"Where is he?" he asked.

Carly pointed at the pond. "There," she replied. "I'm pretty sure he's drunk, and..."

Smash! We heard the sound of glass being shattered, and Freddie groaned.

"Worse," he responded. He put his hands on the railing and pushed off, swinging his legs over the side. It was maybe a four foot drop, but it still scared the crap out of me.

"FREDDIE!" I cried as I ran to the railing. "What are you doing?!"

Freddie hit the ground pretty smoothly, not bothering to pause or hesitate at all as he took off running right for Brad. Carly and I exchanged worried looks, but rather than diving over the railing like Freddie had, we elected to take the stairs.

We reached Freddie and Brad. Freddie was standing next to Brad, looking extremely worried, while Brad was crouched down, his head in one hand. I looked at his right arm, holding the neck of the smashed champagne bottle, and let out a gasp, covering my mouth as I took in the trickle of blood streaming from the inside of his arm.

"So you're going to try to kill yourself now too?!" I cried.

"Oh, god, Brad..." Carly knelt down next to him, pushing his hair off his face and kissing his forehead. "You can't do this..."

"He's not trying to kill himself..." Freddie responded, glancing up at me, and then looking down at Brad. "Dude, you got three seconds to drop that thing, or I tackle you and get it myself."

I stared at Freddie. "I didn't know he was a cutter."

"Why would you do that, baby?" I could hear Carly saying softly to Brad, kissing the side of his face. "Why?"

Brad shook his head, looking at the ground. "My fault."

"It's not your fault..." Carly tried to comfort him, but he shook his head.

"I told her to drop dead," he responded, sounding like he was still having trouble believing it. "So she did. My fault."

"No, Brad, no..." Carly said.

I couldn't even think of anything rational to say. This was beyond anything I was used to dealing with. I'd known people that had died before, but I'd never known anyone to take their own life. It was absolutely unthinkable.

Freddie nudged Brad with his foot. "Brad. The bottle," he reminded him.

Brad shook his head, not even bothering to look at Freddie. "No."

"Brad," Freddie warned through gritted teeth. "I am not going to let you shut down like this. I am not going to let you do something stupid."

Brad sprang to his feet so suddenly that Carly fell over, and Freddie took a step back, caught off guard.

"Don't tell me what to do," Brad replied evenly, staring Freddie down. With that, he turned on his heel and walked away, headed in the direction of where the property line ended and the woods began.

"Brad!" Carly cried, moving to go after him, but Freddie put a hand on her shoulder.

"I'll get him, okay? But...you have things you have to do, Carly."

Carly looked perplexed. "I do?"

"Yeah," he responded. "You have to take over now, Carly. You know that, right?"

"But...I don't know what to do," she bit her lip.

"Call his grandparents," Freddie responded. "And...Heather. She needs you too."

"But..." Carly looked like she wanted to burst into tears again.

"Carly, you can do this, okay?" Freddie told her. Carly looked dubious. "Okay?"

She took a deep breath, biting her lip, fresh tears streaming down. "Okay," she responded. "Okay. I can do this."

"Go get Spencer. He'll help you," Freddie said, and I instantly got what he meant by that. It may not have been a suicide, but Freddie had lost a parent too. His father had died. While Carly had also lost a parent, she'd been too young to remember, and didn't know the whole process that went into dealing with someone who had died.

Carly managed a small nod. "Okay."

"Don't fight with anyone. Don't place blame," Freddie warned her. "I mean it. Not a single negative word. You got it?"

"Yeah..."

"Carly," Freddie said firmly, tapping the bottom of her chin. "You got it?"

"Yeah, I got it," she replied, sounding a little more sure of herself this time.

"Okay," he nodded. "Now go."

With a final shaky nod, Carly turned around and ran back to the house. Freddie turned to me, and grabbed my hand, leading me towards the woods.

"Come on," he said, then stopped in his tracks suddenly.

"What is it?" I asked.

He let go of my hand and his hands went to his shirt and suddenly pulled it open, buttons flying everywhere. He pulled it off and placed it around my shoulders.

"It's cold out here," he murmured, taking my hand again.

That was Freddie. The whole world could be falling apart around him, and he'd still make sure everything was okay with me.

"This is so bad, Freddie," I stated as we set off to look for Brad.

"No kidding..." Freddie grunted. "I hope he makes it through this one." He paused, looking around. "BRAD!" He listened for a moment, then growled under his breath. "BRAD! Get over here before I kick your ass!"

"Freddie!" I hissed, hitting him in the chest, but he just waved me off.

"I got this, okay?"

"You think being a dick to him is going to help?" I shot back, and Freddie glared at me.

"Over my dead body am I going to let him blame himself over this shit. You saw what it did to me, I'll be damned if I let him go through the same shit...BRAD!"

"Leave me alone!" I heard Brad yell off in the distance.

"Not a chance in hell, man! Now come out!"

Freddie and I walked in the direction of Brad's voice, both of getting more and more frustrated when we kept coming up empty-handed. Oh god, where was he? I really hoped he didn't do something stupid...

"How long have you known he was a cutter?" I asked Freddie as we continued to walk through the woods. "Aah!" My foot caught on a root and I almost went down, but Freddie caught me without even looking at me.

"You never noticed all those scars on his arms?" Freddie asked me, and I shook my head, feeling guilty that I'd never caught them. "They're all really old, so I figured he'd stopped...but I guess he relapsed."

"Kind of a good reason to relapse..." I muttered.

"Yeah, but it's not gonna happen..." Freddie responded. "Dude! I am freezing my ass off right now, you wanna come out already?!"

"What part of fuck off didn't you get?" I heard Brad yell back, and Freddie swore under his breath.

"Stay here," he told me. "Don't move."

"Okay..." I said uncertainly, pulling Freddie's shirt around me tighter.

Freddie took off in a run, and I struggled to see in the direction he was heading, only the dim moonlight illuminating the woods. I heard a scuffle and some yelling, and then a thud, and I took off in the direction of the sound, ignoring Freddie's orders.

"GET OFF ME!" I heard Brad yell. I ran up to them to find Brad sprawled on the ground with Freddie pinning him to the ground, the broken bottle neck laying on the ground. I quickly picked it up and threw it further into the woods.

Freddie rose to his feet and grabbed Brad by the shirt collar, yanking him to his feet.

"You don't cut yourself, you don't go running off into the woods like a maniac, and you do NOT blame yourself, you got it?!" Freddie yelled at Brad, shaking him for effect. "Do you?"

Brad shoved Freddie away forcefully, snarling at him. "You don't understand."

"No, I get it, Brad! I get it real good!" Freddie replied. "Man up, okay?"

"FREDDIE!" I shouted at him. "Enough!"

"No," he said, glaring at me. "It is not enough." He turned back to Brad. "She was mentally unstable, Brad, and you know it. This is NOT your fault!"

"I told her to drop dead!" Brad yelled.

"And she did it to spite you!" Freddie responded, still holding onto his arm. "Brad, it's not your fault!"

"I pushed her over the edge," Brad responded, his voice quivering. "I killed my mother."

"You didn't kill your mother, Brad," I said softly, taking a hesitant step toward him. "She took her own life."

"Because she felt like she had no other choice! We all turned our backs on her!" he shot back, visibly shaking. I couldn't stop looking at his arm and the steady stream of blood running down it. God, how had things gotten so messed up, so fast?

Freddie put both his hands on the sides of Brad's face, staring him down. "She left you. And tried to quell her own guilt by coming back. But it ate her alive. You cannot blame yourself for her choices."

"Let go of me," Brad said weakly, refusing to meet Freddie's eyes, growling at him when Freddie suddenly gave his head a firm shake.

"No. I have seen what it does to people when they blame themselves. I LIVED it. I will NOT let you do the same, do you understand me?!"

Brad shook his head. "You don't get it, your dad died in a car accident! He didn't commit suicide! Do you know what happens to people who take their own lives?!" He pushed Freddie back. "DO YOU?!"

"No, Brad, no...not everybody believes that," I said hastily, trying to calm him down a little. "It's not true!"

"Don't tell me what to believe, Sam!" Brad barked.

Freddie glanced over me, his eyes clearly looking for clarification. I sighed, running a hand through my hair.

"Some Catholics, not all, but some...believe that if you take your own life, you automatically go to hell," I explained. Freddie's eyes closed for a moment, shaking his head, and then looked back at Brad.

"Brad..." he said. "That's not true. The hell was her own mind, okay?"

"You don't know that!" he shouted. "Dammit!" He suddenly whirled around and punched a tree, hard, and I grimaced. Great, more blood to clean up. Brad let out a shout of pain and then just gave up, kneeling down on the ground, taking deep, rapid breaths.

Freddie dropped to the ground too, his hand on Brad's shoulder.

"Brad, look at me."

Brad continued to look at the ground.

"Look at me."

Finally, Brad slowly lifted his head, staring at Freddie with a broken, wounded expression on his face.

"You did not kill your mother," Freddie said.

"But I did," Brad said softly, his voice cracking.

"You can't..." Freddie's voice cracked too, and he swallowed. "You can't shut down, okay? I won't let you. Your brother and sisters need you. We all need you. You can't shut down."

"How do you move forward after something like this?" Brad asked.

I hung back, unsure of what to do. This was totally uncharted territory for me, losing a parent. I mean REALLY losing one. Both of my parents had walked out, but Freddie had REALLY lost his dad. His dad would never come back. And neither would Brad's mom.

In the past, Brad and I had the 'fucked up family' thing in common, but what had just happened was a lot deeper, and I knew that what was happening right now would irrevocably tie Freddie and Brad together for the rest of their lives. They'd been best friends for years, but this? This was deeper.

Freddie shook his head, shrugging. "You just do."

"I don't think I can, man..." Brad stated, looking down at the ground. "I can't."

"Get up." Freddie said, rising to his own feet. He looked down at Brad, extending his hand. "I said get up. Rise above." When Brad wouldn't comply, Freddie sighed. "Brad, you're going to survive this. But not by running from it, and not by punishing yourself."

Brad slowly rose to his feet, still looking angry. Looking angry at Freddie.

"It's not the same thing, and you fucking know it!" Brad spat. "I don't need you to coddle me!"

"No, you need a swift kick in the ass!" Freddie responded, shaking his head. "You have to keep going!"

"You've been dealing with this for twelve years, I've been dealing with it for twelve minutes, you jack ass!" Brad hollered, and my eyes widened when I saw Brad swing on Freddie. Freddie ducked pretty effortlessly, catching Brad's arm and pinning it behind his back, the other hand going to the back of Brad's neck, forcing him to make eye contact.

"I am not fucking letting you go through this alone," he said lowly in Brad's ear. I expected Brad to struggle, push Freddie away, try to hit him again, but instead he just broke down, his face and resolve crumbling as he burst into sobs.

Freddie let go of Brad's arm and just stood there, letting Brad cry on him, not speaking, not moving. I couldn't do anything except stand there and watch, tears springing from my own eyes. In a matter of minutes, I'd seen one of my best friends fall apart. I felt so bad for Brad, but I also felt a sense of overwhelming awe and admiration for my husband. No matter what, Freddie was one of the most noble men on the planet. The best man I'd ever known, hands down. I was so lucky to have him as mine.

Brad finally began to calm down after a few moments, and Freddie took a step back to look at him better.

"You gotta hold it together, man, okay?" Freddie asked Brad, slowly, as if he were talking to a small child. Brad managed a nod, and Freddie squeezed his arm reassuringly. "I'm here. And Sam's here. And Carly, and Spencer, and everyone. We're not gonna let you go through this alone."

Brad nodded again. "Okay," he said, taking a deep breath.

"Come on, we gotta go back. Heather needs you, and..." Freddie grabbed Brad's arm, examining his sliced up forearm. "Yeah, I gotta take a look at this. You look like you really did a number on it."

Brad shrugged. "Probably," he replied, sounding like he didn't care one way or another. He wiped his face, and I grimaced at the trail of blood it left behind on his cheek. He finally seemed to notice me standing there, and shrugged again. "Pathetic?"

I shook my head. "No. Not at all."

He nodded, biting his lip. "This fucking hurts, Sam."

"I know," I replied, walking over to him and hugging him. He hugged me back tightly, only pulling away when I started to.

"I need Carly," he said, staring at the ground.

"We'll take you to her, alright?" Freddie asked. Brad nodded again, and Freddie put a hand on his shoulder. "Come on."

~*Carly*~

"Hey, guys?" Spencer stuck his head in the dining room, where Freddie, Sam, Brad and I currently sat. "Heather's asleep finally."

"Where's Chuck?" I asked.

"With Heather."

Brad mumbled something unintelligible, and I quietly shhh'd him, stroking his hair.

"Relax, baby...I don't think they'd...do anything."

Brad was sitting on a chair facing away from the table, which I was currently sitting on, my legs on either side of him, as I rubbed his shoulders and his neck, trying to keep him calm.

The Brad that Freddie and Sam had brought out of the woods was not the same Brad I'd known before. I'd seen him depressed before, but this was different. He was a completely broken man, his eyes radiating with exhaustion and pain. He sat there numbly, staring off into the distance but not really looking at anything.

To top it off, none of us had any clue that Brad was a cutter, or that he had been. Freddie seemed like the only one who had a clue. I felt horrible that I'd never caught it, until Heather had informed me that he'd stopped shortly after their family had moved to Seattle. This was the first time he'd had another flare-up.

"Here," Sam said as she walked back into the dining room, handing Freddie a wet towel.

"Thanks, honey," Freddie told her, sitting down in front of Brad. "Be still," he told him, leaning forward to wipe the blood and dirt off Brad's face. I felt like I should have been the one doing all of this, but something about Freddie just suited him to this kind of thing. "You got the other stuff I asked for?" he called over his shoulder to Sam.

"Yeah, it's here," she said. "But all I could find was just a regular sewing needle."

Freddie shrugged. "It'll do." His eyes flicked up to Brad's. "Might hurt more though."

Brad shrugged, letting out a sigh, and I leaned down to kiss his cheek once Freddie had wiped the blood away. God, did I owe Freddie. I had no clue what had gone down in the woods, I was just grateful Freddie had gotten to him. The cuts were pretty severe, one in particular. I was pretty sure Brad wouldn't try to take his own life, but he was in so much emotional pain right now, feeling so overwhelmed with guilt, he actually thought he deserved the pain.

"Sam, put some peroxide on that cloth and then hand it back to me," Freddie ordered, acting like he was an old pro at this, but then I realized, he was. The night Sam had shown up on his doorstep, all beaten and bloody. He'd stitched her up and gotten her back to her fighting shape like it was nothing. And I had a feeling she wasn't the first one he'd done that for. I didn't know much about what it had been like for Freddie when his father died, all I knew was that his mom had changed virtually overnight.

Then I got it. He'd was used to losing people, not just from death, but from emotional pain. That was why he'd coached me on what I had to do. He'd done for his mom exactly what I was going to have to do with Brad.

Freddie pressed the peroxide-soaked cloth to Brad's forearm, dabbing away all the blood and grit, and Brad hissed a little, but took it nonetheless. I continued to stroke his hair and rub his shoulders, whispering in his ear how much I loved him.

Everything I'd been upset about seemed so silly, so irrelevant, at this point. Brad was in so much pain right now, I had no choice but to drop everything I was upset over, and the thing was, I couldn't even remember why I was upset. I was just so scared for Brad, and I hurt for him. It hurt me to see him hurting like this. I wanted to curl up into a ball and cry, but I couldn't. I had to be strong, because he wasn't capable of it right now.

I became aware of a faint beeping sound, and Freddie looked down at his watch.

"Sam," he said, glancing at her. "I have to take my insulin. Can you get it for me?"

"Yeah," she replied. "I'll be right back."

Sam left the room, leaving me and Freddie alone with Brad, who wasn't exactly 'with us' at the moment. I cleared my throat, continuing to rub Brad's neck.

"You're really good at this," I commented to Freddie, who shrugged.

"I learned pretty early," he responded, focused on cleaning all the crud off Brad's arm. He glanced up at me. "My mom checked out, after...you know."

"And you took care of her," I filled in. Freddie nodded.

"Yeah. I had to. No one else would."

"And then with Sam..."

Freddie shrugged again. "I take care of the people I love." He looked back down at Brad's arm and grimaced. "Dude, you got both arms messed up now. Maybe you should have gotten some tats instead."

Brad snorted, and I leaned forward to see a slight smile pass across his lips, and then vanish. It was small, but it was still progress.

Freddie looked back up at me pointedly, as if to say, 'this is your job now, Carly.' He cleared his throat, still looking at me.

"After this is done, we need to talk," he told me. "I just...I need to prepare you for some stuff, okay? It's not going to be easy."

"I can take care of myself," Brad said indignantly, but it seemed like he said it more out of obligation than actually meaning it.

"Shaddap," Freddie replied, lightly smacking him on the face. "You have full permission to check out mentally for a little while, so chill."

Brad sighed. "Fine."

"Okay," I said to Freddie. "We'll talk."

Brad looked up at me. "I can take of myself, Carly."

I leaned forward and kissed him, slowly, passionately, enough that it got his mind off everything that was happening. "But you don't have to," I told him. "I'm here."

"I'm sorry for neglecting you, I..."

I cut him off with another kiss. "Stop."

Freddie finished cleaning the wound out and looked over it critically, thinking.

"This is gonna hurt like a bitch, you know that, right?" he asked Brad, and Brad shrugged again. "I am not giving you alcohol...GIBBY!" Freddie yelled. "Come in here!"

"Is the blood gone!?" Gibby yelled back fearfully.

"Yeah! We need your...stuff!"

A moment later, Gibby and Melanie walked in. Melanie pulled up a chair next to Brad. I eyed her but didn't say anything.

"Brad...I'm really sorry," she said softly.

Brad bit his lip, looking at the ground. "Thanks," he responded simply.

I watched Gibby pull a weirdly shaped glass pipe out of his pocket, stuffing it full of reefer, and then presented it to Brad, a few inches from his face.

"Here, I'll hold it for you," he told him. "Just inhale." He lit it for Brad as well, Brad inhaling deeply until he began coughing up a storm. I grimaced at the smell, but didn't say anything. The last thing he needed right now was for me to chide him about this.

"More, he'll need it," Freddie told Gibby.

"Freddie, what makes you so sure you can do this?" Melanie asked worriedly as she watched Freddie sterilize the needle with alcohol.

"You know that scar Sam has on her forehead?"

"No..." Melanie replied, confused.

"Yeah, exactly," he replied. Melanie looked even more confused, trying to look to me or Gibby or Brad for clarification.

"Your mom split Sam's head open with a beer bottle the night she and Freddie...well, started their whole thing. Freddie stitched her head up, like it was nothing."

"Wow," Melanie commented. "And now you're fixing Brad..."

"Well, as much as he can be fixed. He is Brad, after all..." Freddie nudged Brad with his leg and Brad managed a small laugh, but I could tell it was forced.

Sam showed back up, wrinkling her nose at the smell. "It smells like a skunk in here," she commented. "You guys better not give Freddie a contact buzz..."

"I'm fine sweetheart," Freddie told her.

"I've got your meds," Sam told him.

Freddie nodded, trying to focus on threading the needle. "Do you mind?" he asked her. "I'm a little busy."

"Sure," Sam replied, lifting his shirt and inserting the insulin pen into his stomach, then withdrawing after a few moments. Melanie and Gibby looked horrified.

"You guys are all WAY too comfortable with each other..." Melanie commented.

The four of us made an uncomfortable eye contact.

She was absolutely right. We were way, way too comfortable with each other, too heavily invested in each other's lives. But really, what choice did we have? We'd all been through so much together, the four of us, that we'd become more than friends. Sam and I were like sisters. Freddie and Brad were like brothers. But we were more than family too. There were strange underlying attractions that crossed lines and yet never did, and they never would, but at the same time, they'd never go away.

I don't think any of us understood it, but at the same time, none of us would ever change it.

I leaned down to whisper in Brad's ear as Freddie began stitching up his arm.

"I love you," I whispered. "I'm here."

Brad nodded, staring ahead. "Promise me something."

"Anything."

"No matter what happens, you won't ever leave."

"I promise," I responded.

Freddie finished up the stitches as quickly as he could, and I could tell by the way Brad kept tensing up that he was in a lot of pain, but he didn't show it, or even make any noise. Finally he was finished, snipping the thread with a pair of scissors and knotting it off.

"It'll hold for the night, but tomorrow when you go back to Bushwell, swing by my mom's, she'll re-do it. You still got any of those painkillers left?"

Brad nodded, seeming more exhausted than before.

"You'll need them. Right now, just take some tylenol to get rid of the swelling."

I shook my head. "You really should have became a doctor, Freddie..."

Freddie shrugged. "You know I like computers more than people. You guys are just the exception."

"I feel so special," Brad said flatly.

"Well, looks like he's not totally gone..." Sam commented. Again, Brad, managed a small smile.

Freddie nodded. "Hey, sweetheart, make sure he gets upstairs okay?"

Sam nodded. "Will do," she replied. "Come on, Brad."

"I'm not tired," he argued. "I need to check on Heather."

"She's unconscious, dude," Sam responded with a roll of her eyes. "As you should be."

"I'm fine..."

"Brad, go to bed!" Freddie and I both scolded.

He rolled his eyes. "Fine."

Sam ushered Brad out of the dining room and towards the upstairs, leaving Freddie and I alone. He got up and headed into the kitchen, and I followed him, hopping up onto the counter as he bent over the sink, trying to scrub the blood of his hands. Brad's blood. I shook my head, letting out a sigh.

"I can't believe this is happening," I commented.

Freddie nodded. "I thought my days of makeshift stitches were over...you know, at least until Freddie Jr. started learning to ride a bike."

"You were really good with him. Brad, I mean..." I said, and Freddie shrugged.

"I'm just good at dealing with people when they're breaking down, you know? I don't know why..."

"It's pretty cool though," I replied. "I mean, I could never pull myself together like that, you know?"

"You've never had to," he replied. He shut off the water, turning to look at me. "But now you do."

I looked down, playing with my nails. "So what do I have to do?"

"Everything."

I looked up at Freddie in shock, but his face offered no hints of sympathy.

"He's going to want to step up and take the macho role, but you're not going to let him, understand?" he asked. I looked at him uncertainly, and he continued. "Let him be there for his siblings emotionally, but other than that, that's it. He's been the rock for awhile, but he needs the space...and the acceptance, to be the weak one."

I bit my lip, not saying anything, and Freddie hopped up onto the counter next to me. "There's going to be some mornings he won't want to get out of bed, and you'll have to make him. You'll have to remind him to eat, to shower, to go to bed. All of that. If he needs counseling, make him go."

"But how will I..."

"You'll know, Carly," he responded.

I sighed, running a hand through my hair. "I'm so not ready for this."

"I know you're not. But...I'll help you figure out what to do, okay?"

I nodded, and Freddie sat there for a moment, thinking.

"Make sure the kids keep going too. If you have to pay Paula extra to stay on later, do it. I'm going to talk to Gibby about taking over for Brad for the next week or so...we'll pay him." He nudged me. "Hey."

I looked up at him.

"When guys go through bad shit, sometimes it helps to..." he trailed off. "Just remind him that he's a man, you're a woman..."

"Sex doesn't fix everything, Freddie," I commented.

"No, it doesn't fix anything, but sometimes it's a very much needed distraction," he replied. "Just...be there for him. In every way you can." He hopped down from the counter. "Speaking of that, I need to go find out where Sam's head is, and fix what's going on in there if need be." He paused, turning back to me.

"Don't let him ID the body, Carly. Let his grandparents do it. I just don't think he'll be able to handle it."

"I'd never..." I trailed off. "I hope I can do this, Freddie."

"You'll be fine, Carly," he gave my leg a reassuring squeeze. "I have faith in you."

"Thanks," I said softly.

Freddie gave me an encouraging smile, and then left, headed off to crawl into bed with Sam. I needed to do the same thing with Brad. I hopped down from the counter and went upstairs, into the bedroom I'd be sharing with Brad. I kicked off my heels, shutting the door behind me and crawled into bed with Brad, as quietly as I could.

"I'm not asleep," he announced in the darkness.

"Oh..." I said softly. As my eyes adjusted to the darkness, I could see Brad laying on his back, staring up at the ceiling.

"This hurts so bad, Carly..." he said. "I feel like somebody ripped my heart out of my chest."

"I know..." I said softly, rolling over to face him. He took my hand, interlacing my fingers with his.

"How do you do it?"

"Do what?"

"You never had a mother..."

I sighed, trying to think of something to say. "I...I never knew her, Brad. I didn't know any better. But...I know that I felt guilt."

"You did?" he asked absentmindedly, tracing little circles over my arm. I nodded.

"She died from complications in child birth. I thought...you know, that I had killed her." Brad stiffened up. "But I didn't. I didn't kill my mother. And neither did you."

"I wish I could believe that," Brad replied, his voice cracking a little. He was silent for a moment, then let out a shaky sigh. "God, Carly, is it ever going to stop hurting?"

"Yes," I reassured him. "Little by little."

"I hope you're right."

"I am," I replied, putting my arms around him. "And I'm here. You know that, right? I'll be here. Whatever you need."

"I feel like I always ask so much of you..." Brad complained.

"And I feel like I always demand so much of you."

Brad laughed, in spite of the fact that he was trying not to cry. "I love you so much, Carly, I'm so sorry for everything..."

"Shhh," I kissed him softly. "Stop. It doesn't matter. What matters is that I love you, and I'm not leaving." With that, I pushed him onto his back, startling him.

"Wha-"

I shushed him again, kissing him fiercely as I straddled him, unbuttoning his pants and hurriedly pulling them down.

"Carly..." he moaned against my mouth. "You don't have to..."

"But I want to," I replied. "I just want you to stop hurting. If only for a little while..."

"Oh, god..." he grunted as I slid down his body and took him in my mouth.

Janet Harrison was gone, and she would never be coming back. She had left behind five children, four of whom I was responsible, all of whom I loved, and one of them I would never stop loving. Even if I felt ignored, or insecure, I loved him. I didn't want him to hurt, no matter what. I felt like I was finally getting it. Love wasn't about being happy all the time, or acting like couples in the movies. Love was about being there for each other, no matter what.

And right then and there, I decided to forget about the past, and the insecurities, and everything, and simply love him.

After all, he needed me.


	91. Chapter 91

**A/N: As you'll be able to tell from this chapter, I'm starting to wrap up the second verse to Sam and Freddie's ballad. Just a few more chapters here, and that'll be it. But there's a third one in the the works! This story grew to have a mind and life of its own, and for the most part, I've had an absolute blast doing it. I hope you guys enjoyed reading it as much as I enjoyed writing it. :)**

**Chapter 91**

~*Brad*~

Tap tap tap.

I cracked an eye open and sighed, staring at the ceiling, squinting a little as I tried to adjust to the bright sunlight streaming through the windows.

For a minute, I forgot where I was and what had happened the night before. The whole thing felt like a bad dream. But of course, it wasn't.

My mom was dead, at her own hands, and regardless of what my friends had to say about it, it was largely my fault. If I had just listened to her for one second instead of being so wrapped up in my own anger...

Tap tap tap.

I groaned, pulling the sheets over my head.

"What?"

I heard the door creak open slowly, and then the sound of Sam's voice.

"Hey man..."

"Hey," I said, not bothering to pull the sheets off my head. A minute later though, I felt Sam grip the edge of it and tug it down.

"How you feeling?" she asked.

I groaned. "How do you think, Sam?" I didn't bother to look at her, just continued staring at the ceiling.

"I brought you some coffee."

"Where's Carly?" I replied.

"She's downstairs...she's a little busy right now..."

"Doing what?"

"Fielding calls," Sam replied. "Off your phone and hers."

I frowned. "My phone?"

"Yeah...your management company's been blowing your phone up this morning. Apparently they want to get you a publicist..."

I groaned. "I cannot even begin to worry about that right now."

Sam nodded. "Which is why she's taking care of it. Here, drink this."

I sat up, taking the mug from her and chugged it quickly, not caring that it burned my mouth. I seemed immune to physical pain at the moment. Well, maybe not immune, I thought with a grimace as I became aware of my arm throbbing, but it just didn't seem to bother me at the minute.

"So..." Sam trailed off awkwardly, trying to think of something to say.

"Sorry for ruining the party, Blondie," I offered, and she snorted.

"Don't worry about it."

"It was my party too," I heard another voice speak up, and I turned to find Melanie on the other side of the bed.

You know, even when you're aware of two people being identical twins, waking up to find two identical faces on either side of you is a little jarring first thing in the morning, and I let out a little yell of alarm.

"Jesus," I grunted.

"Sorry," Melanie said, sitting down on the bed. "How's the arm?"

"It's still there, so I guess it's alright..."

"It looks pretty gross."

"Melanie," Sam hissed through gritted teeth, and Melanie shot her a wounded look.

"What?" she responded. "I'm just saying..."

"Anyway," Sam interrupted with a roll of her eyes. "Carly's handling all the...technical stuff..."

I eyed her carefully. "Technical stuff?"

Sam looked down at the floor. "Um, your grandparents are on the way up to..."

"...ID the body?" I sighed, and Sam grimaced.

"I'm sorry, Brad..."

"Don't be. I'm not up to it." I chugged more of my coffee, setting it down on the bedside table. "You know, I don't know who to be more pissed off at...the cops for not taking all the firearms out of the house after my dad got locked up, or her...for picking such a...well..." I trailed off, not wanting to finish my statement. All I could think about was having to go into that apartment and go through everything with my mother's brains blown all over the wall. I groaned, falling back into bed, just wanting to forget everything, but then I had another thought that pulled me out of bed in a flash.

"Where's Heather?" I asked, throwing the sheets off and standing up.

"Wait!" Melanie practically dove across the bed and threw her hand over Sam's face.

"Melanie!" Sam yelled, shoving her away.

"What the hell, Mel?" I asked, looking at her like she was insane.

Melanie didn't say anything, just gestured to me, and I rolled my eyes when I realized she meant I was in nothing but my boxers.

"You are ridiculous," Sam growled at her in warning. "But on that note, we better clear out, Carly's gonna have a fit if she walks in here and sees you half naked with identical twins."

"I think you guys are overreacting a little..." I replied. "It's not like you've never seen a naked dude before..." I glanced over at Melanie. "Well, maybe not you..."

She rolled her eyes. "You're funny. And anyway, Sam has a point. It's something straight out of a porno."

I threw a shirt on. "I gotta go check on Heather."

"She's okay, all things considered," Sam replied. "Carly and Spencer are taking pretty good care of her. Freddie too."

I grunted. "I'm gonna owe those three majorly when all this is over."

Sam shook her head. "No way, man. We don't keep score, remember?"

"Well, whatever," I responded. "I'll be downstairs in a second..."

"Here, catch," Melanie tossed a bottle of pills my way.

"How do you keep getting ahold of these things?" I asked her, and she shrugged.

"I work the system."

I tossed a look over at Sam. "Thought you were the con artist."

She shrugged. "It runs in the family." She grabbed Melanie's arm. "We'll be downstairs."

After the twins cleared out, I went into the bathroom to take one of the pills and then try to collect myself. I sighed, looking in the mirror. I looked like absolute shit. I had no idea what time it was, or what time I'd gone to sleep, but it still felt like it wasn't enough. I wanted to just crawl back into bed and sleep my entire life away, but I didn't have the option of doing that. I truly did not have the option of falling apart the way I wanted to. My brother and sisters needed me, now more than ever, and if I kept neglecting Carly the way I had before, she'd walk, regardless of what she said. I couldn't possibly pin all of this on her shoulders.

Last night, I had been absolutely beside myself with grief, but the more I thought about it, the angrier I was.

After everything Heather and Bryson and Leah had been through, losing a father to a prison sentence he'd sustained just trying to protect his daughter, and then having my mom just abandon them, she had to turn around and do THIS? How selfish could one person be?

That was Janet, selfish to the core. My sadness was beginning to melt away, replaced by a whole new level of hatred I'd never felt for her before. What a miserable, horrible person she was...

I walked out of the bathroom and pulled on my pants and then glanced down at my arm. Freddie had done a pretty bang-up job stitching it back together, that was for sure. If I would have done it, I would have ended up looking like that chick from Nightmare Before Christmas. I definitely owed that kid a big one.

Sighing, I headed downstairs, in the direction of the kitchen, where I heard talking.

"...so then, she tells me they invented a new number."

I heard Heather's voice.

"A new number?"

"Yeah. Called derf."

I poked my head in to find Heather and Chuck sitting at the bar, Spencer at the stove, and Carly walking around in idle circles talking on the phone. "Hey..."

Everyone stopped what they were doing, staring at me.

"I'm gonna have to call you back," Carly said into the phone, hanging up immediately. She put the phone down, walking over to me. "Hey, baby. How are you feeling?"

I shrugged. "I'm alive." I hopped up on the bar. "So what the hell is derf?"

Spencer glanced over at me sitting at the counter. "Brad, don't...OW!" he hollered as Carly smacked him in the back of the head.

"Leave him alone," she stated.

I shook my head, getting off the counter. "It's fine."

"Your grandparents are on the way here..." Carly told me.

"Like, here here or just Seattle in general?"

"Here here," Spencer replied. "You guys can crash here for a little while...I figured you didn't want to stay at the loft."

I nodded, thinking. "Well, if that's the case, we have to go pick some stuff up."

"Yeah, I figured we'd go in a little while," Carly responded.

"We have a lot to do..." I said. "Carly, come on..." I gestured with my head in the direction of the living room, indicating I wanted to talk out of earshot of everyone else.

She followed me into the living room and I collapsed on the couch, staring up at the ceiling, then glanced at her.

"Come here, Carly."

She sat down next to me and I grabbed her arm, pulling her to me so her body was laid over mine, curling her hair around my fingers. Her hair was still a little damp from her morning shower, and as I breathed in and out, all I could smell was her shampoo, which smelled like roses and some other flower I couldn't put my finger on. I loved the way she smelled.

"I need this right now," I murmured, taking a deep breath.

Her hand went to the side of my neck, stroking my skin there lightly with her nails. It gave me chills, but in a good way.

"So Sam said you have my phone..."

"Yeah," she said. "Your management called. They wanted you to meet with your new publicist this week, out in LA..."

"What'd you tell them?"

"I said you were having family issues, but you'd let them know."

I groaned. "I can't go to LA, I have a funeral to plan."

"You know your grandparents can help with that stuff..."

I shrugged. "I feel like it's not their responsibility. It's mine."

"It doesn't have to be."

"I feel like it's the least I can do, you know? God, at least mid-terms passed by, I don't know how I'd be able to manage that..." I sighed. I was quiet for a few minutes, thinking. "I want to hire someone to clean out that apartment, Carly. I don't think I'll be able to handle it myself."

"No," Carly agreed. "And I wouldn't want you to."

"So I have to call the funeral home and make arrangements, pick out a coffin, call Bryson and Heather's schools and get them pulled out for the next week..."

"Brad..."

"Extend Paula's hours and negotiate a pay rate for that...man, it's a good thing I sold that screenplay, the twenty grand's really gonna come in handy...I have to talk to Dad, tell him, find out if she had a will or not..."

"Brad..."

"And we still have to get the show worked out for next week..."

"Honey," Carly lifted her head and covered my mouth with her hand. "Let me help you, okay? You don't need all this on your shoulders. And Freddie and I were talking...it might be best that you take a little time off from the show."

I shook my head. "No, I can't do that. Maybe he could have pulled it off a few years ago, but the show's too big now. I can't put all the tech stuff on Freddie's shoulders."

"Gibby can take over."

At the mention of Gibby, I looked around. "Hey, where is Gibby anyway?"

"He said he had to go pick something up..."

"Thank god," I grunted. I was definitely in the market for a wake and bake, all things considered. "But I don't know about Gibby taking my place...it's a lot to handle."

"Freddie will train him."

"Where's Freddie?"

"He had to go get the baby," Carly responded. "He should be back any minute..."

I nodded, still thinking over what I had to do.

"Brad?" Carly spoke up, lifting her head again. "I don't want you to throw yourself into..." she trailed off. "You have to give yourself time."

I shook my head. "Time is something I don't have right now, babe." I sighed. I had to find something to get my mind off this, anything. "So...what's up with the label deal?"

Carly's eyebrows knitted together in confusion. "What?"

"The record label."

"Oh..." Carly looked surprised I was asking about it. "They want me to go out to LA for a few days, but I said it wasn't a good time..."

I nodded. "When this stuff blows over, we should just go at the same time, you know?"

"What about the kids?" Carly asked.

I shrugged. "We'll do it over a weekend or something, they can stay in Tacoma. Maybe we could even take Heather. It'd be good for her."

At the thought of Heather, I gently moved Carly off me and sat up. "I have to go talk to her."

Carly nodded. "Yeah. And then after that..." she bit her lip. "Just take it easy today, okay?"

I shook my head. "I'm sorry, Carly, I can't do that."

The front door swung open, and in walked Gibby, with Freddie close behind him.

"Dude, you wanna give me a hand over here with this damn thing?" I heard Freddie grunt, then I heard the characteristic babble of Freddie Jr. Just like his mother, the baby literally never stopped making noise.

Gibby rolled his eyes and turned around. "I don't see why you had to bring so much crap for such a small person."

I waved awkwardly. "Hey."

Freddie looked up and spotted me, trying to balance the baby, the diaper bag, and a few other bags as well. "Hey," he responded. "Didn't expect to see you up this early..."

I shrugged. "I have stuff to do."

Freddie didn't say anything, just gave Carly a look that indicated he wasn't too happy with her.

"Aaah!" We heard Gibby yell, and then a clattering sound. Freddie and I looked out the front door to find Gibby on his back with the portable playpen laying on top of him. Freddie and I both rolled our eyes.

"He's two hundred and ten pounds of solid muscle and he can't even get a Pak-n-Play through the door without tripping over it," Freddie observed in amazement.

"Dude, how are you even a..." I bit my lip when I realized Carly was still in the room. "Never mind." We'd all swore not to let any of the girls know about Gibby's occupation, but geez, the kid was uncoordinated.

"Oh, don't worry, I'm fine," Gibby grumbled, brushing himself off and dragging the playpen through the front door.

"Okay, well, I'm going to go talk to Heather," I said, then looked over at Gibby. "When I get done, it'd be really sweet if..."

"I got you, dude. Papers, wraps, and pipes a plenty."

Freddie and Carly exchanged looks and shook their heads, and Freddie let out a sigh.

"You need to to come up with a better way to deal, Brad, and you better not even think about smoking that shit around my son," he warned. So much for getting slack from Freddie. Not that I wanted it of course. As far as I was concerned, I'd behaved like a total pussy last night, and I wasn't too happy about my best friend having to treat me like a child.

"Come on, man, like I'd do that around your kid," I chided him, and he shrugged.

"Just saying. I'm gonna go find Sam and hand the baby off. Let me take a look at your arm when you get done talking to Heather." With that, he headed for the stairs. "You wanna go see mama?" I heard him say to Freddie Jr, who just babbled at him excitedly.

"Will do," I responded. I looked over at Carly. "Babe..."

"I'm gonna help Spencer finish up breakfast," she responded, obviously trying to give me some space.

"I'm gonna find Mel," Gibby told me, heading in the same direction as Freddie. "Come find me when you're done."

"Word," I replied. Everyone went their separate ways, leaving me alone for a moment. I took a deep breath, trying to sike myself up for the day, even though I'd already done it not half an hour ago.

I had a feeling I'd need a lot more than just a pep talk to keep me going...

~*Sam*~

As I sat on the bed drying my freshly washed hair, the door creaked open. I looked up to see Freddie walking in with the baby, and I gave both my boys a big smile, getting off the bed and taking Freddie Jr. out of my husband's arms.

"Hey pumpkin," I said, kissing his little head. "Mama missed you last night. You miss mama?"

"Ba ba ba ba ba..."

"No, it's ma ma ma ma ma..." I told him.

"Ba ba ba ba ba..."

I laughed. "I give up."

Freddie smirked at me. "He's still a little too young for that. I'm surprised he's even babbling this early. It's kind of unusual, from what I've read."

"Well that's because he got your nerd brains, sweetheart," I replied, kissing him. "Hi."

He smiled, kissing me again. "Hi." He flopped onto the bed, laying back. "I'm already exhausted."

I handed him the mug of coffee I'd been drinking out of, and he made a face as he sipped at it.

"Geez, Sam. Got enough sugar?"

"Well, now that you're here..."

"Cute," he responded, draining the coffee and handing it back to me. I set it on the table and laid back next to him, the baby laying between us.

"Did you see Brad?" I asked, reaching up to brush a few stray strands of hair off Freddie's forehead. He nodded.

"I did. He's acting like nothing's wrong. Like he did right after the fire. I'm worried, baby."

I shook my head. "He'll be okay. Eventually."

"I hope you're right, sweetheart," Freddie replied. I looked down at the baby, playing with his little hands. Freddie cleared his throat, and I looked up at him. "I got a phone call today."

"From who?" I asked.

"Cisco Systems."

I glanced back up at him. "The company you interned with?"

"Yeah," he replied. "They have an opening, and they thought of me. Well...requested me, is more like it."

My eyes widened. Cisco was notorious for being extremely difficult to get a job with, and Freddie hadn't even gotten his bachelor's yet...this was a major deal.

"So what are you going to do?"

He bit his lip. "I don't know, Sam...I mean, it's a full-time job, great starting salary, benefits..."

"But could you do the show AND another job?" I asked.

He shrugged. "That's what I'm trying to figure out, but...this is a golden opportunity, you know? And honestly, with all things considered, how much longer are we going to have the show, Sam? We're getting older and...I wouldn't be surprised if Carly and Brad end up dropping out. Hell, they're both tied into the 'biz' now...I expect them to tell us they're moving to LA any day now."

My stomach dropped. Oh god, I hadn't even considered the idea that Carly and Brad would move to LA. That would be absolutely HEART BREAKING to me. Carly had always been in my life, for the last ten years, and Brad...I couldn't imagine life without him either. Oh god! They couldn't move!

"But they can't move!" I blurted out.

Freddie sighed. "Well, here's the thing, Sam...the job's not here in Seattle."

"But..."

"It's in San Francisco," he replied, biting his lip. "What do you think about that?"

"I'm thinking I'd have to quit school." I sat up. "Freddie, I know this is a great opportunity for you and everything, but...I can't just be a housewife. I don't want that."

"Hey hey," Freddie said quickly, sitting up too and rubbing my back. "Nobody's saying you have to be a housewife, honey. You can stay with your online classes. Go to law school in San Francisco."

"But..." I shook my head. "I'm just having trouble wrapping my head around this...and your mom would go crazy."

He laughed. "Yeah, she probably would, being away from her son AND her grandson..." he trailed off. "But this is a huge opportunity for me, Sam. You know?"

I bit my lip, thinking.

"It wouldn't be for another month, if we do decide to go through with it," Freddie told me. "And I'm saying 'we', because I'm not going to make the decision without you."

"You really wanna leave Brad while he's going through this?" I asked. Freddie sighed, falling back on the bed.

"That all depends on how he acts over the next few weeks," he replied. "But don't you think it's time we stop basing our life decisions on how it effects them?"

"You promised you wouldn't let him go through this alone," I pointed out.

"And I won't. Like I said, it's not for a month, and San Fran's like a two hour flight."

"I just don't know, Freddie," I replied. Aside from the short three week stint in Las Vegas, I'd never lived anywhere else, and the idea was terrifying to me.

Freddie sat up a little, taking my hand in his and pulling me towards him. "Hey," he said softly, pressing his forehead against mine. "I'm just trying to think about what's best for our family, okay?"

I nodded. "I know. You always do. You take care of everyone, like it's effortless."

He shrugged. "It's what I do."

I bit my lip. Maybe that was why Freddie was thinking about taking the job in San Francisco. I'd be willing to put money on the idea that a year ago he would've turned it down, but we'd been through so much this year alone, I could tell it was taking a toll on him. He never said it out loud, but I'm sure he got tired of always taking care of everyone around him. But the thing was, Freddie literally didn't know how to turn it off.

I ran a hand up his arm, squeezing his shoulder. "It gets exhausting after awhile, doesn't it?"

He sighed, shaking his head, but then stopped and nodded instead, looking up at me.

"Yeah, it does," he replied. "I mean, I feel like if I don't I'm being selfish...and I just do it, you know? I go on auto-pilot. I'm not saying that I mind. I didn't mind helping you deal with all your shit this year...thought I wish I could've handled it better sometimes. And I don't mind helping Brad. But...it just...it's wearing me down, Sam." He ran a hand through his hair. "And I feel like if we don't get away..."

"...you'll never stop being the one who takes care of everybody," I filled in.

"Yeah," he responded. "I hate feeling like this, you know? I feel like...guilty, for even thinking it, but..." He took a deep breath. "I'm not going to leave Brad hanging on this. I can't. But after..." He looked up and met my eyes. "I'm done, Sam. I can't take any more drama. I just want you and me, and little Freddie to just go somewhere and start over. We won't be making spectacles of ourselves on the internet, we won't have drama and discord at every turn..."

I nodded. "If you think it's for the best..."

"I'm not going to take the job if you don't want me to take it, baby," he told me.

The baby started fussing a little, and I distracted him by rubbing his little belly, looking back up at Freddie.

"This is a huge opportunity for you. Most people in your field dream of working up to Cisco, and you're starting there...I mean, you could be working for Google in three years if you play your cards right."

"Yeah. I could."

"So what kind of wife would I be if I stood in your way?"

He smiled, reaching up to give my hair a gentle tug. "The kind that has thoughts and opinions of your own."

"When do you have to give them an answer?" I asked.

"I have a week," Freddie responded.

"Okay," I replied. "Well, let's give it a day or two, and talk about it again. Is that okay?"

He nodded, kissing me. "Sure it is. Thanks, sweetheart."

I shrugged, as if to say 'no big deal'. But it was a big deal. It was a huge deal. The idea of leaving Carly behind and starting over in a new city was horrifying to me. And I'd been doing iCarly for so long that it had literally become a part of my identity. Who was I, if not Sam from iCarly?

I shook my head. I was a wife, and a mother before anything else. I needed to keep my boys in mind, what was best for them. Freddie had been pushed to the breaking point so many times this year, and he'd never snapped. Not like the rest of us. But that didn't mean we could keep weighing him down with all this. One day, enough would be enough. He wouldn't be able to handle it anymore.

Regardless of how I felt about leaving Carly and Brad and the show and Seattle itself behind, I was going to suck it up and do it. Because I loved Freddie, he loved me, and that's what people do when they love each other. They make sacrifices.

Well, Freddie had sacrificed enough. It was my turn now.

I leaned forward, kissing Freddie on the forehead.

"I love you, baby."

~*Carly*~

I seriously felt like my head was about to cave in.

It had been two days since Janet had passed away, and I'd tried to do everything Freddie had told me to do, but I was failing miserably.

I had the help of Freddie and Sam, Paula, Spencer, Freddie's mom, Gibby, even Melanie, but it still wasn't enough. The Harrisons were completely falling apart, and I felt like there was nothing I could do to stop it.

Leah and obviously Katie were too young to really understand what was really going on, but the other three? Forget it. They'd been hit understandably hard, and they weren't dealing very well. I'd busted Heather sneaking out the night before, and after giving Chuck a VERY firm talking-to about not taking advantage of girls while they were having emotional problems, he'd confided that he had no such plans, but that he'd had to gently rebuff Heather several times. It worried me tremendously. One false move and we'd have a pregnant teenager on our hands, on top of everything else.

Bryson had always been a little on the "creepy" side, in a Salvador Dali kind of way, but he must have overheard someone talking about exactly how Janet had taken her own life, and I'd caught him looking up photos of gunshot wounds on the internet. I was getting that little boy to a counselor, stat!

But what worried me most of all was Brad. He was desperately trying to hold it together and overcompensate, act like everything was normal, but whenever he was alone, he'd break down. I walked into our bedroom several times to find him sobbing like a scared boy. He had nightmares. Yesterday, he'd torched every picture he had of his mother and then immediately regretted in, tearfully proclaiming what a horrible son he was. It was heartbreaking to watch, and I was helpless to stop it.

Today wasn't going to be any easier. It was the day of the funeral, the day Brad, Heather, and Bryson had to bury their mother. It was all I could do to keep them calm and pulled together.

I'd been up since five AM, unable to sleep, and had already dressed, in a tasteful black shift dress, black sweater, tights, and low heels, my hair pulled back in a somber bun. After much prodding and cajoling, I'd managed to pull Brad out of bed, with Bryson and Heather not far behind.

Bryson was seated at the counter, working on a charcoal drawing I was afraid to look at, while Heather was in the bathroom fussing over her makeup. I looked down at my watch. We had to leave in fifteen minutes, and Brad still wasn't downstairs.

"Brad?" I called worriedly up the stairs.

No answer.

I was about to head upstairs when I heard a knock at the front door.

"It's open!" I called.

The door swung open, revealing Freddie, all suited up and ready to go.

"Hey," he said, shutting the door behind him. "How's it going?"

I sighed. "I don't know how you manage to keep everyone sane all the time, Freddie. I suck at this."

Freddie shook his head. "You don't suck, Carly. It's tough, okay? Just hang in there."

I nodded. "Where's Sam?"

"Across the hall, dropping the baby off. Where's Brad?"

"Upstairs...I hope he's okay -" I began, but cut off when I heard something upstairs shatter. "Shit," I grunted, hightailing it up the stairs. "BRAD!"

I ran up the steps and shoved the bedroom door open to find Brad sitting on the bed, his head in his hands. He was dressed, but his tie hung loosely around his neck, still untied. At his feet was a shattered drinking glass.

I approached him cautiously, at the same time trying to stealthily look at his wrists to see if he had used the glass to cut again. He hadn't done it since the night of the party, but still, best to be on the safe side.

"Baby?"

"I didn't mean to do that," he said flatly, staring at the glass. "I'll clean it up."

"It's okay," I responded softly. "I'll do it. Are you...okay?"

"I can't do this," he mumbled.

"Baby..." I sat down next to him on the bed and rubbed his shoulders through his suit jacket. "You can. I'm here, okay?"

"No, you don't understand. I can't do this," he gestured to his tie, making a disgusted noise. "I can't tie a fucking tie. What's wrong with me?" Brad looked up at me. "What the fuck is wrong with me, Carly?" he asked, his voice quivering. "I can't even hold shit together here...or myself. I'm falling apart. And I can't even tie my own fucking tie!"

I didn't know what to say.

"Brad..."

He hastily wiped under his eye before a tear could escape, and let out a bitter laugh.

"I'm not even a fucking man."

"That's not true, baby..."

"It is," he responded. "I'm losing it, Carly." He paused, staring off into space. "Every time I...this place is just so...it just has so much bad shit attached to it. This apartment. Bushwell. Seattle." He bit his lip. "I want to leave."

I sighed. It had crossed my mind too. This place did hold a lot of bad memories. It held a lot of good ones too, but right now, it was the bad that was fresh. And we were too cramped into this space. It was supposed to be for four people max, and there were six. We were rapidly outgrowing the apartment, the show, the city. It was impractical for us to both constantly go back and forth from Los Angeles to here. It just wasn't working for us anymore.

"It wouldn't be a horrible idea," I commented, but Brad shook his head.

"But we can't, Carly," he responded. "As much as I want to, we can't. If we leave, the show's over. And then how are Freddie and Sam supposed to get by? They have a kid to support."

"So do we," I pointed out, and he nodded fervently.

"Exactly! What if I don't sell another screenplay? What then? The only thing we know how to do is entertain people. If we can't find a way to make a living from that, then what do we do? God, and we can't just bail on them like that! Not after everything we've been through. It wouldn't be right."

I'd thought about that too. Brad and I had backup plans. Not foolproof ones, but we had backup plans. Him with the filmmaking, and me with my record deal. But Sam and Freddie weren't even finished with college. If we bailed on the show, what would they do?

But at the same time, we couldn't keep going through this just because we were worried about them. Brad's pysche wasn't going to hold up much longer like this, and I couldn't keep everyone holding it together like Freddie could. It came to him naturally, but I was struggling, and knew I couldn't keep it going forever.

"Brad...you have to think about what you want..."

"What I want?" he laughed. "What I want is to go back. I wanna go back and finish what I started with Griffin, take my dad's place. Then he'd still be here, and the kids would be okay, and my mom would still be alive! Or if I had just been more forceful with Heather, none of it would have happened, and Griffin wouldn't be dead! Everything that's happened is my fault, don't you get that, Carly?!"

"You can't think like that, baby!" I said, grabbing his face and turning it towards me. "Okay? You can't! It's not your fault!"

He bit his lip, fresh tears streaming down his face.

"I wish I could believe that, but I can't. And...I just wanna run away. I just wanna go away, and start over, and forget everything." He wiped his face. "I wanna leave, Carly. Can we leave? Please?" He shook his head as he answered his own question. "No, no we can't. You can't run from problems. And I can't do that to Sam and Freddie. Not everything that they've done for us, and everything we've been through...god...this is so fucked up. I'm stuck..."

He was rambling again; he'd been doing that a lot the last two days, like he was really losing it. And I was powerless to stop it.

"Brad.."

"And I can't even tie my own goddamned tie!" he yelled, yanking it off him and tossing it to the floor. "I have to put my mother in the ground, and I can't even tie a tie!"

I stood up. "Okay, just calm down, alright? I'll get Freddie. He's good at it."

"He learned for his father. Why can't I do the same for her?"

"Just calm down, okay?" I rushed out of the room and down the stairs.

"Freddie? I need you!" I called as I stopped at the bottom of the stairs. I found Freddie perched on the edge of the coffee table, talking to Heather in a low, calm voice. I couldn't make out what he was saying, but Heather seemed to be listening, sniffling every now and then in a way that told me she'd be crying. Sam was here too, leaning against the coffee table talking to Bryson about his art.

Freddie looked up and nodded. "Be right there," he told me, then turned back to Heather. "You're nothing like your mother, okay?" She nodded, and he gave her an encouraging smile, squeezing her shoulder. "Now buck up, or you're gonna smear your eye makeup. I know chicks hate that."

She managed a laugh, and nodded. "Thanks, Freddie."

"No problem," he responded, glancing over at Sam. "Honey? You got it covered down here for a minute?"

"Yeah, we're all good. Hey Carls, you got any chocolate?"

"Um, check the pantry," I told her as I headed upstairs, with Freddie close behind me.

"What's going on?" he asked as he followed me to the bedroom.

"He's having issues with his tie."

"Okay," he responded, like it was no big deal. "I've got it."

We walked in to find Brad standing in front of the mirror, bound and determined to figure out this tie business, but failing miserably.

"Hey, dude. Having trouble?" Freddie called.

Brad let out an agitated growl. "Man, fuck this shit." He tossed the tie to the ground.

Freddie shook his head, picking the tie up off the ground and walking over to Brad. He put his hands on his shoulders and turned him around.

"I'm gonna do this for you, but I want you to watch, so you'll know how to do it again, okay?"

Brad didn't speak, just nodded.

"Okay, watch," Freddie told him. "This is a windsor knot, and it's pretty standard for ties."

"I suck at being an adult," Brad complained, and Freddie shook his head.

"Nah, man. This shit's hard, no matter how grown up you are."

"You could tie a tie before you hit puberty."

Freddie glanced up at Brad. "I wasn't talking about the tie," he responded. "Losing a parent is hard. Whether they die in an accident, or walk out, or do something really stupid to protect their kids, or they take their own life. It's fucking hard."

"Yeah, no shit," Brad responded.

"But we keep going, okay?" Freddie responded. "We are not our parents. We fucking survive."

Brad sighed, shaking his head. "You make it sound so easy."

"It's not. It's hard. Some days, you don't even wanna get out of bed. Some days I think about my dad, and all the shit he never taught me, and how I'm supposed to teach it to my son, and I have no clue. And it fucking hurts." He paused, swallowing. "Some days Sam cries for hours, because she has no idea how to be a mother." Freddie turned to look at me. "And I bet you do too."

"Yeah," I said softly. "I do."

Freddie turned back to Brad. "And some days, you're going to feel so fucking overwhelmed, that you're gonna wanna give up, like your mom did. But you can't. And you're not going to, are you?"

Brad didn't respond, and Freddie finished tying the tie, then gave Brad a firm shake.

"You're not going to give up, are you? Leave a whole mess of people behind that care about you, and wouldn't know how to fucking deal without you?"

Finally, Brad shook his head. "No."

"Good," Freddie replied. "Because that's the worst fucking thing you can do. Not screwing up, not having emotional outbursts, not losing the ability to function some days, but giving up. That's worst thing you can do. So don't fucking do it, you got it?"

Brad nodded. "I got it."

"Good," Freddie responded, then gave him a gentle slap on the side of his face. "Go shave. You look like Grizzly Adams."

Brad rolled his eyes. "And I thought Carly was the one who exaggerated everything."

"Hey!" I cried, slightly offended, rolling my eyes when the two of them both grinned at me. "Freddie, get out of here."

He walked past me, giving me a playful nudge. "Yes, boss lady."

"Thanks," I called over my shoulder.

"No problem. We'll be waiting downstairs."

After Freddie was out of earshot, Brad looked at me, shaking my head.

"I can't. We can't leave. I can't just leave them hanging like that."

I quickly shut the door and then sat down on the bed. "Baby, sit down."

Brad sat down next to me, and I took my hand in his.

"It's not healthy for you to be here anymore, do you understand that?" I asked softly. "Or the kids."

"Yeah but..."

"But nothing," I replied. "This time, I'm the one calling the shots. We're leaving Seattle, okay? We're going to get out of here, and we're going to start over in LA. You need to be there, to focus on your career, and I need to focus on mine. And Heather and Bryson need to start fresh too. They take enough shit at school for their dad being in prison, can you imagine how bad they're going to get bullied if the kids at their schools find THIS out?" I shook my head. "We can't do that to them. I know that ending the show, it's gonna be really hard for Sam and Freddie at first, but they'll make it. I know they have a lot of money put back. They'll be okay. But we have to think about our family, okay?"

Brad shook his head. "They're our family too."

I nodded fervently. "And moving to LA is not going to change that. Okay? But we have to do this. For the kids' sake, and for yours. I'm not giving you a choice in the matter. We're going to wrap everything up, finish this semester, and then we're leaving. Okay?"

Brad sat there in silence for a minutes, deep in thought.

"Brad?" I stroked his head. "Did you hear me? We're going to leave, okay?"

"Okay," Brad responded finally. "Okay."

The prospect of leaving Seattle behind was scary. The idea of leaving Sam and Freddie behind was even scarier. But what choice did we have, really?

Bushwell had been my home for so long, and in a way it always would be. I'd met my two best friends here, fallen in love here, been through so much, and learned so much about myself here. But it was time to move on, start another chapter of life somewhere else.

I just didn't know how we were going to break it to Sam and Freddie...


	92. Chapter 92

**Chapter 92**

~*Sam*~

"...well, we're out of time, thanks for watching!"

"Thanks for watching Gibby knock down one of the lights," I commented with a roll of my eyes.

"I DON'T DO WELL UNDER PRESSURE!"

Carly made a face into the camera, shaking her head.

"It's pretty obvious by now that Gibby's talent only lies in front of the camera," she commented. "Anyway, hopefully next week things will be back to normal...uh, Brad apologizes for the...uh...food poisoning."

"Again, sushi from a food truck?" I quipped, hands on my hips. "Always a bad idea."

"I thought we said it was a vending machine..."

"GIBBY!" we all yelled.

Freddie let out a sigh, turning the camera on himself. "We're out. See you guys next week!" He turned the camera back on us as we waved awkwardly, and then hit a button on his laptop. "Alright, we're clear." He put his camera on the table and gave Gibby a withering stare. "How many times did I tell you, never dispute cover stories on air?"

Gibby shrugged sheepishly. "Sorry. I'm never doing that again."

"Yeah, we'll definitely be relieving you of your duties..." Freddie replied with a shake of his head. "I'm pretty sure I can cover next week's show..."

I gave Freddie a Look, and he looked down, slightly uncomfortable. "I mean, um...we need to talk about next week's show."

"We do?" Carly asked as she looked over her notes, then looked up. "I mean...we do."

"Wait...we do?" I asked. Why did Carly need to talk about next week's show? Did she know?

Freddie and I still didn't have the heart...or the guts I guess, to tell Carly and Brad that Freddie was taking the job in San Francisco. It wasn't like we were trying to keep it a big secret, we just didn't know how to approach the subject. The idea of breaking it to Carly was downright painful, let alone actually leaving her behind.

"Um...Sam and I have something to do, and..."

"Like what?" Carly asked, leaning against the desk. "Since when do you guys miss a show?"

"Aren't you missing the show next week too?" Gibby asked, and Carly gave him a death glare.

"Gibby!" she cried. "Did you eat a big bowl of blabbermouth this week?" As soon as the words left her mouth, she made a face that clearly read, 'I can't believe I just said something so lame.'

Gibby rolled his eyes, trying not to laugh. "That wasn't very good."

"So why are you going to miss the show, Carls?" I asked.

"I have to go to LA," she replied meekly. "Some test recordings, and Brad has to go too, meet his new publicist."

"Oh," Freddie nodded. "That's cool."

"So why are you guys missing the show?" Carly asked curiously. Freddie and I glanced at each other, but didn't say anything.

"Uh, we have to -" I began, but before I could say anything, the studio door creaked open. Saved by The Brad!

"How'd it go?" he asked.

Freddie rolled his eyes. "Gibby's not allowed near rubber bands ever again."

"It was an accident, Benson!"

Brad's eyebrows furrowed. "What happened?"

Nobody said anything, just pointed upwards at the shattered studio light. Brad just shook his head.

"Gibby..." he trailed off, laughing. "Never mind. It can be fixed. So other than that?"

"It was fine," Carly responded. "So I was just telling Sam and Freddie that we couldn't do the show next Friday."

Brad looked uncomfortable. "Yeah, sorry about that..."

"...and they were telling me they couldn't shoot either," Carly finished, prompting Brad to give us the same curious look Carly had.

"Weird," he commented. "Wait, don't tell me...Baby Einstein parenting convention."

Freddie rolled his eyes. "Very funny, Harrison."

Man, talk about getting put on the spot! How we were going to tell them? They were going to go postal!

I cleared my throat. "Look, guys, we need to talk to you about something..."

Brad and Carly glanced at one another, then back at us.

"So do we," Carly said. "Look, the thing is, things are really messed up around here, and..."

The door burst open, and Heather clambered in.

"Guys, Leah just flushed all of Bryson's paintbrushes. He's threatening to sell her to the circus. Oh, and the downstairs toilet is overflowing."

"Oh, lord!" Brad headed for the door, but Freddie stepped in front of him.

"Wait, one second, okay?" he asked Brad, turning to Gibby. "Can you please deal with this?"

Gibby rolled his eyes. "This was NOT in the job description..."

"You can have tonight's props."

"Deal!" Gibby followed Heather out of the room, leaving the four of us alone.

"Well, if I wasn't insane already..." Brad muttered, flopping down into one of the beanbags, arms at his sides, then made a disgusted face as he stood back up and examined the large wad of purple bubblegum stuck to his forearm. "...I am now! Jesus, this place is too damn small!"

Carly rolled her eyes. "Which brings me to my point. Guys..." she paused. "Well, maybe you should go first."

I shook my head. "No, you first."

"No way, you go."

I shot a look at Freddie, who simply shrugged his shoulders, as if to say, 'I'm not doing it, you do it.'

"Freddie got offered a job."

Another look from Freddie, as if to say,'Good job leaving out the most important part.' So I shot him a look of my own with a shrug, that said, 'Your turn.'

A smirk and shake of his head that said, 'You're so gonna get it when we get home.'

I just raised my eyebrows and bit my lip. That meant, 'Game on.'

"Are you guys done with your creepy mind reading yet?" Carly asked, and we both looked at her.

"We don't do creepy mind reading," Freddie responded with a roll of his eyes.

"Uh-huh..." Carly said with a nod, then looked over at Brad, her arms crossed over her chest. "Brad, what'd they just say to each other?"

"Uh, Sam didn't do something she was supposed to do so Sam told him to do it, then there was some sex and then some more sex," Brad summed up, ignoring the way Freddie and I gaped at him. "So you got offered a job?"

"Uh...yeah..." Freddie replied as he tried to regain his bearings. "At Cisco."

Carly and Brad's eyebrows both went up and their jaws dropped just a tiny bit.

"Wow, Cisco?" Carly asked. "That's...amazing, Freddie."

"Yeah, congrats, man! When do you start?"

"In a month," Freddie replied. I elbowed him. "Um...after we move."

We both braced ourselves for the backlash.

"You're moving?" Carly asked quietly.

"Carly, I'm sorry!" I blurted out. "I mean, this is such an amazing opportunity for Freddie...working for a company like that at twenty years old? He's not even out of college yet!"

"Where?" Brad asked.

"San Francisco..." Freddie responded. "Look, I know you guys are really pissed at us, but we have to do what's right for us and Freddie Jr."

"Understandable," Brad replied with a shrug.

Understandable? No yelling from Brad? No tears from Carly? No 'et tu, brute?' or anything like that? I was mildly insulted!

Freddie and I both stood there a little awkwardly, unsure of what to say.

"Well, we have to do what's right for us and the kids too," Carly responded. "So...we're moving too. To Los Angeles."

Freddie nodded. "We kind of saw it coming."

We were all quiet for a few minutes.

"So that's it, huh?" I asked as I leaned against the desk. "It's over."

Carly nodded. "The end of an era."

Freddie looked around the room, thoughtful. "We spent the last eight years of our lives on this show."

"And now it's over," I said.

"It was fun," Carly offered.

"Yeah, it was," I replied. "So...Los Angeles?"

Carly nodded. "April's parents have a house out there that they haven't stayed at in literally years. It's got five bedrooms, a view overlooking the hills..."

"And my manager's brother is the headmaster of a really good private school," Brad put in. "Scholarships for Bryson and Heather, first rate education."

"Sounds like you guys have it all figured out," Freddie stated. It was oddly tense in the room, knowing that we'd all given up on such a big part of our lives at the same time. It made me wonder how much the show really mattered to any of us.

"When do you we...lost the drive?" Carly asked, seemingly reading my mind.

"Probably around the time it became something we had to do, instead of something we just did for fun," Freddie responded. "I mean, don't get me wrong, I loved doing the show, I wouldn't change it for anything."

"It changed everything," Carly agreed. She laughed "You know, if we hadn't started this crazy thing...well, Sam and I would still be friends, but...you'd just be the creepy neighbor across the hall."

"I would've kept getting the shit beat out of me," I said quietly. "Or ended up in juvey."

"We wouldn't have our son," Freddie pointed out, glancing at me. "Or each other."

"You probably would've stayed a skinny nerd," I teased, nudging him, and he rolled his eyes.

"Nah, I started working out so you'd stop beating the shit out of me every twist and turn," he replied. "Of course, it still turned out pretty good."

"I have no idea where I'd be if I hadn't met you guys," Brad said softly, and we turned to look at him. He put his hands in his pockets, staring at the ground. "I probably would've fallen in with the same crowd I was when I lived in Tacoma...people pretending to be things they're not, just so people will like them."

"We like you just fine, Brad," I commented, and he nodded.

"And that's what's so cool about it, you know?" he responded with a wry smile. "I mean, I knew you guys were insane when I first met you..."

"We prefer the term reality challenged."

"...but you guys were real. You weren't afraid to be who you were. And I decided I was gonna be like that too," he replied. "I mean...this show...and the people in it, they changed my life. And I can't say everything's worked out perfectly, because obviously it hasn't, and there's a lot I'd like to change. But meeting you guys?" he shook his head. "Not a chance in hell, man."

Freddie nodded. "You balanced everything out. Gave me a best friend."

We were all quiet again.

"God, now that I think about it, this sucks..." Carly commented, trying to hide the fact that she was crying. "I mean, this really sucks! Sam..."

"Carly..." I said softly, looking at the ground.

"I don't know if this is such a good idea after all," she said, her voice trembling.

"We have to do what we have to do though, right?" I asked, my voice trembling too. "I mean, we're responsible for other people...we're adults..."

"Being an adult really sucks sometimes," Carly replied quietly. "I'm really gonna miss you..."

"I'm gonna miss you too, Carls," I said, my eyes threatening to spill over.

"LA's not far from San Francisco," Freddie put in, speaking in a low voice.

"Shut up," Carly and I both said, hugging each other tightly.

"Oh my god, I can't believe it's finally gonna be over..." I sobbed.

"It was the best thing that ever happened to us..." Carly agreed, wiping her eyes.

We pulled apart, and Freddie pulled me to him, his arms going around my waist from behind as he placed a gentle kiss on my neck.

"So one more show?" he asked everyone as we all stared at the ground.

"Yeah...one more show," Brad agreed. "End things the right way."

"It has to be the best show we've ever done," I said fiercely, and Carly nodded.

"We'll write the episode after everyone comes back from California."

Brad let out a sigh, running a hand through his hair. "Man, this sucks."

"Yeah, it does," Freddie agreed. "But...I mean, look what's ahead of us...I'm gonna be working for one of the best technology companies in the world, and you guys..." he shook his head in disbelief. "You guys are gonna be famous."

I bit my lip. "What am I going to be?"

Brad gave me a sympathetic look. "Anything you wanna be, Blondie. But most likely my lawyer, when I get sued for punching out a member of the press."

I laughed, shaking my head. "Probably so."

Freddie nudged me. "We gotta go get the baby, honey."

"And we probably shouldn't leave Gibby alone with the kids for too long..."

As if on cue, Gibby burst through the door, covered in paint and other mystery items.

"Someone...help me," he gasped, out of breath, and gave an accusatory glare to Brad. "Your brother and sister are monsters, dude!"

"Jeez," Brad replied, heading for the door. "I'll see you guys later."

"Tomorrow?" Freddie asked, and Brad nodded.

"Tomorrow."

I looked over at Carly. "You have class tomorrow?"

She shook her head. "No. You want me to stop by?"

"More than anything."

"Okay."

"Come on, sweetheart," Freddie herded me toward the door.

I gave Carly another hug and then let Freddie shoo me out the door and down the steps. As we got downstairs into the living room, I caught sight of Brad, who had Leah sitting up on the counter, giving her a firm lecture on why it was wrong to paint Uncle Gibby, and he glanced up at us.

"See you guys later," he said, sounding kind of glum.

"Yeah," I replied, trying to force a smile. We stared at each other for a second, sort of awkwardly, until Freddie broke my concentration, grabbing my wrist and pulling me toward the door.

"Think you're up to the gym tomorrow night?" Freddie asked Brad. Brad nodded.

"I think if I wrap my arm up enough, hopefully my stitches won't burst."

Freddie shrugged. "They won't bust anyway, my mom's pretty good at stitches."

"Not so bad yourself, Benson," Brad responded, and I nodded.

"He's right," I told Freddie. "Come on, baby."

"Later," Freddie tossed over his shoulder at Brad.

We headed across the hall to retrieve the baby, dodging a million questions from Marissa about what kind of apartments we were going to look at in San Francisco this weekend, whether they were in safe areas, that kind of thing. I swear there were so many questions, we barely escaped with our lives.

Later, after we'd put the baby to bed, I laid on the bed with Freddie's PearPad, going through all the photos we'd taken throughout the years. The first show we ever did. All the crazy Christmas shows. Our trip to Japan, Freddie, Carly, and I covered in mud. The night of the school lock-in, when I'd finally had all I could stand and couldn't hold it inside anymore, kissing Freddie.

That kiss changed everything. It wasn't like our first kiss, full of nervous energy and curiousity. We liked each other back then of course, but it had finally built up the night of the lock-in. We'd been carrying around that sexual tension for too long, and it finally came to a head.

Freddie rested his chin on my shoulder, looking at the photo.

"You know, that was the only school project I ever failed...and the only one I didn't care about." I glanced up at him, and he laughed. "After that kiss, it was kind of hard to concentrate on anything else."

"Sorry I made you fail?" I offered halfheartedly, and he just laughed again, kissing me softly.

"Like I said, I didn't care," Freddie responded, his arm going around me, and then looked down at the next picture I flipped to. It was a few hours before I'd kissed Freddie at the lock-in, and it was the first picture the four of us had ever taken together. "He might have."

He was of course, referring to Brad, and I shrugged.

"Well, I wasn't working on the project for the extra credit," I replied.

"And neither was he," Freddie responded with a shake of his head. "Brad wanted so badly to hang out with all of us."

"Fanboy."

"Nah," Freddie replied. "I think he just...wanted to belong somewhere, so badly, with people that were into the same things as him."

I nodded. "I never thought about it like that, but you're probably right."

"...and he totally had a crush on you."

"What?" I looked up at Freddie like he was nuts. "He had a thing for Carly!"

"Uh, he had a thing for both of you, missy, but once he saw your interested lay elsewhere..."

I shook my head. "I would have been way too much for him to deal with. I was too much for you to deal with."

"You're still too much for me to deal with," Freddie cracked. "Ow!" he hollered as I tweaked his nipple. "I thought we were past that."

"Nope," I replied breezily, turning to the next photo. Freddie and I the day we got married, him in his navy blue Abercrombie shirt and jeans, me in his wifebeater and jeans. We both looked so happy and so scared at the same time.

"That was an amazing day," Freddie said. "I knew I had you locked down at that point, that you wouldn't be able to leave again."

"I'd never leave you," I responded softly, kissing him. "I love you."

"And I'm really glad for that," he replied. He reached over me, flipping to the next picture. Thanksgiving, right before Freddie and I had our monstrous fight.

"Not the best holiday ever," I commented, and Freddie nodded.

"I thought I'd lost you then...and to my best friend, no less," he said, shaking his head.

"It was just pretend."

Freddie nodded again. "Was it?"

I looked up at him, confused. "You know that. It was to teach you..."

"...a lesson. Yeah, yeah, I know, but..." he sighed, running a hand through his hair. "Your sister's got a big mouth, you know that?"

I stared at him, my mouth wide open. Oh my god. I was going to kill her...

He removed his arm from around me, staring down at the duvet and playing with a thread that had come loose.

"I'm not an idiot, Sam," he stated, still looking down. "I know that you guys have this weird connection."

"Freddie," I said, sitting up, slightly alarmed and worried. "I love you. I don't love Brad. Not like...not like the way I love you. I would never leave you for him, I..."

"Sam," he interrupted me. "I know that. But I also know if I hadn't been in the picture...you'd be the one he was engaged to, and not Carly."

"And if I wasn't in the picture, you'd be married to Carly right now."

He didn't respond right away, just continued to stare at the bed before finally looking up at me. "Yeah. You're probably right."

I sat back, a little surprised. "Well..." I said awkwardly. "At least it's all out the open now."

He shook his head. "It wasn't some clandestine secret before, baby."

I shook my head. "Well, no..."

"I'm not mad," he told me.

"Have you and Carly ever..."

"You mean, since the taco truck era?" he laughed. "No. But I'll always be her bacon." He laughed at me as I rolled my eyes. "You were a self-serving little thing back then."

"I was not a self-serv- fine," I grumbled as he gave me a Look. "But if I hadn't you guys would be married right now."

"Nah," he said with a shake of his head. "Carly was a crush. You're my everything."

"And Brad's my... I don't know what he is exactly."

"That's what makes me nervous, Sam," Freddie confessed. "I know what Carly is to me, and Carly knows what I am to her, but you two..." he shook his head. "You guys never even tried to figure it out because it made everyone so uncomfortable, and I'm really worried that one day all that tension's gonna...catch up."

"There's no tension between Brad and I," I argued.

"Again, not stupid. And it's gotten worse lately," Freddie replied. "And I'm not the only one who's noticed."

I looked down at the bed nervously, unsure of what to say. "Freddie..."

"I want this thing settled, Sam. I want it over and done with, and then I just want to move on with our lives..." he trailed off when he noticed the horrified look on my face. "No, I don't want to end the friendship. Brad's my best friend. He's like my brother. I'd never be able to do that. But I also don't want..." he sighed. "Look, just deal with it, okay?"

"I'm not sure how to respond to that..."

Freddie rolled his eyes. "I'm not telling you to sleep with him, I'd have to kill him, but...just deal with it, okay?"

I nodded. "Okay."

"You're mine, Sam. And I want you to be all mine."

"I am," I said softly, meeting his eyes, gasping when he grabbed the back of my head and claimed my lips in a searing kiss.

"And you don't fucking forget it," he growled against my mouth.

~*Brad*~

I leaned against the railing, looking down at Seattle all lit up in front of me.

From up here, this place didn't seem so bad. From up here, it was beautiful.

But it wasn't. Not any more.

I'd been so excited when I'd first arrived here in Seattle four years ago, at the prospect of starting a whole new life and forgetting how things in Tacoma had slowly fallen apart. The promise of forgetting, and starting over. Somehow everything had gotten even more messed up than before.

There were parts of it that I'd never regret. Meeting Carly and Freddie and Sam. Getting involved with iCarly. Falling in love with Carly. Finally letting go of a facade that made up my entire identity and just being me.

But there were other parts I just wished would erase themselves from my memory. I found out the person my mother truly was, and before I could even accept the real her, she gave up. She was gone.

It'd only been five days since we'd laid her body in the ground, never to be seen again. And five days since Carly had put her foot down and declared we were done here in Seattle. It was funny, I'd expected to be the white knight, whisking her away from danger and destruction, but it was the opposite. In a way, I was grateful. She'd made a decision I wasn't strong enough to make on my own. Now we were moving on, to a new city, to a new life.

It wasn't the first time I'd done it, but this time, I was running toward something, and not just away from something. I was still really nervous about whether or not things would turn out okay, but at the same time, I was excited too. Anxious to forget about the past.

I would undeniably miss the hell out of Sam and Freddie, probably both of them in equal amounts. They both meant a lot to me, in different ways. I'd be forever grateful to Freddie for the way he'd held me together over the past week. He was more than my best friend, he was like my brother now.

I heard the window to the fire escape slide open, and I turned to find Sam crawling through the window. I regarded her with a nod.

"Fancy meeting you here," I said.

"Smoking away your sorrows?" she quipped, leaning against the railing next to me and looking out at the skyline.

"Something like that," I replied. "And what brings you out here?"

"I was looking for you," she responded simply.

"Oh." I took a drag off the joint I was holding and held it in for a second, then nudged her. "Check this out."

"I've seen smoke rings before, big deal," she responded with a roll of her eyes as I demonstrated my trick.

"Wait for the finale," I replied, sending a puff of smoke through one of the rings. "Ta-da!"

She shook her head and laughed. "You're ridiculous."

"Eh," I replied with a shrug.

"How you holding up?"

I shrugged again. "She's dead, Sam. Gone. Buried. Never coming back."

"Pam's never coming back either," Sam responded. "I'm pretty sure of it this time. And even if she did, well..." she trailed off. "She wouldn't be well-received, that's for sure." Sam bit her lip, looking up at me. "She used me, you know? And that's nothing I haven't dealt with before, but...she used Melanie too, and that made me so angry. All Mel wanted was a mother, and...god, bitch."

I didn't respond, just held up the joint, offering it to her. She stared at it for a second and then let out a sigh.

"What the hell," she grumbled, grabbing it out of my hand and taking a huge drag.

"No, wait, Sam..."

"ACK!" Sam grimaced and started hacking and coughing, making choking sounds that sounded like she was dying.

"Easy there, tiger!" I laughed as she sank to her knees and then finally laid back on her back, staring up at the sky. I reached down and took it out of her hand, taking a drag and giving her a Look as if to say 'No sweat, see?'

Sam continued to cough.

"Oh, get up, you big baby."

Sam stood up, brushing herself off and grumbling. "My heart could have stopped right then, and what would have you done?"

"Given you mouth to mouth," I responded with a shrug.

Sam looked down at the railing and shook her head.

"Probably not a good idea for us."

"Even if you were dying?"

She shrugged.

"Freddie called me out on some stuff tonight."

"Oh?" I raised an eyebrow. "Like what?"

"Stuff."

"Us stuff?"

She nodded, not saying anything.

I was quiet for a few minutes too, and we just stood there, passing the joint back and forth until there was nothing left, and I just dropped it over the railing.

"You know, I can't say I've never thought about it," I commented.

Sam nodded. "Yeah."

"But I love Carly. More than anything. And I'd worry..."

"About?"

"Other than the downfall of both our relationships?" I replied. "That it would turn out...to be something."

Sam looked up at me. "Like what?"

I shook my head. "I just...never mind." I paused, looking out of over the railing. "We've had a lot of fun together the last few years."

"Yeah, we have," she said with a laugh. "We were like partners in crime." She bit her lip. "I'm gonna miss you, Brad."

"I'm gonna miss you too, Sam."

"It's not going to be the same."

"We won't live that far..."

"Yeah, but it's never going to be like it was. You'll never live upstairs from me again. I'll never be able to get you to talk to Freddie when he's being a jerk, and you'll never be able to get me to talk to Carly when she's being a drama queen, and..."

"...they'll never have to worry about anything happening. And neither will we."

Sam nodded. "Because it would have happened eventually."

"Yeah."

"It doesn't change how I feel about my husband," Sam stated. "Nothing ever could. But...I don't know. We have...something. I don't know what it is. And I didn't realize it until it was pointed out to me, but..."

I bit my lip. It wasn't something I ever talked about, and I went to great lengths to avoid even thinking about it, but Sam was right. We were too close. Nothing could change that, not marriage, not kids, not how much we loved and cared about Carly and Freddie. Something was there. It always had been. The only way to prevent anything from happening would be putting distance between us.

"I know what you mean, Sam..." I responded. "But what can we do? Life's not like the movies. You can fall madly in love with someone, and stay with them forever, but it doesn't mean that you don't notice other people. It doesn't mean you don't develop feelings."

"Yeah, no shit," Sam said with a bitter laugh.

I bit my lip, looking down at the ground. "Do you think if things had been different."

"Yeah," Sam said with a nod. "Yeah, I do. But things AREN'T different. They are what they are, and...this is probably for the best."

"Probably," I agreed.

"You'll always be my partner in crime," she said with a playful nudge.

I laughed. "And you'll always be mine."

She nodded, staring over the railing again, and I could tell she was trying to think of something to say, but came up empty-handed, and looked up at me.

"I should probably go back inside," she said softly. "I just...wanted to talk. Get some stuff out in the open."

"We've been putting it off for awhile," I stated.

"Well, it's done with now, so..." Sam stood there for a second, and bit her lip. "So now I'm going to tell you goodbye. And I've gotta be honest, it hurts. Because I really care about you, in so many different ways that it confuses me. But...it's best for everyone if we do. So...goodbye, Brad." She stood up on her tiptoes and hugged me tightly.

I hugged her back, just as tight. She was totally right, this hurt. Sam was one of the people closest to me, and the idea of being away from her really sucked. But she was also right about it being the best.

We hugged longer than we should have, and too closely, but finally pulled away, and stared at each other for a moment. And then it happened.

I wasn't sure if I initiated it or if she did or if it was just both of us acting on hormones and spontaneity and stupidity and every other emotion that seemed to run rampant these days, but my lips were on hers and her lips were on mine, her hands on my waist and one of my hands tangled in her wild mass of blonde ringlets. It was not a simple or pure or chaste kiss. It lasted too long and at the same time it was too short.

We both pulled away, and Sam covered her mouth with her hand as we stared at each other, the same thought clearly splashed across both of our faces.

What did we do?

Sam shook her head as she started to cry.

"They were right," she said softly, still shaking her head in disbelief. "I'm sorry. I'm so sorry. I wish we had never..."

"I'm sorry too," I replied.

"This can't go on any longer," Sam told me. "You understand that, right?"

I nodded. "I do."

"I love Freddie."

"And I love Carly."

"But if hadn't been Freddie..." she cut herself off and tried to force herself to stop crying. "I can't think like that. I just...I have to walk away. We both have to walk away."

"It's for the best," I told her. I took a step toward her, and she let out a shaky breath, as if she was sure I was going to kiss her again, but I merely pressed my lips against her forehead and she closed her eyes in resignation. "Goodbye, Sam."

She nodded.

"Goodbye, Brad."

~*Carly*~

I sat on the futon in mine and Brad's room, strumming on my guitar as I tried to figure out a song list for the first wave of demo recordings. This weekend, I'd be recording three songs, four if they thought I was up to it. I was excited, but I was nervous too. That was my general feelings about LA too. I really hoped that Heather and Bryson would find their niche out there, and that Leah and Katie would grow up happy and healthy out there, and really flourish. This cramped apartment was no place for those two to play and pretend and dream. They needed and deserved so much more. We all did.

My phone beeped at me, and I leaned over to pick it up, seeing it was a text from Freddie.

'Come see me?'

I put my guitar down immediately and pulled on my sneakers and a hoodie, heading downstairs, where I found Heather and Chuck watching TV on the couch.

"I'm going downstairs to Sam and Freddie's," I told them. "Brad should be back any second."

"Okay. If Bry wakes up do we just put him in a pillow case and bang it against the wall a few times?" Heather remarked as she idly changed channels.

"Should do the trick," I shot back, not in the mood to deal with her sarcastic comments, even if she was like a tiny Sam sometimes. I left the apartment and headed downstairs, knocking on Freddie's door. It opened a few minutes later, revealing Freddie.

"Entree," he said.

"Shouldn't you be working on your Italian and not your French?" I shot back as I walked in. "I mean, you guys are still going, right?"

"For Christmas break, yeah," he replied.

"Good," I responded with a nod. I sat down on his couch, silent for a few moments. "I haven't had the heart to talk to Brad yet. With everything that's going on."

"I took care of it," Freddie responded, sitting down.

I shook my head, letting out a deep breath.

"Do you think we did the right thing, Freddie? I mean, yeah, it's the best thing for us, and our careers and the kids, but...there were other ways. You could have stayed here in Seattle. We both could have. Brad too."

"And did you really wanna take that chance?" he shot back. "Come on, Carly, you know this is what's best."

"Best for them? Or best for us?"

"Both," Freddie responded.

"Still, I mean, how serious can we take Melanie?" I asked. "I mean, it's Melanie."

"And it's also inside jokes. And looks across the room. And being inside each other's heads way too much."

I bit my lip. "But do you think they'd ever do anything? Honestly, Freddie. Sam loves you. And I'm pretty sure Brad loves me. Do you think they'd purposely hurt us like that?"

"No, not purposely. But do I think they could make a mistake? Absolutely," he responded. "Let me ask you something, what do you think would happen if you got both of them drunk and then locked them in a room for an hour? Can you honestly look me in the eye and tell me that you believe, 100% that nothing would happen? Because I don't. As much as I love Sam and as much as she loves me, I don't believe that for a second. Do you?"

I shook my head. "No, I don't."

"Exactly," he responded. "Am I going to miss my best friend every fucking day? Absolutely. Am I going to miss the hell out of you? Of course. But I can't...and I won't...put my marriage at risk, or give them the opportunity to do something stupid. And the longer they stay around each other..." he trailed off. "It's just better this way, Carls."

"You're probably right," I said with a sigh. "Because it would ruin everything. Friendships and relationships."

"And we don't want that."

"Not at all," I replied. I paused, looking down at the carpet. "But I'm going to miss the hell out of you guys. I'm going to miss the hell out of you."

He nodded. "And I'll miss you too."

"And I was joking before, you weren't the creepy neighbor boy. You were my friend. You still are."

"Thought I was just your bacon," he teased, and I laughed, shaking my head.

"Yeah but bacon's good. Picks you up when you're down, it's dependable..."

"Hey, don't start waxing philosophical about meat producst, SAM," Freddie replied with a laugh. I laughed too, shaking my head.

"You know what I mean," I replied. "I just...you're really important to me, Freddie. You always have been, and you always will be."

"Me too, Carly," Freddie responded with that crooked smile of his.

I sighed, standing up. "I should probably get back before Heather and Chuck stage a coux or run off together and elope. Like two other crazy teenagers I used to know."

Freddie just shrugged. "Hey, it turned out to be the best decision of my life."

"And all those years you professed your undying love to me," I responded, wiping away a fake tear. "I'm hurt, really."

"Sorry sweetie," Freddie replied with an amused shake of his head. "But you'll always be my number two."

"Ew, Freddie."

"Well, when you put it like that..." he replied, making a face.

"Hey, it's my duty!" I put the emphasis on 'duty', making Freddie laugh again.

"Alright, stop making poop jokes and get out of here, Carly," he replied.

"Fine, I'm going," I replied, growing more serious. "Gonna miss you, Benson."

He held his arms out to me, offering me a departing hug, which I accepted.

"You've been good to me, Shay," he told me, still hugging me.

"You've been good to me too, Freddie," I responded.

"Take care of yourself, alright?" he said. "I mean, I'll see you before you leave, obviously, but...we probably won't get another chance to say our goodbyes for real, you know?"

I nodded. "I know." I kissed him on the cheek. "Bye, Freddie."

"Take care, Carly."

With a final wave, I left his apartment, taking the stairs and slowly trudging up, lost in thought. It was so surreal, leaving behind two people I cared about more than anything. Loving Sam like a sister but still being suspicious of her was odd, but ever since Melanie had let it spill out to Freddie three days prior...it was all I could think about. I wasn't angry at her per say, just...extremely confused. And the decision to move to Los Angeles had been made beforehand, but it just solidified it. Sam and Brad needed to be kept apart.

When I got back to the apartment and upstairs in my room, Brad was already there, laying in bed reading. I laid down next to him, my head on his shoulder.

"Hey," I said, as he turned his head to kiss me on the forehead.

"Hey," he responded. "What were you doing?"

"Nothing," I replied. "You?"

He shrugged. "Nothing."


	93. Chapter 93

**A/N: Well this is the next to last chapter before the second story of The Ballad wraps up. After I post the last chapter, I'm gonna take a little time off from it before I launch the third one. Instead, I'll be putting my energy into finishing up Gravity, which is a MUCH MUCH shorter story. (Think 12 or 13 haha) Again, I've had a blast writing this story. **

**BTW, my filmmaker best friend and I are currently adapting the show into a webseries. We're changing character names and removing any sort of resemblance to iCarly, (as well as cutting out a LOT of the sex haha) but the pilot is written and we're working on securing funding right now. We hope to begin shooting this summer. :D**

**Chapter 93**

~*Brad*~

"Hey man, you're being kinda quiet..." I observed as Freddie idly threw a few halfhearted left hooks at the punching bag in front of him.

'Kinda quiet' was definitely an understatement. Freddie had barely said a word to me since I met up with him at the gym, and I was beginning to get a little nervous. I hadn't spoken to Sam since last night. To be honest, I didn't know what to say, and I didn't know if it was even appropriate to try. We needed to keep our distance from each other.

I was so confused about the kiss. Who initiated it, what it meant. How long had we both been feeling like this. More importantly, what to do about it, and what "keeping our distance" really meant. Did we avoid each other forever? Never speak again?

I couldn't keep it a secret from Carly, as bad as I felt about it. I'd confessed it to her earlier in the day, expecting her to freak out. But she didn't. Carly merely glowered at me, before quipping, "That's why we're moving." She hadn't spoken of it again.

Freddie shrugged, hitting the bag again. "You warmed up?"

I frowned, nodding. "Yeah. So you wanna get in the ring?"

"Oh yeah, I'm ready," Freddie responded, walking away from the bag and towards the ring. He grabbed onto one of the ropes and hoisted himself up, observing the sparring match between Tom and another guy that hung around the gym named Trey. I considered Tom a friend, maybe not a close one, but he didn't really care for Freddie, and Freddie didn't really care for him. They were definitely different people. Tom's motto was 'party party party', whereas Freddie was more of a family man.

Whenever I wasn't around, Freddie preferred sparring with Trey, who was a little more on the serious type, a British pre-med student who was already married with a kid on the way, worked in a book store and liked talking to Freddie about tech stuff and video games. Trey didn't really care for me, and to be honest, I didn't really care for him. I thought he was kind of stuffy, and he liked taking shots at me about my intelligence level, which was pretty damn stupid, if you asked me. Just because I didn't walk around talking about physics or psychology or any of that stuff didn't mean I was an idiot. Maybe I didn't know what a medula oblangata was, but I'd be willing to put money on the fact that Trey didn't know the first thing about filmmaking either.

Freddie leaned over the rope, watching Tom and Trey go at it, and waved a little to get Trey's attention.

"Hey man, you guys almost finished up?" he called.

"Wanna have a go?" Trey asked, hitting his gloves together. Freddie shook his head.

"Nah, I was gonna spar with Brad," he responded, his eyebrows going up, and I looked over at him curiously.

"Oh yeah," Trey responded. He held his hands up to Tom, signaling he was finished. "Why don't we let Benson have a go at Brad here?" They both looked over at me.

Oh geez, what was going on?

"Maybe we could go a few more rounds..." Tom said awkwardly.

"Nah, I'm all tuckered out," Trey responded, pulling his gloves off and then walking over to the ropes. "Have fun," he muttered in Freddie's ear, loud enough for me to hear.

I was pretty sure Sam wouldn't be stupid enough to tell Freddie what had happened between us the night before, because the probability he'd clobber me was very high, but then again, I'd been wrong before...

Trey walked past me, brushing against me a little too hard and causing me to stumble back a little.

"Hey, easy there BLOKE," I snapped rudely.

Trey shook his head and laughed, then muttered something under his breath as he walked past. I whirled around, glaring at him.

"What was that?"

"I said, some best mate," he responded, glancing over at Freddie.

"Trey!" Freddie yelled. "Enough."

"Just saying, if he laid a hand on my wife..." Trey stopped, shrugging and giving me a wry smile. "Have fun there, Brad."

Oh god. Sam HAD told Freddie. I was a dead man. I stood there for a second, carefully weighing my options. On the one hand, if I took my beating now, he was wearing gloves, and he wouldn't be able to do too much damage in a public setting. If I didn't, there was a very good chance he'd catch me alone...possibly even demonstrate a stunning re-enactment of what happened to Bill. On the other, I was a much faster runner than Freddie, and if I hightailed it out of there now he wouldn't be able to catch me.

"Are we gonna do this or not?" Freddie called as he stretched out his muscles a little. I sighed, hanging my head in defeat, and pulled myself into the ring.

"Okay, Freddie...I know you're pissed, but..."

"Understatement of the year," he responded, and without warning threw an uppercut right into my chin. Even with the gloves, it hurt like a bitch.

"Fucking...OW!" I hollered. "Dude, what the -" But I didn't get the words out, because Freddie just started wailing on me. "Easy, man!"

"What part of don't put your hands on my wife did you not get, Brad?" Freddie yelled, hitting me in the chest.

"It was a fucking accident, Freddie!" I hollered, trying to fend him off. I wasn't even getting a chance to throw any punches back, I had to keep fending off the ones he was throwing. Christ, he was like a windmill!

"An accident?!" he yelled. "You tripped and fell on her lips?"

"No, I -" Wham! "Shit!" My hand flew to my face. "I'm damn sure that's against the rules, man!"

"Yo, Benson!" I heard the voice of Brett, one of the gym employees, ring through the gym. "No sucker punches in the eye, man!"

"Sorry," Freddie replied as he looked over his shoulder at him, and before I could even hit him, he turned back around and hit me square in the gut.

Oh jesus, that was going to leave a mark, I thought as I doubled over in pain. As I hunched over, Freddie circled around me slowly, like a wolf preparing to strike, and then bent down to speak lowly into my ear.

"You do realize I could beat you half to death, right?" he hissed. "Easily. And nobody would care, because you're such a little bitch."

Okay, Brad is done letting Freddie take cheap shots now. I threw an elbow into his stomach, and he let out a loud 'oof' sound, taking a few steps back. I stood up, whirling around to glare at him.

Freddie recovered quickly, straightening up and twisting his neck in a weird way that made a sickening – and very intimidating – cracking noise.

"Cheap shot, Brad," he said with a shake of his head. "But that seems to be your thing, right?"

I glared at him, narrowing my eyes. "You know, it wasn't exactly one-sided, Benson."

Freddie swung again, but I blocked that one and countered with one of my own.

"After all the shit I did for you, you turn around and kiss my WIFE?" Freddie yelled as he hit me in the ribcage. "That's such bullshit! I should've let you bleed to death in the woods, you asshole!"

"Maybe I should have let you go into a diabetic coma in my grandparents' woods, ever think about that?" I yelled back. "I fucked up, okay?"

"No shit!" Freddie yelled, advancing toward me and hitting me in the chest. I grabbed a hold of his arm and shoved him back, but that only seemed to make him madder. I knew I'd fucked up royally when he let go of all sense of decorum and just dove at me, tackling me to the ground.

"Oh shit!" I heard Tom yell. "Get up, Harrison!"

"Should I just go nail Carly now and make it even?" Freddie yelled as he hit me in the jaw. I extended my legs and pulled them up, flipping him off me and then pinning him to the ground.

"Do you think I WANTED THIS?!" I yelled in his face, pinning his arms down so he couldn't swing. "Do you think I WANT to have feelings for Sam? I fucking don't, Freddie! I feel like a shitty human being!"

"YOU ARE A SHITTY HUMAN BEING!"

"I fucked up, okay? We both did! But the last thing we want is to hurt you guys!" I hollered.

"Too late!" Freddie yelled back. "You already did! And stop calling the two of you WE!"

"HEY!" Brett hopped into the ring and yanked me off Freddie. "Cut the shit! This isn't MMA!" He stood between us, facing Freddie, as he tried to keep him from attacking me again.

"Let me ask you something, Brett, if your best friend made a move on your wife, what would you do, man?"

Brett's eyes shifted over to me, his eyebrows raised, and took a step back, his hands going up, as if to say 'You brought this on yourself.'

Oh, fuck!

I backpedaled liked crazy as Freddie advanced toward me. "Dude, come on!"

Everyone in the whole gym had stopped what they were doing, obviously looking forward to Freddie beating the shit out of me. I didn't even have the protection of the gym employees now, I was screwed, literally backed into a corner.

So I did the only thing I could do. I ducked under the ropes, getting out of the ring, and then I ran. Like hell.

"You are so dead when I catch you!" I heard Freddie yell.

I felt like I was in a movie or something about a guy who'd messed with the wrong mobster's wife or something, and now I was about to get the shit beat out of me for real. I managed to make it out to the parking lot, and to my car, but that was as far as I got before Freddie caught up, slamming me facefirst down onto the hood of the car and pinning my arms behind my back.

"Give me one good reason why I shouldn't pummel you to death," he growled into my ear.

"Because you look like you're raping me to passersby?" I quipped. Freddie sighed, letting go of me, and I spun around and shoved him back.

"Fuck you, man!"

"No, fuck you, Brad!" he yelled. "How could you do something like this to me, honestly?!"

"Again, I didn't want it! I didn't even think about it, and neither did she! It just happened! The point is we stopped when we had opportunity to..."

"Don't finish that statement," he growled in warning at me, and I shook my head.

"Dude, the last thing I wanted to do was hurt you, okay?" I shouted. "We...forget it."

"No, what?"

"We kissed each other, okay? But we kissed each other GOODBYE."

Freddie stared at me, but didn't say anything, or move to hit me, and that was a good sign.

"Things were too complicated, and it's just better if we keep our distance. We know that. We can't help how we feel, alright? She fucking loves you, Freddie!" I shouted. "In a way I can't hold a candle to!"

"No shit!" Freddie yelled. "And you're an idiot for thinking you could ever compete with that!"

"I don't WANT TO, okay? I love Carly, and I want to be with her..."

"You have a funny way of showing it," Freddie grumbled.

"...but I love Sam too," I said. Again, he stared at me, saying nothing. "You happy? I love Sam. I fucking love her! And that is why I'm walking the fuck away, because I love her enough that I want her to be happy, and I don't want to break up her marriage or her family! Sam never had a family, and she deserves one. She deserves you, not me."

Freddie struggled to think of something to say. "You know, if Carly and I were so inclined..." he trailed off, shaking his head. "Maybe we just have more self control than you two."

"You probably do!" I responded. "And that is why we're not pushing against this whole move thing. I don't want to lose my fiance, and I don't want to lose my best friend. And she doesn't want that either. She loves you, man!"

Freddie sighed, shaking his head. "I just can't believe that...man, it just wasn't supposed to be like this. She was supposed to love me. ONLY me."

"Right, because you love her, and only her, and you don't have this little piece of you that will always belong to Carly." I pointed out, and Freddie's eyes widened. "Do you think I'm an idiot?"

Freddie stared at the ground. "Look, Brad..."

"Okay, so maybe you have more self control than I do, but you're no better than me. We're in the same boat, and THAT is why the four of us need to go our separate ways," I replied. "I'm not saying that I don't...you know, I want us to stay friends, but..."

Freddie nodded. "I do too, but..." he shook his head and laughed bitterly. "You know, I think maybe everybody was right about us."

"What do you mean?"

"We're too dependent on one another. The...bond is out of control, borders on creepy."

"It IS creepy," I agreed, "And that's why we have to end it, before somebody crosses a line and there's no turning back."

The anger in Freddie's face began to melt away, and he let out a sigh, staring at the ground.

Freddie nodded. "Can't say I'm not going to miss it though. You know, except for the part where you kiss Sam."

"And I can't say I'm not going to miss it either...except for the part where people remind me you were in love with my fiance for a decent chunk of your childhood."

Freddie laughed. "It's just...I don't know. Sam and Carly are both..."

"...amazing women," I finished. "Yeah, I know. Why do you think I jumped at the chance to work with you guys? It's hard not to fall in love with one of them, and even harder not to..."

"...fall in love with both," Freddie surmised. "But ultimately, I chose Sam, and you chose Carly, and we have to respect that and draw some lines."

"The lines are drawn, okay? We made a mistake. Never again."

"Swear?" Freddie asked, and I nodded.

"On our parents' graves," I responded solemnly. "On one condition."

"What's that?"

"That you don't let this...you know, kill the friendship. I've never had a friend like you, like ever. And I know I fucked it all up, but I'm sorry."

Freddie nodded. "You did fuck up, but...it'd be hard for me to lose you as a friend."

"So..." I shuffled my feet awkwardly. "Can I still count on you as my best man? If Carly will still have me I mean?"

Freddie nodded. "The better man," he grumbled under his breath, then looked up at me. "I'm sorry, but I'm royally pissed."

"You have every right to be, I suppose..." I responded. There was an awkward silence. "Well, look...I have to get back, but...we'll see you next week? At the last show?"

Freddie nodded. "Definitely."

"And another thing, don't blame Sam, it's not her fault..."

Freddie shook his head. "I've let her off the hook too many damn times, man. She's my wife, and I love her, but she crossed a line. A big one."

"You're not going to leave her, are you?"

"And give you a clear shot? Not a chance in hell," he responded. "I'm gonna head back too. See you later."

"Later," I waved awkwardly. Freddie just raised his eyebrows at me and then walked away, leaving me leaning against my car, alone.

I sighed, falling back onto the hood and looking up at the sky. Man, I'd fucked up so bad. Just one little act that occurred entirely on impulse, and I'd probably destroyed my friendship with Freddie AND Sam simultaneously. Freddie would never look at me the same again. Sam and I would never look at each other the same way again. And if for some reason we were ever around each other again, we'd never be allowed alone in the same room again. Everything was so screwed up.

But then again, everything always was...

~*Sam*~

I nearly jumped out of my skin when I heard the front door open. I'd been sitting on the couch waiting for Freddie to come home from the gym, but honestly, part of me was expecting a call to come bail my husband out of jail. I was sure he was going to kill Brad.

"Hi," I said softly as Freddie walked in, shutting the door behind him.

"Hey," he replied.

"So, did you..."

"Beat the shit out of your boyfriend?" Freddie finished, his voice dripping with sarcasm. I looked down at the floor in silence. "I started to, but..." he shrugged.

"Freddie, I'm so sorry..." I began.

Freddie held his hand up. "I don't wanna hear it, Sam." He sat down on the opposite end of the couch. "It's over, right?"

I looked up at him in alarm. "What's over?"

"This thing between you and him."

I nodded. "Yes. Freddie..."

"Because if it happens again..." he shook his head. "Never mind."

I didn't know what to say, so Freddie and I just sat there in silence for a few minutes.

"He's in love with you," he said quietly.

I shook my head. "No he's not."

"Yeah, he is. And I know that because he told me," Freddie responded. "And you love him."

"No, I don't!" I rose to my knees, putting my hands on Freddie's leg. "Baby, please..."

"A part of you is," he responded, shaking his head. "Sometimes I think that part of the reason you stayed with me for so long is gratitude. For pulling you out of the situation you were in."

I shook my head, a tear spilling down my cheek. "Baby, that's not true. I love you. I always have. Please, I'm sorry...I'm so sorry..."

Freddie didn't meet my eyes, or even look in my direction, just continued to stare into space as I rambled out a lengthy apology, begging him to forgive me, listing all the reasons why I loved him still, why I wanted to be with him, why I didn't want to be with Brad. I was so wrapped up in my apology that I didn't even see it coming when he suddenly grabbed my arm, pushing me onto my back and hovering over me, his face inches from mine.

"I fucking love you, but that doesn't mean I can't be angry with you," he growled, staring me down. I was so shocked I couldn't even speak, let along push him off me. "And I am. I'm fucking angry. Do you understand that?"

I stared up at him, frozen.

"Well?"

"You're hurting me," I said quietly.

Freddie let go of my arm, but didn't move off of me, continuing to stare me down. I swallowed nervously.

"I'm scaring you, aren't I?"

I nodded slowly. "But not the way you think."

"Then explain it to me."

"Don't leave me," I whispered.

"Didn't I make you a promise?" he responded, his face inches from mine. "I promised I never would. No matter what."

"Even something like this?"

"Especially something like this," Freddie replied evenly. "It doesn't make me want to let you go. It makes me want to pull you even closer." He shook his head. "I don't want anyone else to have you, Sam."

"And no one will," I told him. "Freddie...nobody, not Brad, or anyone else, can make me feel the way you do."

He nodded, that fiery, serious look still in his eyes, and slowly closed the distance between us, our lips pressing against each other. I sighed as I kissed him, my arms going around his neck.

The kiss with Brad felt like electricity, a spark that shot a tingle through me. Part of it was the newness of kissing someone different. Part of it was the jolt that comes with doing something you're not supposed to do. And a lot of it was the way we felt about each other, emotions that had been buried because we were too scared to explore them.

But he didn't make me feel like my entire being was on fire, the way Freddie did. I felt it in my stomach, in my chest, my bones. It radiated through me, the top of my head to the tips of my toes. Every kiss with Freddie felt like that. A slow burning inferno that consumed every part of me.

I let out a gasp of surprise as I felt Freddie suddenly press a hand between my legs, rubbing firmly and purposefully as he continued to kiss me, dominating me, claiming me as his. I couldn't help but moan against his mouth.

Still kissing me, he yanked the yoga pants I was wearing down my legs and then pulled at my underwear until it tore. I didn't even try to stop him...why would I want to? I loved the way he touched me. My hands went into his hair, nails raking over his scalp, and he growled against my mouth, nipping at my bottom lip. His hands left me for a moment and I heard the clanging noise of him frantically unbuckling his belt. I let go of his hair and raked my nails down his back and then went to his pants, unbuttoning and unzipping them, pushing them down over his hips.

He entered me with no lead up and I cried out, tearing at his shirt and digging my teeth into his shoulder. Freddie let out a growl, grabbing my hair and yanking my head back so he could kiss me again.

We moved together in a rushed, hurried pace, crying out each other's names as he grabbed my hands and pinned my arms over my head.

"Could he EVER make you feel like this?" he growled into my ear as he plunged in and out of me, making me moan.

"No...God, no...Fredddiiieee..."

"No, he couldn't," he hissed. "Never. Because he can't love you like I can."

My legs went around his waist as we ground our hips into each other, sweating, shaking, desperate to break past this new stumbling block in our relationship. New, but not new. Just...out in the open, too obvious to ignore, but too painful to confront head on.

No matter what, whether broken from exhaustion or overcome with raw anger, Freddie had never lost his touch in the bedroom, and right now was no exception. He brought me to the edge effortlessly, pulling back whenever he would feel me start to reach my peak, and it was beginning to drive me insane.

"Freddie..." I moaned, cut off when he pressed his lips against mine fervently. "Please..."

"Tell me you love me," he said, nipping at my shoulder. I hissed in slight pain. "Tell me."

"I love you..." I gasped out. "Freddie, I love you..."

"Tell me you love me more than him."

"You know I do!"

"SAY IT!"

"I love you more than him!" I cried out as he drove into me, and then pulled out again, deliberately teasing me.

"More than who?"

"I love you more than Brad! It's not even close...oh god..." My nails dug into his back, and he hissed in pain, grabbing my hips to grind me against him.

"You just remember, next time you see him...he can't do this to you," Freddie responded lowly in my ear. And then with one thrust of his hips, and just the right angle, he had me pushed over the edge, my whole body feeling like it was breaking apart, but in the best way possible, as I threw my head back, seeing stars, shaking.

"Oh god...FREDDIE!"

"Good girl..." he whispered, kissing my neck. "You're mine, aren't you?"

"Yes..." I moaned. "Oh god, yes...it's always been you. No one else..."

"Please don't forget, baby..." he kissed me passionately. "Don't forget."

"I won't..." I kissed him back, tears streaming down my face as the realization of what I'd done really hit me. I'd really fucked up. I'd hurt the man I loved most. What the hell was wrong with me. "I love you so much...I'm so sorry..."

"Say it again," Freddie responded as he slowed down his frantic pace, replacing it with a slow rhythm that just started to build me up again, push me closer to the edge.

"I'm sorry."

"No, baby..." he kissed me. "Not that."

"I love you," I said it again, planting delicate kisses all over his face. "I love you so much. You're everything to me."

"I fucking need you, Sam," he said in a choked voice.

"You have me," I told him.

"I can't lose you."

"You have me," I said again.

"I love you."

I kissed him softly, holding onto him tightly as he let out a groan and squeezed his eyes shut as he exploded inside me.

"You have me."

~*Carly*~

I stood on the sidewalk, leaning against the blue metal post office box as I watched Freddie put the final box in the trunk of their car. Sam stood next to me, holding baby Freddie. Both of us were silent.

After the kiss that had happened between Sam and my fiance, we weren't really sure how to behave around one another. Oh, we'd definitely had our row. I'd yelled at her, and she yelled at me, and we both said some things we didn't mean. We both apologized and agreed to let bygones be bygones. I made her promise she'd still be my maid-of-honor. We'd been friends for over ten years, I couldn't in good conscience let a friendship like that go over one mistake.

But that didn't change the fact that I was furious with her.

I was furious with Brad too. Come to think of it, I couldn't figure out who I was angrier with. But I refused to think about it. I pretended like it didn't happen, and it was surprisingly easy to do. The past month had been a blur, packing up the apartment, getting everything ready to move. Brad and I had both been out to LA five or six times this month, working on our various projects.

We wrapped up the show with as little fanfare as possible. Sure, we promoted the hell out of it, and made a big to-do as far as the fanbase was concerned, but the chemistry had gone out of the show. Instead of being a happy and sad departure of the last eight years of our lives, it had felt like an obligation. In my opinion, it hadn't even been worth remembering. I was more looking forward to my future than looking back on the past.

Brad's publicist had been thrilled at the prospect of Brad Harrison, upcoming filmmaker, being engaged to Carly Shay, internet phenomenon who was about to launch a music career. A match made in PR heaven, she'd called it. The wedding, taking place in six months, was being voraciously planned, jerked out of our hands and handed over to a professional.

Now in addition to recording my album, there were dress fittings, photo shoots, interviews with all these different magazines. My first single hadn't even been recorded yet, but already people knew who I was. Pictures of Brad and I were splashed all over the gossip websites. One blogger had even penned a provocative little piece about me breaking the heart of my iCarly tech producer, who'd had to settle for my co-host after being in love with me all these years.

I'll be honest, I wasn't completely outraged by it. After Sam had kissed MY fiance, let her be embarrassed and angered by a headline like that. Freddie hadn't commented on it, but I knew he'd heard about it. He was really excited about his new job, and the two of us hadn't talked about Brad and Sam and their situation again. It was like it had been forgotten.

Today was the final piece of the puzzle to forgetting. Freddie was loading the rest of their belongings into their car, and that was it. They'd be off to San Francisco, and two days later, Brad and I would be in Los Angeles. We wouldn't see each other for six more months. Not until the wedding. We needed the break.

Freddie slammed the trunk shut and leaned against the car, looking at us.

"Well, that's the last of it," he said. "Honey, give me the baby. I'll strap him in."

Sam nodded, handing the baby off, and then turned to me. "Well..." she said, staring down at the ground. "I'm really gonna miss you, Carls."

I nodded. "I'm going to miss you too, Sam." That wasn't a lie. I'd miss her. Even if I was still angry with her. I hugged her tightly, as if the kiss had never happened. I was losing my best friend, and it sucked.

"Promise me you'll call and text and video chat?" she begged.

I nodded. "Definitely. When I have time."

She forced a smile. "You're gonna be a big star."

"And you'll be busy setting up house." I made a face. "I didn't mean that the way it sounded."

She nodded. "I know. Take care of yourself, Shay."

"You too," I replied. Sam glanced up at Brad awkwardly, and the two of them looked over at me and Freddie. I rolled my eyes. "Oh, get it over with."

Sam gave Brad a sad smile, hugging him. "Be good to her, alright?" she said into his ear as they hugged. "Or I'll hunt you down."

He laughed. "Yes ma'am. You take care of my man here."

"Of course," she replied. "Good luck in LA."

"Have a blast in San Fran, Blondie," he responded, pulling away from her. He looked over at Freddie. "Hell of a way to pass four years."

Freddie nodded. "No shit. How many laws do you think we broke together?"

Brad shrugged. "Who's keeping score?"

"I'll call you when we get there, alright?" Freddie told him, and Brad nodded.

"Pre-Bachelor Party, two months?" he asked. Freddie grinned at him.

"Hell yeah," he responded as they did their 'man hug' thing. Finally Freddie looked over at me.

"Welp," he said, kicking a stray pebble off the sidewalk. "It's been fun."

"Yeah," I said with a nod. "It has." I hugged him. "Good luck in San Francisco. Take over the whole damn company."

"As long as you take over the music business, you've got yourself a deal, missy," he replied as he hugged me back.

We pulled apart, everyone feeling sad and awkward and ready to get it over with all at the same time.

"Bye guys," I said softly, offering a wave.

Sam smiled sadly at me. "Bye, Carls. Bye Brad."

"Bye," Brad replied.

One final sad look, and Sam and Freddie got in their car. And then, they were gone. Out of Bushwell. Out of Seattle. Out of my life.

Brad leaned against a light post and let out a heavy sigh. "I'm really surprised you didn't kiss him to get back at me."

I glanced over at him. "What, just then?"

"Yeah. I was expecting it."

I shook my head, pointing across the street. "Check that out."

Brad looked in the direction I was pointing and shook his head. "We haven't even released our stuff yet, and already there's paparazzi."

"Yeah," I responded. "Kissing Freddie would've been a really bad career move. For both of us."

Brad stared at me in confusion. "What are you saying?"

"We're supposed to be in love, right?"

"And aren't we?"

I shrugged. "Is anyone really in love?"

"Carly..." Brad trailed off, biting his lip. "You know I love you."

I nodded.

"You love me, don't you?"

"I'm marrying you, aren't I?"

"That's not what I asked you," Brad responded. "Carly, come on, I'm sorry. I made a mistake." I didn't respond. "Carly, I love you. Babe?"

I just shook my head. "You're going to be a big star, Brad. And so am I."

With that, I turned and walked back into the apartment complex, leaving Brad standing outside by himself.


	94. Chapter 94

**A/N: Okay, I give up on ever trying to tell you guys how many chapters are left, when I plan to update, etc...because it NEVER turns out the way I plan. I fully planned on this being the final chapter of the Second Verse, but even as long as it is, I STILL can't wrap the story up in one chapter. I should be able to finish it off in the next chapter, but again, no promises. So here's the first part to the final wrap up of this story. Enjoy, the rest will come tomorrow! :)**

**Chapter 94**

**Six Months Later...**

~*Carly*~

"Come on come on come on!" I cried as I dragged Brad across the busy intersection leading to the airport.

"Carly, slow down!"

"No! Come on!" I yelled at him. "We're going to be late!"

"Their flight hasn't even landed yet, babe!" Brad yelled back. "Carly...CAR!" I felt his arm go around my waist and jerk me back against him as a car sped through the street, narrowly missing me, a horn blowing in warning. Brad shook his fist angrily as the car drove away. "Jackass!"

Someone once said that time heals all things, and in the case of mine and Brad's relationship, it had been no exception. The first two weeks in Los Angeles were filled with daily arguments; Brad and I screaming at each other at all hours of the night, spending little time together and throwing ourselves into our prospective projects. Finally Brad threw his hands up.

"I can't do this anymore!" He'd told me. "I made a mistake, Carly. Either you can forgive me or you can't, but I'm not going to spend anymore time apologizing for it. Either you want me or you don't. Either you're in this for the long haul or you're NOT."

"I WAS in it for the long haul," I shouted back. "Until you kissed my best friend! AGAIN!"

"I can't change the past!" He responded. "I love you, I'm with you! I walked away, and I'm giving you all of me! Why can't that be enough?" He gave me twenty four hours to decide whether or not I could forgive him, whether I could move on. I'd made the decision in two hours. We hadn't brought it up since. So far, I hadn't regretted it.

In some ways, nothing had changed. Brad and I struggling to raise four kids while we pursued our dreams, and dealing with all the drama that came with that. Keeping Heather out of trouble. Making sure Bryson didn't go off the deep end with being an 'avant garde' artist. Helping Leah deal with the perils of playground politics. And watching Katie grow up.

But in other ways, everything was different. After Brad's screenplay had sold, it had taken virtually zero time for pre-production to kick in, and he insisted in being involved with every aspect of it, from casting to set design. The studio that had bought the project didn't think he was ready to direct a piece like this on his own, so he was officially being credited as the writer and an executive producer, but Brad had already finished his second project and was looking for financing so he could direct it himself.

Then there was my career. After four months of recording at all hours of the day, the final mixes were being done, and my first single "Every Time" was about to officially be released. In fact, this week, I was going to be shooting my first video and doing my first televised performance for the Billboard Music Awards. I was nervous and excited at the same time, completely blown away that it was ACTUALLY happening. I'd wanted this forever, and now it was here.

Brad's management company was sort of an umbrella company that managed artists of all kinds, including musicians, and they'd been very quick to snatch me up. They were currently in talks with the band Big Time Rush to have me as an opening act on their summer tour, and when they weren't doing that, they were busy marketing Brad and I as Hollywood's new It couple. We'd even had a small piece written on us for Rolling Stone, touting us as part of a new breed in the entertainment business that cared more about taking care of each other and our family than we did about partying. That part was true, but we still liked to have our fun...

Los Angeles had tested the both of us. It seemed like girls enjoyed throwing themselves at Brad for the sole purpose of pissing me off, and I was having to make a concerted effort not to flip out every time a pretty girl batted her fake eyelashes at my fiance. Brad was constantly having to network, both to promote his current project and secure funding for his new one, and most networking in Hollywood took places in VIP sections of nightclubs and bars or at release parties. Drugs and alcohol were everywhere. He'd done remarkably well resisting. He still smoked, but in the sort of way that a blue collar working guy would have one beer after work and that'd be it.

Freddie had been out here once or twice for a day, popping in to hang out with Brad and Gibby, but things weren't like they were before. In Seattle, before everything got so messed up, Freddie had been Brad's right hand man. Now that title belonged to Gibby. Brad and Gibby hung out all the time, to the point that Gibby would often be playing video games in our living room before I'd even gotten out of bed. I'd made friends out here of my own, but it was definitely nice seeing a familiar face.

Sam had only came out to Los Angeles one time, for her bridesmaid's dress fitting, but it wasn't because things were awkward or strained between us. We were both just really busy. I was putting together my music career, and Sam was busy with school. Apparently she'd put her foot down this semester and said no way in hell would she be taking online classes. She was currently enrolled full time at UCSF, while Freddie took time off from school to focus on his new job. Between the baby and college, Sam definitely had her hands full, but we texted and called whenever we could. It was as if the kiss between Brad and Sam never happened, and it was certainly better that way.

Of course, this was going to be the first time in six months that Brad and Sam had even seen each other. I hadn't mentioned it, but of course I was a little nervous. Would all that tension still be there? What would happen if they were alone together again?

A car horn blasting at me brought me right out of thoughts, and Brad grabbed my hand, pulling me across the street.

"Babe, you wanna get put in the hospital during the most important week of your life?" he chided me once we were safely on the sidewalk, tucking a piece of hair behind my ear. I shook my head.

"No. Sorry, I was just distracted," I responded. I looked down at my watch. "Oh my gosh, I know the flight's landed by now..."

"Carly! Brad!" I turned my head and was assaulted by a wave of flashbulbs. God, how do they ALWAYS know where everyone is?

Brad rolled his eyes at the sudden ambush of paparazzi, putting a protective arm around me and ushering me towards the front door of the baggage claim.

"Are you guys excited about your wedding this week?" one of the paps shouted at me. "Where is it being held?"

"Back off!" Brad growled in warning. "Bunch of vultures..."

I usually didn't mind people randomly popping up and taking pictures of me. In a way, it was kind of funny, because I didn't see what was so fascinating about me buying coffee or grocery shopping, but Brad regarded them as a violation of his privacy, and he didn't take too kindly to them. Our publicist was always going round and round with him about what could happen if Brad actually put his hands on one of them. Luckily he hadn't found any of them hanging out in our bushes or anything, but it was probably only a matter of time...

We managed to get inside, and of course a few of them followed us, but I just pulled my hat down lower and grabbed Brad's hand a little tighter, giving him a look of warning.

"Just pretend like they're not here, okay?" I told him. He just shook his head. "Come on, you knew this would be a part of it."

"Nobody says anything when Tarantino takes shots at these assholes..." he grumbled. I shook my head, raising on my tiptoes a little to kiss him on the side of his face.

"Tarantino isn't getting marketed by his PR and management as a family man, remember?" I shot back. "Stay calm."

"Right," he responded. "Stay calm."

I leaned against a pole, checking my watch. "Just keep watch. They should be coming down that way, right about..."

"CARLY!" I looked up to see a tiny blonde off in the distance frantically waving at me, and I pulled my hat off to get a better look.

Oh my god! It was her!

"SAM!" I screamed, taking off.

"No, wait, Carly, don't-" I heard Brad call, and then I heard a bunch of yelling as photographers closed in on him. "I will break all of your faces!" I heard him threaten, but I wasn't paying attention.

I made a beeline for Sam, the both of us running at top speed, colliding into a hug that almost knocked both of us over.

"Oh my god, I missed you!" I cried, hugging her fiercely.

"Lies, superstar!" she laughed. "You barely had time to think about me!" We pulled apart, and she examined me critically. "Wow, look at you...you look amazing!"

I shrugged. "I've been logging a LOT of hours at the salon this week," I responded, running a hand through my glossy, freshly styled hair. "There's a lot going on..."

"No kidding," Sam responded. "Video shoot, a live performance, AND a wedding? You must have a death wish."

"Something like that," I laughed. "Hey, where's Freddie?"

Sam made a face, turning around to look behind him. "Oh, man, I left him to carry all the bags himself..."

I pointed off in the distance. "I think I see him..."

Sure enough, there was Freddie, the baby in one arm, a diaper bag slung over his shoulder, a backpack perched on his back, and a briefcase I was guessing contained his laptop, looking a little annoyed.

"Baby, I'm sorry," Sam laughed as he approached us. She pulled the diaper bag off his arm and he shook his head.

"I'm dying over here," he said, a little out of breath. He dropped the bags to the ground but kept a firm hold on his son. He looked at me and his face broke into a smile.

"Hey Carly," he said, giving me a hug with one arm, the baby in his other.

"Oh my gosh, I am SO glad you guys are here!" I exclaimed.

"Where's Brad?" Freddie asked, scanning the crowd. I pointed.

"See the big group of paparazzi over there?"

"Yeah?"

"He's in the middle of it."

"Carly!" Sam laughed. "Maybe you should go help him out before he kills one of them."

"Probably," I sighed, turning around and walking over to where poor Brad was having to fend for himself, squeezing my way through the photographers.

"Guys," I said, giving them a sweet smile. "Lay off my fiance. Can't you see he's tired?"

"You should teach him how to be nicer to us, Carly," one of them said. "So where's the wedding?"

"It's top secret," I replied with a wink. "Okay, guys, one picture, and then can you clear out? We're having a reunion here."

"The iCarly cast?" one of them said. I made a face. Oh god...

Brad stepped in front of me, pointing threateningly. "No. They've got their kid with them. Back off, or I make you back off."

"Look, you get one photo and you leave, or my fiance breaks your camera..."

"...and your face!" I gave Brad a withering glare, shutting him up immediately, and then turned back to the paparazzi I was talking to.

"What's it gonna be?" I asked him. The guy rolled his eyes.

"Fine, one shot. Make it a good one!" he responded.

I grabbed Brad by the back of his neck, pulling him down to kiss me as the flashbulbs went off. Finally I pulled away, turning to look back at the photographers.

"Satisfied?"

"For now," he responded.

"Fine, just keep your distance," I warned him, then took Brad by the hand. "Come on..."

Sam and Freddie were set up over by a wall away from all the action, and Sam was fussing at Freddie about something, but he didn't seem to be paying attention as he looked down at his PearPhone while Freddie Jr. kept trying to reach down to touch it.

"Back off, little man," I heard him say to him as he lifted the phone higher.

"Will you turn that thing off already?"

"I can't! Do you have any idea how many hoops I had to jump through just to take this week off?"

"It's our friends' wedding, and you're preoccupied with work. As usual."

"You know what?" Freddie looked up and glared at her. "Maybe when you make an actual contribution to our income..."

"EXCUSE ME?"

I cleared my throat awkwardly. "Guys?"

They snapped out of whatever argument they were in and looked at us.

"Brad!" Sam exclaimed.

"Blondie!" Brad said with a grin as the two hugged. Maybe a little bit longer than I was comfortable with, but I didn't say anything. Freddie raised an eyebrow in my direction, and I just shrugged it off.

Brad and Sam separated, looking much happier now that they were around each other. Do not react, Carly. Do not react...

"How goes it? You look great!" Brad said, giving her a smile.

Sam shrugged, looking a little self conscious. "Thanks. I mean, I'm not superstar hot like Carly here, but..."

"You look great, baby," Freddie told her, and then directed his attention to Brad. "Hey man!" They exchanged a brief hug. Brad looked over Freddie Jr, shaking his head.

"Man, he got big," he stated, and I nodded in agreement. He was looking more and more like Freddie, especially with those big brown eyes.

I gave the baby a big smile, bending down closer to him. "Hey, little Freddie!" Nothing. The baby just glanced around the airport, like I wasn't even there. "Little Freddie?" Still no response. I frowned. "Is he okay?" I hoped he didn't have hearing problems or anything.

Sam rolled her eyes. "Brad, c'mere." She motioned for him to come closer, standing on her tiptoes to whisper something in his ear. Freddie's jaw twitched back and forth like it did when he was trying NOT to say something, and I must have look mortified, but Brad pulled away with a confused look on his face.

"Seriously, do it," Sam told him.

"Okay..." Brad responded. "Hey, Buddy?"

The baby whipped his head around in the direction Brad's voice and gave him a big baby smile. I covered my hand with my mouth as I started to laugh.

"He thinks his name is Buddy," I summed up. Sam nodded, giving Freddie an annoyed look.

"What?" he shot back.

"You're the one that called him that every single day! Now he thinks that's his name for real."

"Gonna keep punishing me for that?" Freddie responded, and Sam shrugged.

"You're the expert on punishment."

Brad and I exchanged looks. Seems like everything in San Francisco wasn't going too well. I cleared my throat awkwardly.

"Why don't we get the rest of your bags?" I asked, desperate to change the subject. "Then we can go get some food, and catch up!"

"Sounds good," Sam responded, then turned to Freddie. "Can I have my baby?"

"You mean our baby?" Freddie responded as she took the baby out of Freddie's arms.

"Come see mama, pumpkin," she said in a more high pitched voice. Little Freddie, or Buddy, as it were, clung to her like a baby koala, laying his head on his mother's shoulder. She gave me a smile as we walked together toward the baggage claim. "He loves his mama."

"I can see that," I said with a laugh. "Aw, Sam, he's adorable..."

"Isn't he? And I spend more time with him than I do my husband." She said that part with a touch of bitterness, and my eyebrows went up.

"So he's still pulling those long hours I take it?"

Sam shook her head. "You have no idea. Ever since we bought the house, it's like I never see him. What's the point of having a house if he's never there?"

"I'm sure he just wants to make sure you and the baby are well taken care of..."

"I know that, but..." she bit her lip. "I don't know. It's just not what I thought it would be, you know?"

I nodded. "Well, just try to forget about it this week, okay? You guys are on vacation, and I definitely need your support."

Sam shook her head. "I don't know about you sometimes, Carls. A video shoot, performance, AND your wedding all in the same week? You must have a death wish."

"Don't forget I have two photoshoots and a radio interview too."

"Good lord," she shook her head again. "So when's Spencer and April getting into town?"

"They're already here, in fact they're back at the house hanging out with Leah and Katie until we get back. The nanny had the day off." I checked my watch. "And my PA's supposed to be picking up Bryson and Heather from school in the next half hour."

"PA?" Sam asked uncertainly.

"Personal Assistant."

"You have a personal assistant?" Sam asked incredulously.

"Yeah," I responded, as if it were the most natural thing in the world. "Brad and I both do."

Sam just laughed. "Wow, things have really changed for you guys. Meanwhile..." she trailed off, making a face, and I nudged her.

"Meanwhile, you're on your way to becoming a superstar lawyer," I replied. "Still think you're going to be able to finish on time? That taking a semester off didn't slow you down?"

Sam sighed. "Maybe...I mean, as long as..." she bit her lip. "Nothing. Come on, I'm tired of being in the airport."

Sam and Freddie corralled their bags fairly quickly, and we finally managed to drag everything off to the car. After Freddie had strapped the baby into Katie's carseat, we were off.

"So what are you guys thinking in terms of food?" Brad asked as he whizzed through traffic. Six months ago, he was yelling his head off at Gibby every time they went somewhere together, but now he was worse than Gibby, the way he zipped through lanes like it was nothing. "There's this really great sushi place...Sam, wanna try the infamous dancing squid?"

Sam made a face and looked out the window. "No thanks. I'm not in the mood for sushi. Hey, could you maybe slow down a little?"

"If you want me to get us killed," Brad replied. "Okay, no sushi...burritos?"

Freddie leaned over the baby's carseat to ask Sam a question that I couldn't make out in a low voice, handing her his water bottle and kissing her on the forehead.

Something wasn't adding up. They were bitching at each other like crazy but Freddie was still doting on her, and she didn't want sushi. This was weird. Suddenly it clicked in my head.

"Are you pregnant again?" I blurted out, turning around in my seat to look at her. She nodded meekly.

"FREDDIE!" Brad and I exclaimed.

"What?" Freddie shot back. "How is it my fault? It takes two people to make a baby!"

"Sam!" I scolded. "How could you forget to take your pill AGAIN?"

"I wasn't on them, okay?" she responded.

Brad glanced up into the rearview mirror at the two of them and then back at the road.

"So you guys planned this?" he asked.

Freddie shrugged. "Hey, we didn't want our kids to be too far apart in age..." He gave Sam a smile, and she smiled back at him.

"We're hoping for a girl this time," she added.

"You guys, that's really great!" I exclaimed, then glanced over at Brad. 'Wow,' I mouthed to him. He just shook his head.

I didn't know if they planned to have the baby because they truly didn't want the kids to be far apart in age, or because they thought having another baby would solve things, but I wasn't too sure about the idea of them having another kid. Sam already seemed to be struggling with not feeling important, like she was just a housewife, and having a second baby would make her graduating from college on time nearly impossible. And if Freddie worked as much as Sam said he did, then she really had tough times ahead of her...

~*Freddie*~

"Dude, this place is insane..." I commented as I followed Brad through the backlot of the studio where his film was being shot. I'd never been on a movie set before, but it wasn't much like I'd expected. Sam hadn't been feeling well, so we'd dropped the girls back off at the house and then Brad had to stop off at the studio before we went to go meet up with Gibby. I'd made a comment to Sam about Carly not giving Brad shit for working, but before I could even finish, Brad smacked me in the back of the head and told me to shut up. I wasn't sure how I felt about him going back to defending my own wife from me, but I was trying to let it go.

Things between Sam and I tended to bounce back and forth from tense to normal these days. I hadn't given her nearly as much as shit about the kiss as Carly had, and we were pretty much recovered from that situation, but now we had a whole new host of problems to deal with. We'd just bought a house, not a huge one, but upwards of two hundred fifty thousand, and most of our savings had gone to the down payment. I worked a lot, sometimes to get the overtime pay, but mostly because I was still paying my dues and trying to prove myself. I'd thought trying to tackle the show and school at the same time had been a crazy amount of work, but nothing compared to this. Sometimes I felt like Sam didn't appreciate it at all.

But I was still crazy about her, of course. When we weren't fighting about me working, we actually got along really well. Well enough for us to get pregnant again. My mom had lambasted us, saying it was too much, too soon, but it was done with now. In six months, we'd have another baby in our family. I'd been a little nervous about Sam flying this early in her pregnancy, but it was Brad and Carly's wedding, no way in hell was she missing that.

"Yeah, but it's pretty cool, right?" Brad responded to my comment as he walked through the lot. "Just watch out for..."

Beep beep!

Brad grabbed my arm and jerked me out of the way as a golfcart went whizzing by.

"...the golfcarts," he finished. "They can be dangerous."

"Jesus," I muttered, shaking my head. "So this is every day life for you, huh?"

"Yep, always on the move," he responded. A girl walked by us, and Brad reached out and grabbed her arm, stopping her in her tracks. "Hey, have you seen Anya?"

She shook her head. "No, Mr. Harrison."

I raised an eyebrow, my arms crossed over my chest. "Mr. Harrison?"

Brad rolled his eyes. "Beth, I told you, it's Brad, okay? If you see her, tell her I need to get the call sheets for next week, okay?"

She nodded. "Yes, Mr. Harrison."

"BETH."

"Sorry...Brad."

"That's better, now please go find Anya. I'm only here to grab the call sheets and then I gotta go."

She nodded. "Okay."

I watched Beth walk away and gave him a Look.

"So how many people you got calling you Mr. Harrison around here?" I asked, and Brad rolled his eyes.

"Most of them. It's so weird, you know? I'm barely twenty one, and they're calling me Mister and Sir."

"You're complaining about girls calling you sir?" I asked with a wry grin, and Brad laughed.

"Well, when you put it like that...of course, these days, I'm more likely to call Carly ma'am."

"She's still riding you that hard?" I asked as we walked along.

"Well, not really, but she doesn't take any of my shit, that's for damn sure," he replied. "So you knocked up Sam again, huh?" I gave him a Look.

"Eloquently put, but yeah, we're gonna have another one," I replied. "It was a mutual decision..."

"How far along is she?"

"Three months," I responded.

"Damn," Brad hissed, and I looked at him curiously. "What?"

"I owe Carly forty bucks."

I glared at him. "Did you guys take bets on how long it would take me to get Sam pregnant?"

"Gibby did too. And Mel joined in on the pool too."

I sighed, shaking my head. "Lovely. And when is sister Puckett going to be coming in?"

"Sometime tomorrow, Gibby said," Brad responded. "Man, I can't believe it's here, you know?"

"I can't believe you didn't make the girl take time off for a honeymoon," I replied, and Brad shook his head.

"No time for a honeymoon right now. We're shooting principal scenes all next week, and Carly's single is about to drop officially. I mean, it's all over the internet already, but...yeah, we've got a lot going on. What about you?"

I shrugged. "Work's kicking my ass. But can't really slow down when I've got a mortgage to cover, and Sam's school."

Brad raised an eyebrow. "Sounds like you might be a little bitter..."

"I'm not," I replied quickly. "But the fact is we blew most of our savings on a down payment, now I'm having to play catch up, and I don't think Sam gets it."

"Maybe she doesn't get the opportunity to contribute..."

"Trust me, when she's done with law school, she can contribute all she wants..." I replied with a sigh. "Because I think we're done with having kids after this one, ESPECIALLY if it's a girl."

"Yeah, probably for the best. Trust me, four kids is a LOT to handle, and..." Brad trailed off, looking past me. "ANYA!"

I caught sight of a short brunette that looked around the same age as us stop in her tracks, turning and walking towards us, giving Brad a smile.

"Hey, I was looking for you..." she replied to him. "Everything okay?"

"Yeah, I was just swinging by to get the call sheets," he responded. "You have them?"

Anya rifled through the binder she was holding and pulled a few pieces of paper out, handing them to him.

"Thanks," he said, looking over them, his eyes nearly bulging out of his head. "Christ, who did these?"

"Parker."

Brad shook his head, grumbling to himself. "Parker's a nazi," he replied. "Oh, uh...Freddie, this is Anya Carver, my assistant. Anya, this is Freddie Benson."

"Nice to meet you," I said, shaking her hand. She gave me a smile.

"Wow, you're cute."

"Anya," Brad scolded her. "Knock it off. He's married."

"Apparently all the good ones are," she responded, giving him a wry look. He rolled his eyes.

"Thanks, Anya. As you were..."

Anya just shrugged, giving me another smile and slinking off, and I looked at Brad in wonderment.

"Dude..."

"They're ALL like that," Brad mumbled. "They don't call this place HollyWEIRD for nothing."

"How does Carly handle women throwing themselves at you all the time?"

Brad shrugged. "The same way I deal with guys hitting on her all the time. We don't think or talk about it. Besides, in less than forty eight hours, she'll be my wife, so I'm the one who's winning."

I shook my head. "I wish I could say marriage solves everything but..."

"Dude," Brad gave me a Look. "Don't bring me down right before my wedding, number one, and number two, if you're having problems with Sam... never mind."

"What?" I glared at him.

"Let's not go there, alright? This is supposed to be fun, remember? Now come on, we gotta go meet up with Gibby."

We met up with Gibby at his place, a one bedroom in Huntington Beach that he shared with Melanie, who was in and out every other weekend. He pulled the door open wearing nothing but a tank top and workout pants.

"Freddie!" he yelled, raising his arms.

Brad and I made a face and took a step back.

"Dude..." Brad said, shaking his head. "Did you just get done working out?"

"I may have been lifting, what of it?"

"We can tell," I said with a laugh.

"That's the smell of POWER, Benson," Gibby growled, making a 'mean' face. "How was the flight?"

"It was fine until Sam got airsick," I responded as we shuffled into Gibby's house.

"Beer?" Gibby asked.

"Still no," Brad replied.

"Wuss," Gibby responded, then glanced over at me. "You?"

"I just ate, so yeah, I'll have one. Shouldn't throw me off too bad."

"K," he replied. "Brad, roll us up one. Stuff's in the coffee table."

Gibby headed off to the fridge and Brad turned on Gibby's game console, tossing me one of the controllers.

"So is this what you guys do all day?" I asked.

"You mean when Gibby's not shaking his ass and I'm not writing about imaginary friends?" Brad responded. "Pretty much."

"Must be nice," I grumbled.

"I mean, I stay busy with the kids too, but that's usually between four and nine. After that, I'm a free man. We have Erica, the nanny, and Carly spends most of her nights at the recording studio..."

Gibby came back into the living room, handing me a beer and sitting down next to me.

"So did you guys hear anything back about her touring with Big Time Rush yet?"

Brad shook his head. "No, and honestly, I won't be too broken up about it if it doesn't happen. The idea of her touring with FOUR guys..." he trailed off. "I don't like it, that's for sure. Plus, I make movies about sex, drugs, and violence, I don't think my wife touring with a boyband is gonna be great for my image."

"I'm sure there'll be plenty of drugs and sex on the tour, boyband or no boyband," Gibby commented, and Brad glared at him.

"Dude, shut up!" Brad threw a lighter in his direction and gave him the hairy eyeball. "At least I don't have to worry about my girl changing teams on me."

Gibby just shrugged. "Sometimes her indecision means I get to reap the benefits too, if you know what I mean..."

Brad just shook his head. "You can stop rubbing your threesomes in my face whenever you want, you know."

I just burst out laughing at their banter. "Oh man, not much has changed with you guys at all. It's kinda nice."

"Married life no good, Freddie?" Gibby asked. "What happened?"

I just waved him off. "Married life's fine. It's worklife that's killing me."

"Oh, by the way, we both owe Carly forty bucks, Gibs."

Gibby looked at me and his eyebrows went up. "Again, Freddie?"

"What?" I asked. "You guys act like we've got dozens!"

"Well, no, but you guys are 20 years old! Don't you wanna slow it down a little?" Gibby asked.

"I mean, it's too late now, but at least this way we'll have it out of the way early."

"Dude, I just think you're in a little bit of a rush, that's all..." Gibby replied. I gave him a Look that implied I was DONE talking about it, and he just shrugged. "Well, I mean, congrats and all...how far?"

"Three months along. Hoping for a girl this time," Freddie replied.

"Gonna be awfully hard for Sam to finish law school if she keeps getting pregnant," Gibby said offhandedly, sipping his beer. Brad glared at him, and Gibby just gave him a clueless expression. That was Gibby, not knowing when not to say things. After all these years, it still hadn't changed. Still I couldn't help but bite.

"We're good after this one, and Sam will be fine. She's still got a year of school left, before she even gets to law school."

"Whatever, just saying," Gibby replied.

"Well just DON'T," I responded. Gibby's eyebrows went up and he cleared his throat.

"I need another beer," he stated, getting up. As Gibby walked away, Brad whacked me on the leg.

"Ow!" I grunted. "Dude, don't look at me like that, he didn't have to go there."

"Yeah but you guys don't have to get in a fight either," Brad responded. "Anyway, you wanna mess with him?"

"How?" I asked. "And why?"

"Why? Because it's what we do, and anyway, I still have to get back at him for the 'massage' thing last week."

My eyebrows furrowed. "Massage thing?"

"Yeah, it would have been hilarious, except he picked the day to send the 'special massage girls' as a prank to the set the same day Heather swung by. I had to bribe her with some expensive purse just to keep her from telling Carly I have a thing for Vietnamese hookers."

"Do you?"

"No!" Brad shot back. "But Gibs has gotta learn."

"So what are we gonna do?" I asked.

"Carly's bachelorette party is tonight," Brad replied with a mischievous glint in his eye. "And Carly and Sam still don't know his occupation. We'll call the agency he works for – I'll get Heather to do it – and book him for their thing. Besides, it kills two birds with one stone, we don't have to worry about some ripped juicehead rubbing his junk in our girls' faces."

I started laughing. "Okay, that's brilliant. We have to do it...but where are they having the thing? If it's at the house, it'll tip him off."

Brad shook his head. "Nope, Carly was gifted the penthouse at the Omni as her wedding present from our PR company, she's having it there. But Gibby doesn't know that."

"God, I love Hollywood," I responded with a grin.

"Are we gonna play video games or what?" Gibby asked as he walked back, beer in hand, his other hand holding a phone pressed up against his ear. "Nah, baby, I'm not doing any gigs tonight, just tomorrow. Of course you can come." He glanced over at Brad and smirked at him. "Yes, I'm sure there will be lots of hot girls in the audience..." He walked out onto his patio, continuing to talk to Melanie on the phone.

I shook my head. "I can't believe she brings him girls. And I thought Sam and I were weird."

"Cocky son of a bitch," Brad laughed. "I cannot WAIT to get back at him.

~*Sam*~

"Ugh, I look horrible in this," I yanked off the shirt I was wearing and threw it to the ground.

"You never look horrible in anything, sweetheart," Freddie told me as I watched me paw frantically through my suitcase.

"Still, it's no good," I responded, staring at my reflection in the mirror and letting out a sigh. I was only three months along, but I was already starting to notice my body change. Freddie told me I was imagining things.

San Francisco hadn't been what I expected. I think. In a way I hadn't known what to expect, what to think, most of my concern being centered on Freddie and his career, and getting far away from Brad before we did something really stupid. I loved Freddie, and Brad loved Carly. We didn't want to make a mistake. Before that kiss stirred up all kinds of feelings we didn't know we had, we'd been such good friends. Carly and Freddie were naturally so high strung, and having Brad thrown into the mix, another mellow but mischievous individual had been just what we needed to round everything out. We understood and supported each other on a level that Carly and Freddie just hadn't been able to do. It had been difficult to let go of each other completely.

Of course, we hadn't been able to. Not completely. We hadn't seen each other since we both left Seattle, so nothing physical had ever happened between us, and we had never mentioned the kiss or any sort of feelings every again. The idea of just cutting off all contact completely had been unthinkable. It wasn't like we were doing anything inappropriate. Just a few texts or emails a week, sometimes just a stupid joke or quote from a movie, sometimes asking for advice. Brad was my friend, and even feelings couldn't stand in the way of that. He was genuinely just a good friend.

Even though nothing shady had been going on, I hadn't mentioned to Freddie that Brad and I were talking, and Brad hadn't mentioned it to Carly either. I guess the entire friendship the four of us shared had really lost its edge, because we were getting really good at keeping stuff from each other. Brad and I didn't tell Carly and Freddie we were talking, just like Freddie and Carly hadn't told us there were other options for them besides moving to California. They thought we were so stupid...

Carly hadn't told Brad that Big Time Rush had made her on offer for the summer tour yet, or the fact that one of them called her personally to tell her this and then asked her out to lunch. Brad and Freddie hadn't told Carly and I that they went to a strip club with Gibby and Melanie the last time Freddie went to Los Angeles. I'd only found out about it after Melanie had told me. What had happened to the four of us? Was it the distant that had done it? Or did this just happen to friends? Did they fall apart after awhile, inevitably?

One secret I could tell stung a little was the fact I hadn't told Brad I was pregnant until today. I could tell by the way his eyes flicked up to the rearview mirror, looking at me in shock. I don't think it had anything to do with how he felt about me, just the fact that I hadn't told him, that we were supposed to be above this stuff.

But here I was, pregnant again with mine and Freddie's second child. It was a mutual decision; we'd both agreed it would be easier to have a second baby now, that way I wouldn't be wanting to have a baby in law school or while beginning my career, and we'd still have our early 40's to look forward without any young kids at home. In some ways it felt like a business deal.

I loved Freddie still, after all these years. But San Francisco was so different, and I felt like it was changing us. All he ever did was work. Sometimes he wouldn't even get home until after seven. When he was with me, he was incredible, loving, sweet, passionate, a great father, but truth was I felt alone in San Francisco much of the time.

I was so happy to be with Carly and Brad again, and I'd get to see Gibby and my sister tomorrow too! And Spencer! I was so excited!

I looked back at myself in the mirror and frowned. I was less excited about Carly's bachelorette party tonight. A bunch of girls I didn't know, Carly's new friends, my REPLACEMENTS, and they were Hollywood girls no less! A bunch of models and actresses and model-slash-actresses and actress-slash-models and morons-slash-airheads and...I can't compete with any of them. I flopped down onto the bed and let out a sigh.

"Baby, you're beautiful, what are you so worried about?" Freddie asked as he leaned over me, brushing the hair off my face.

"That I'm not going to fit in with all these chicks tonight. I mean, they're going to be getting wasted, and I can't because I'm pregnant. I'm a pregnant housewife who already has one baby who is behind in college and only going to become more behind. I feel like a Lifetime movie or something," I complained.

Freddie burst out laughing, and I just growled at him. "You are such a silly girl, sweetheart. You can easily compete with them. You're beautiful AND smart. And you're the best wife and mother anyone could ask for. But more to the point, why would you WANT to compete with them?"

"Because this is the world my best friend is in now, Freddie!" I exclaimed. "I don't want her to replace me!"

Freddie shook his head, kissing me. "Nothing and no one could EVER replace you, my sweet sweet baby. And Carly knows that." He stood up, going to one of his suitcases. "I had a feeling you were going to do this..."

"Do what?" I snarked.

"Get intimidated by all these plastic girls. So I got you something," Freddie responded, pulling something out of the bottom of his suitcase. I gasped as I caught sight of the sparkly aquamarine dress he held up.

"Freddie!" I got off the bed and put my arms around him, kissing him. "This is perfect!"

"Thought you would like it," he said, kissing me again. "Wear it tonight. You'll look amazing."

"It's beautiful," I said, holding it up in front of my body and examining myself in front of the mirror.

"Yeah, I had to pull some serious overtime to pay for it, but it was worth it."

At that statement, I gave Freddie a dirty look.

"What?" he responded.

"If that's what it takes to get me this kind of stuff, I'd rather you not," I responded, laying it back down on the bed. Freddie rolled his eyes.

"Then how am I supposed to buy you stuff like this, Sam?!"

"Freddie," I sighed. "How many times we do have to go over this? I'd rather have you with me than have the stuff! I don't need a bunch of labels and designers to make me happy, I just need you!"

"Then why do you freak out about fitting in with Carly's hollywood friends?" he shot back. "Sam, you're gonna have to level with me and tell me what you want!"

"I want you! I want you at home, not working all hours of the day and leaving me alone! God, it took CARLY to convince you to take the entire week off! It's like what I want doesn't even matter! Just buy me things to shut me up, get me pregnant, go about your business. If you have some stress you need to get rid of, have sex with me, but then go right back to work!"

Freddie shook his head. "It is not like that, Sam, and you know it. I have to work my ass off to support this family. It's not like you're bringing in money!"

"Because I have to stay home with the baby! And it's going to take even longer for me to bring in money because oh look, I'm pregnant again!"

"Again, not entirely my fault, Sam," Freddie responded. I shook my head.

"I know that, but...you just don't get it. I'm telling you I need you at home with me. We don't have to have all this nice stuff all the time."

"I want my son to have a good life."

"At the risk of turning into your father?" I shot back. He glared at me.

"Don't ever bring my father into this. We don't talk about your foray into crazy last year that was a full re-enactment of the wonderful, multi-talented Pam Puckett, do we?"

"Fuck you," I hissed. I stood up, walking out of the bedroom and slamming the door shut, walking through Brad and Carly's living room and out to their verandah. I leaned against the railing, staring out at the beach as silent tears fell down my cheeks. I heard a throat clearing sound and looked to my left to find Brad sitting at the far end of the verandah in a lounge chair, doing something on his PearPad. He stood up, walking over to where I was.

"Hey..."

I wiped my face and looked away. "Hi."

"What's up, Blondie?" he asked.

I shrugged. "Nothing."

"Doesn't look like nothing," he responded. "Gonna clue a brother in on why you're crying?"

I rolled my eyes. "Brad, you're white."

Brad looked down at his hands and pretended to be startled.

"Shit! How come nobody ever told me?!" he cried. I couldn't help but laugh, despite how upset I was. "Seriously, Sam. What's up?"

"Nothing. I just had a fight with Freddie, that's all."

"About?" Brad pressed. I shrugged.

"Same old shit. He's never around."

Brad nodded, looking over the railing. "Sam, you can't just sit around the apartment all day. It's not healthy."

"I know that, but I don't know anyone in San Francisco. It's so hard..." I sighed. "I just wish you and Carly lived closer."

"Yeah, I know the feeling," Brad replied. "If Carly ends up getting offered to do Big Time Rush's tour, I'm gonna be the one alone."

I just shrugged. "Maybe it's just pregnancy hormones."

Brad's jawline suddenly firmed up as he let out a deep breath. "I can't believe you didn't tell me."

"I'm sorry," I responded. "I've just been busy, I meant to tell you."

"I thought we agreed to leave the secrets and intrigue to Carly and Freddie," Brad said.

"Hey, you didn't tell me you and my husband went to a strip club."

"That was different, I would have implicated Freddie too," Brad replied. "It's totally against the bro code. Had he actually done anything inappropriate, I would've clued you in. But he didn't. Not even a lapdance. And anyway, it was Gibby and Melanie's idea!"

"Ugh, my sister..." I grumbled. I sighed, looking down. "I dunno, Brad, I just feel like I'm losing my touch. He doesn't rush to get home anymore. Maybe I'm not..."

"Don't finish that statement, because you know it's not true."

"Is it?" I asked. I shook my head, trying to not start crying again, but with the pregnancy hormones coursing through my body it proved to be impossible. "Brad he never...he doesn't look at me the same anymore. He doesn't treat me the same anymore. Maybe he just doesn't...maybe I've gone on full-on frumpy housewife and didn't realize it."

"Okay, now you're being ridiculous," Brad gruffed. "Sam, come on!"

"I'm serious! I don't even feel attractive anymore."

Brad glanced around to make sure no one was watching us from the living room and took a step toward me, bending down so his mouth was right next to my ear.

"If I wasn't getting married in two days I'd throw you down on that lounger right now and show you how fucking sexy you really are," he said in a low voice that made my stomach flip flop. He pulled away. "So chill out."

I gaped at him in disbelief. Brad was not supposed to be giving me butterflies from talking to me like that, that was Freddie's thing. Oh god...this is so bad...

"You shouldn't do that," I stammered dumbly, staring up at him.

He shook his head. "No, I shouldn't. But you needed to hear it." He gave my hair a gentle tug. "Cheer up, Blondie."

"Sam?" Freddie appeared at the patio door. "Baby, can we talk?"

Brad played everything off cool as cucumber. "So you're sure it'd be better to get her a guitar signed by Cuttlefish than the Rolling Stones as a wedding gift? Sam, I gotta call bullshit."

"No, they're her favorite band," I told him, trying to play it off.

"Cool, thanks." He brushed past Freddie. "The fox is in the henhouse."

"What?" Freddie looked confused, and so did I.

"Gibby's the fox." Brad responded. "I made the call."

"What?" Freddie said again. "The fox? What fox—oh. Ohhh. So it's all set?"

"Oh yeah," Brad responded. "I'll just let you two...yeah, I'm leaving." Brad excused himself, leaving Freddie and I alone. I was so mortified at what had just happened between Brad and I that I just stood there in silence, staring at the ground, arms crossed over my chest.

Freddie didn't say anything either, just put his arms around me, kissing me on the top of my head.

"Baby, I'm sorry. I'm so sorry. I didn't mean to hurt you feelings," he whispered in my ear.

"It's okay," I replied.

"No, it's not. I just wanted you to have nice things. You want me to work less hours, I'll work less hours, okay?"

I nodded. "That is what I want. I'm just so lonely. I miss you. You're gone so much..." I laid my head against his chest, listening to his heartbeat. No matter how much we fought, being in his arms like this felt like home, and it immediately calmed me down every single time. Brad may have just pulled something that left me weak-kneed for a second, but Freddie left me weak-kneed for a lifetime. This was just a momentary slump between us, just Freddie learning to balance work and life and me adjusting to life in San Francisco. It didn't mean there was something fundamentally wrong with our relationship.

Right?


	95. Chapter 95

**A/N: Eeee FINAL CHAPTER!**

**Chapter 95**

~*Sam*~

Carly and I stood behind the couch, arms crossed over our chests, as we stared at the boys in front of us. It was like nothing on earth existed at that moment except that stupid video game.

"Run run run...I'm gonna getcha..." Brad stated, glancing over at Freddie.

Freddie shook his head, eyes glued to the screen as he continued pressing buttons on the little black controller.

"Not in a chance in hell...you are so going down...BAM! Firepower!"

"So close yet so far...BOOM GOES THE DYNAMITE!"

"You are going downnnn motherfucker! DIE DIE DIE!"

Carly cleared her throat. "Guys?"

"Your pesky hand grenades are no match for my epic assault rifles, Benson...get a load of THAT!"

"GUYS?"

"In your face, Bradley!"

"Dude, don't call me Bradley...KA-POW!" Brad hollered, standing up. "You are dead!"

"Oh, that was such a cheap shot!" Freddie yelled, throwing a decorative pillow at him.

I glanced over at Carly, shaking my head. "They're not paying attention AGAIN."

Carly rolled her eyes as Brad did one of his dramatic victory dances in Freddie's face. I guess no matter what, boys will always be boys...

"Oh my god," she muttered as Freddie suddenly stood up and dove for Brad, tackling him to the ground and the two rolled around the ground like middle schoolers.

"Don't hate on my epic video game skills, Benson!" Brad hollered, pinning him to the ground. Freddie just flipped him off and claimed the top position again.

"Don't hate on my full nelson!" Freddie roared, getting Brad in some weird hold that had Brad flailing around like a fish out of water.

"Aaah! Uncle, uncle!"

"GUYS!" Carly and I yelled, trying to get their attention. The boys stopped what they were doing and looked up at us, Carly in a form-fitting black dress and me in the dress Freddie had bought me for Carly's bachelorette party.

"Jesus..."

"Dayum..." The guys scrambled to their feet at once, and I couldn't help but laugh.

"You two are such guys..." I stated, then struck a pose. "What do you think, baby?"

Freddie smirked as he not-so-stealthily checked me out. "I'm thinking maybe I shouldn't let you out in that thing..." he walked around the couch, wrapping an arm around my waist and pulling me to him. I giggled as he kissed my neck.

"She'll be fine, Freddie, it'll be just us girls," Carly told him.

"I thought you said Callum was going too," Brad commented, referring to Carly's makeup artist, and she laughed.

"Callum's basically one of the girls anyway..." Carly replied. "Brad, do you like my dress?"

"Give me ten minutes alone and I'll show you how much I like it," he responded. She just shook her head.

"Nope."

"Carlyyyy..." he whined. "Don't you think this sex ban has gone on long enough?!"

"Oh god, you're making him wait until after the wedding, aren't you?" Freddie laughed. "Geez, that sucks man."

"We waited," I reminded him.

"Yeah, but we'd never done it before then," Freddie pointed out.

Brad just grumbled to himself. "Yeah, just flaunt all the goods in front of Brad, but not give him any..."

Carly just laughed at him, putting her arms around him and giving him a quick kiss. "It'll be worth it, right?"

He sighed. "Right. Well, you ladies better get a move on, don't want to be late or anything..."

"Sam, no drinking, remember," Freddie told me, and I just regarded him with an irked expression.

"How could I forget?" I responded. "Oh, god, speaking of forgetting, I better go get my jacket..."

"I'll get it," Freddie told me, giving me a kiss on my forehead and then heading off to the bedroom. Carly opened her mouth to say something, but then her phone went off. She snatched it off the counter to answer it.

"Hello? Brooke! Oh my god, girl, I am sooo excited about tonight," she gushed, walking off to the other side of the room to talk.

I glanced over at Brad, who was making a concerted effort to look anywhere except in my direction. Finally, a little bit of restraint on his part. Still, I had to call him out for his comment earlier.

"You wanna tell me what you were trying to pull earlier on the deck?" I asked in a low voice, taking a step toward him.

Brad rolled his eyes, looking away. "I didn't mean anything by it. You felt bad. I was trying to make you feel better. I do that, remember?"

"Just remember the deal, okay? We have to maintain distance..."

"I know that, Sam."

"That includes not being weird," I pointed out.

"I'm not being weird," he shot back.

"Then why won't you look at me?" I countered. He sighed, finally looking at me.

"Because I might not be able to look away. And I don't want to get busted checking you out, alright?"

I suddenly felt like I was wearing too few clothes, and crossed my arms over my chest self-consciously. This whole thing was beginning to be too much, and I was starting to feel angry at Brad. I knew what was happening was probably mutual, but...I was still angry at him. One overhead comment, one look taken the wrong way, and we'd both be in a world of trouble, and most likely find ourselves alone.

"You're just antsy because you're not getting any right now," I hissed, narrowing my eyes at him. How dare he make those kind of comments to me, try to screw up my relationship, because he was horny!

"Like you don't get antsy," he responded, sounding miffed. "And give me some credit, Sam. I was honestly just trying to make you feel better. I love Carly, you KNOW that." He glanced in the direction of Carly, who was still chattering away excitedly. "And I'm fucking trying here, okay? Sorry it's not as easy for me as it is for you..."

I bit my lip. "Who said it was easy for me?" My eyes widened as soon as the words left my mouth. God, I was just as bad!

Brad stared at me for a second, opening his mouth to speak, but was cut off by Freddie walking back out with my jacket in hand. Brad took a step back away from me as Freddie's eyes darted back and forth between us suspiciously.

"Everything okay?"

"Everything's fine," I told him, kissing him. "Thanks for getting my jacket."

He just shrugged as he helped me pull the leather jacket on, and after it was on I turned around, putting my arms around him and laying a passionate kiss on his lips. I was done playing these games with Brad, he was going to get me in all kinds of trouble with Carly and Freddie. It just wasn't worth it.

"Don't stay out too late, okay sweetheart?" Freddie said as he kissed me again. I shook my head, pulling his collar down to brush my lips over his neck, smirking when I felt him tremble a little against my mouth.

"I won't. I've got plans for you and me and this dress..."

"Mmm, you got yourself a deal, baby," Freddie responded, giving my ass a not-so-subtle squeeze. I gave him a sweet smile and then pulled away, my hands going into my hair and shaking it out.

"You sure I look okay?" I asked.

"Definitely," Freddie replied. I turned to Brad, acting like I was adjusting the collar on my leather jacket but really I was just pulling it further apart, revealing my upper half again.

"Brad, what do you think?" I asked. "How do I look?"

Brad stared at me for a minute, not saying anything. I could tell by his expression he really wanted to tell me to fuck off for toying with him, but he'd been toying with me! He deserved it.

"Well?"

"You look great, Sam," he responded. "Have fun tonight."

"Sam, you ready?" Carly was off the phone and staring at me expectantly. I nodded.

"Definitely," I responded, putting my arms around Freddie and giving him a quick kiss. "Love you. Take care of Buddy."

Carly gave Brad a kiss goodbye and the two of us were on our way. Carly's PR company had actually gotten her a penthouse at this amazing hotel downtown, just for her, me, and twenty of Carly's closest new friends. I wouldn't know anybody except Carly, and I was understandably nervous.

"Don't worry, Sam, you'll love everyone!" Carly told me as we stood in the elevator. "I just hope nobody booked a stripper or anything. I'm pretty sure Brad would go postal."

"Yeah, I don't think Freddie would be too pleased by that either..." I responded. I pulled my minidress down a half inch. "Are you sure you look okay?"

"Yeah, you look amazing. You can't even tell you're pregnant. Although I think your boobs got bigger...again."

"Jealous, Shay?" I teased her, and she just laughed.

"Nah, just wondering how you manage to do anything with your boobs pushed up to your chin."

"Very, very carefully," I replied with a laugh. "I'll be happy when they stop growing again, but hey, it's all a part of being pregnant."

Carly's face took on a serious expression as we stepped off the elevator. "How do you feel about that? Really?" We stood in the tiny hallway between the elevator and the room door, Carly putting me on the spot.

I shrugged. "I mean, you know I wanted another baby. And it does make sense to have one now instead of later..."

"Yeah but...you guys talk about in such logical terms...not like with Buddy," Carly responded. "You guys were freaked out and scared out of your mind, but I mean...you guys were excited too."

I bit my lip. "Look, it's just things aren't great right now. Freddie's never home, and I mean...I HATE San Francisco, Carly. I hate it."

Carly gave me a sympathetic look. "Sam, maybe you just haven't given it a fair shot yet..."

I shook my head. "I have, and it's not getting any better. I mean, I don't even have time to meet new people yet, let alone socialize with any of them."

It wasn't that I was being overdramatic about San Francisco, I truly hated it. While it was a beautiful place, and I was at a great school, and Freddie was making good money, and we have this gorgeous house, I still hated it. I couldn't ignore the giant disconnect between Freddie and I, and besides, the place just wasn't home. But even home was different.

"I don't know what to tell you, Sam, just...try to forget about it tonight and don't think about it, alright? It's supposed to be fun," Carly responded. "Come on, I think most everyone's already here..."

She slid her keycard into the lock and pushed the door open. My brow furrowed. There was no music, no one talking.

We walked in to find everyone sitting solemnly or standing, looking mortified, dead silence.

"What's going on?" Carly asked one of the girls, a too-tall rail thin platinum blonde that looked like she'd walked right off a runway into the hotel room.

"Carly, somebody, they call police," the girl said in a thick Russian accent.

"Oh god," Carly shook her head. "You guys, I told you..."

"Is this the woman responsible for the party?" an authoritative voice rang out. My brow furrowed. Wait a minute, that voice sounded familiar.

"You're under arrest, miss..."

Carly and I let out loud gasps as the police officer walked out of the bedroom. He stopped in his tracks, staring at us. We stared back at him.

"Oh my god, GIBBY?!" We both shouted.

"Oh my god, girls!" He sounded mortified, and as soon as Carly and I burst into uncontrollable laughter, he looked it too.

"Oh my god, are you a stripper?" I laughed, barely able to stay upright.

"Shut up, I make good money!" Gibby yelled. "Brad and Freddie are SO dead...they had to have had something to do with this..."

"Oh god, just take it easy on us, Officer SexyPants..." Carly fake begged, tears coming out of her eyes she was laughing so hard. "Why didn't anyone tell us...I would have booked you months ago...hahaha..."

"This...is...the most priceless...thing...I have ever seen!" I gasped, laughing so hard my sides hurt. "Oh sweet jesus, dance monkey dance!"

"You guys are NOT funny!"

"Wait, does my sister know about this?" I asked.

"Yes, Mel knows! She doesn't care! In fact she kinda likes it."

Carly stopped laughing momentarily to roll her eyes. "Why does that not surprise me...oh god, this is classic..."

"Your fiance is an asshole and your husband's a dick!" he hollered.

"Aw, Gibby come on," I responded. "So they punked you, I'm sure you deserved it..."

"Besides the point..." Gibby replied, then rubbed his chin thoughtfully. "Come to think of it, I do have to get back at them..." He looked at Carly, and she shook her head.

"Nope."

"Oh yeah," Gibby replied. "Somebody turn that music back on!"

Sure enough, one of Carly's new friends obliged, some obscure club anthem from the 90's, and Gibby began shaking his hips seductively, taking a step towards Carly with every pelvic thrust.

"No, no...no way Gibby..." Carly backed away laughing.

"Lord of the dance!" Gibby posed dramatically and tore his shirt open, throwing it to the ground. Oh my god, what was happening?! I couldn't stop laughing...

"No!"

"GIBB-AYYYY!" Gibby grabbed Carly and threw her over his shoulder.

"Aaaahhh!" Carly squealed.

~*Freddie*~

"So what exactly are we doing for YOUR bachelor party?" I glanced over at Brad as we sat next to each other playing video games. We'd been doing this for two hours or so, Brad pausing every few rounds to take 'smoke breaks'.

"You're looking at it," he replied with a shrug, focusing on the game. "Killed you."

I looked at the screen in surprise. "You son of a bitch...do over!"

Brad shrugged like he didn't care one way or another as he reloaded the game. "I'll just kill you again."

"So why exactly are you not having a bachelor party?" I asked.

"Because Carly doesn't want me to have one," Brad responded as he blew me up again without blinking an eye.

"Dude, come on!" I yelled. "You're not even being fair right now..."

"Hey, not my fault you don't log enough hours..."

"Well, I don't exactly have time...so...in the doghouse already and you're not even married?"

Brad flashed me a look of warning. "Look, we get enough rumors about cheating just walking around doing day-to-day things, can you imagine the shit-storm of controversy that would come from me having like a serious bachelor party?"

"Okay, fine, so no strippers. Except Gibby."

Brad's brows furrowed. "Okayyy...but he'll have to work pro-bono."

"Not like that you idiot," I responded. "You, me, Spencer, Gibby...we'll go do something. Laser tag or paintball or something very guy-ish."

"Then why would we bring Spencer?"

"Brad!"

"I'm just kidding," Brad laughed. "Thanks, man."

"No problem," I picked up my controller so we could play again. "So, big day in less than 48, huh?"

"Yeah," Brad replied. "Does it make me a pussy to say I'm nervous as hell?"

"Why would you be nervous? Having second thoughts?" I asked. And they better not have anything to do with my wife, I added silently.

"No, not all, I just don't want to fail."

I gave him an empathetic look, relieved it WASN'T second thoughts. That would seriously break Carly's heart, and I'd hate to watch that happen. And as much as I hated it, it'd probably be better for everyone involved that Carly and Brad got married. I don't think Brad and Sam were aware of how much Carly and I talked, whether it was video chat or on the phone. We talked a lot. Some days I talked more to Carly than I did to Sam, and yeah, I felt guilty about it sometimes, but Carly and I were both sort of dealing with the same thing, having to prove ourselves at something new. I guess Brad was too, but...the way I saw it, those two were the ones who opened this entire can of worms. Every time I started to feel bad about talking to Carly as much as I did, I pictured Sam and Brad kissing, and all that guilt disappeared. Besides, it wasn't like Carly and I were doing anything wrong. It wasn't as if we were off kissing behind our significant others' backs or anything...

I shrugged off my inner thoughts to focus on the present.

"You won't fail. Carly loves you."

Things sure were tricky between all of us these days. There was something about your best friend and wife having feelings for each other, while you and your best friend's fiance are constantly plotting all sorts of ways to keep them apart to the point that you spend too much time together, that just wasn't healthy or normal. When I broke it down that way, it sounded like total madness, but that was what we'd been dealing with for years now, to the point it almost seemed normal. Like I said, it was a good thing for Brad and Carly to be married.

My phone went off, and I grabbed it off the coffee table, opening the message. I just shook my head, laughing.

"That son of a bitch..."

"What?" Brad leaned over to look at my phone, groaning at the photo of Sam and Carly sitting on a shirtless Gibby's lap throwing up gang signs.

"Damn," he grunted. "Alright, new plan...hey Bryson!"

Bryson stuck his head out of his bedroom door. "What?"

"Get dressed, we're going to the art supply store."

"For what?" he responded.

"Saran wrap and about a thousand balloons," Brad replied seriously, then glanced over at me. "Let's amp the game up a little."

I just laughed. Some things about Brad would never change, and that wasn't such a bad thing...

~*Carly*~

"So how long did it take Gibby to get into his car last night?" I asked as I sat in the makeup chair while my stylist Callum fussed with my hair.

Sam laughed. "Like an hour. Even more to get all the balloons out. How long has the prank war been going on?"

I rolled my eyes dramatically. "Since we got out here."

She laughed again. "Oh man...saran-wrapping the doors shut, that's a good one..."

"Carly, stop nibbling your nails, girl!" Callum scolded, yanking my hand out of my mouth.

"Sorry..." I groaned. "I can't help it, I'm so nervous..."

"I can't believe you're doing...well, everything you're doing," Sam commented as she picked up a production binder and leafed through it.

"You're not the only one," I replied.

It was like a dream come true; opening for something big like the Billboard Music Awards, but at the same time, hello pressure! This week had proven to be the most stressful week of my life – in the best way possible – and it wasn't even over with. I couldn't believe this time tomorrow night I'd be married.

Sam glanced down at her phone. "Freddie said him and Brad and Spencer and Gibby are on the way up here. Brad tried calling your phone but it's dead."

I gritted my teeth. "I forgot to charge it. I swear, if my head wasn't attached..."

"That's why you have people to do it for you," Sam replied, pawing through my bag to find my charger and phone.

"Knock knock, bitches!" I glanced up to look at the door right as Callum was trying to curl my hair, yanking it out of the iron. "Ow!"

"Damn," he grunted, pulling me back. "Still, Carly!"

"Sorry." Melanie looked apologetic.

"Mel!" Sam rushed over to her sister, enveloping her in a hug.

"Spam!" Melanie hugged her. "Oh, god, I've missed you...how's San Francisco?"

"Terrible," Sam said with a shake of her head. "How was New York?"

"It was great...I can't wait until I can have my own line. Fashion week was like...well, the stuff dreams are made of. I might have to move to New York instead of LA."

"Yeah, Gibby wouldn't go too postal," I replied with a shake of my head. Melanie just laughed, leaning over to give me a hug.

"So, diva popstar extraordinaire one night, and blushing bride the next morning?" Melanie shook her head. "I don't know how you do it."

"I don't either, honestly," I said with a laugh. "But hey, at least I can say my life's not boring."

"At least one of us can say that," Sam grumbled, and then turned to her sister. "Have you seen Gibby?"

"No, not yet, I barely had time to drop my bags off at our place and then change," she twirled around dramatically, her red a-line dress doing a little swirl through the air. "You like? It's Dolce."

"I have no idea what that means, but it's nice," Sam replied.

"I love it," I replied. "Wait until you see my wedding gown, you're going to go apeshit. It's Vera Wang."

"Classic," Melanie said with a nod. "I like it."

"We're here!" Brad announced as he strode through the door. "Sorry we're late." He bent down to kiss me.

"Aah, lipgloss!" Callum shrieked. Brad rolled his eyes and then winked at me.

"Wanna try and mess it up more?"

"Uh-huh," I replied, grabbing his shirt collar and pulling him back to me. "C'mere..."

He smiled, pressing his mouth against mine as my arms went around him. We hadn't seen each other all day. I'd had to get up at six AM to start my day, a whirlwind of press, a photo shoot, soundcheck for tonight, more press, more photos, and now here I was. If I hadn't had Sam with me I wouldn't have even remembered to eat. That reminded me...

"Where is Tabitha?" I asked, looking at Callum. "She's gotta be the shittiest personal assistant ever..."

"She quit, Carly. I thought we told you that..." Callum responded.

"No," I replied, confused. "I mean, I don't think so..."

"She got a better offer from Tori Vega."

"Tori Vega?" I responded, glaring at Callum.

A long time ago, before I started dating Brad, even before Sam and Freddie got together, I was dating this really cute guy named Steven, but I wasn't the only one dating him. He divided his time between Seattle and Los Angeles, and while he was in LA he had another girlfriend, Tori. When I found out, Spencer immediately drove Sam, Freddie, Gibby, and I to LA so I could confront Steven and embarrass him live online. I ended meeting Tori that night.

Tori was apparently a pretty talented singer in her own right, and it didn't take her very long to secure a record deal – right around the same time I had. The iCarly archives were still scattered all over the internet, and it didn't take the media very long to find the footage of me and Tori, both played by the same guy, before we were stars. It had been spun into this sort of vicious rivalry, supposedly, and now the two of us were the new Britney vs. Christina.

I honestly didn't harbor any ill will for the girl, but it was always annoying whenever one of my people jumped ship into Tori's camp, or Tori got some promotional campaign that I didn't, or booked a gig that was down to the two of us. But hey, beating Tori was good motivation.

Callum shrugged, as if to say sorry, and a put a hand on my shoulder. "You've still got me, darlin'."

I smiled at him. "Yeah, I do." I glanced back over at Brad, who was pawing through one of the snack trays laid out in my dressing room. "So what took you guys so long?"

"Oh, we would have been here an hour ago," he responded. "Except..." he gestured both arms dramatically towards Heather, who rolled her eyes.

"Excuse me, but I am not going to my first awards show looking busted!"

"You settled for the same hair and dress you started with," Freddie replied with a laugh. Sam leaned next to him, her head on his shoulder as he toyed with her hair.

"I'm so tired," she said softly.

"When's the last time you ate?"

Sam shrugged. "The food out here's gross. Way too healthy."

"We can go to Pink's afterwards," Gibby suggested, and Sam's eyes lit up.

"Oh my god, yessss..." Sam responded, looking re-energized and giddy.

I eyed Heather carefully. "Is that my dress?"

Heather sighed. "Yeah, but...nothing I had looked good on me, Carly, and Brad wouldn't take me to the mall or let me go by myself, and..."

"Heather, it's fine," I held up a hand to silence her. "Besides, it looks better on you anyway..."

"Is this what you're wearing?" Melanie eyed my outfit critically, pinching the fabric and rubbing it between her fingers.

"Yes..."

"Will there be a moon landing later?" she asked sassily, and I rolled my eyes.

"Don't blame me, blame management."

"You need a stylist, Carly," Melanie replied. "Which brings me to my next point – ta-da!" she pulled a binder out of her bag and dropped it in my lap. I leafed through it, my eyes widening. It was apparently Mel's 'look book', a portfolio of different outfits designers use to get funding and orders.

"Did you design these all by yourself?" Sam looked over my shoulder to get a better view, and Heather squeezed through to get her own view.

"These are tight, Mel..." I said honestly. "I really love that dress."

"Oh my god, does it come in pink?" Heather gushed. "I want it. Seriously."

"Ugh, girls..." Spencer commented.

Callum made a face. "You know, it's getting rather crowded in here..." he said pluckily, giving me the hairy eyeball. I made an apologetic face.

"Guys," I turned at looked at everyone. "As amped up as I am about you guys coming tonight..."

Spencer nodded. "We're out." He bent down and kissed me on the cheek. "Good luck tonight, kiddo. Are we staying for the whole show, or..."

"Probably not," I admitted. "I mean, I really need to get some sleep for tomorrow, plus Brad and I wanted to spend a little time before you guys ripped him away from me..."

Freddie rolled his eyes. "Groom's not supposed to see the wife the morning of, Carls. Doing you a favor."

"Yeah, you get to stay at the house, I get stuck at Gibby's stinky pad."

"My house does not stink!" Gibby shot back, and Melanie squeezed his arm.

"Well, not anymore. I must've gone through three Febreeze bottles before I left."

"Fine," he grumbled. "Alright troops, everyone out!"

I grabbed Brad's hand. "Stay?"

"Sure, babe," he replied, giving me a smile, then turned to Freddie and Sam. "You guys got Heather covered, or..."

"Brad, I don't need a baby sitter," Heather whined, and Brad shook his head.

"Yeah right, like I'm going to leave a fifteen year old alone in a giant convention center full of rock stars. That'll happen." He turned to Freddie, putting both hands on his shoulders. "Do NOT let her out of her sight. If Big Time Rush shows up, we'll never see her again..."

Ugh. I made a face as Sam gave me a pointed look. I still hadn't told Brad I'd agreed to tour with them...he was not going to be happy.

Heather put her hands on her hips and glared at her brother.

"Hilarious, Brad. Honestly. I don't even like them! In fact, if they showed up right now, I'd look right at Kendall Knight and tell him that he desperately needs a nose job..."

"Knock knock! Looking for Carly Shay?"

I turned around and put my head in my hands. I wasn't sure who had worse timing, Heather Harrison or Kendall Knight himself.

"Oh my god!" Heather squealed. "Aaaahhh!"

He gave her an amused look. "I happen to think my nose gives me character."

Heather looked mortified. "Oh my god, I'm so sorry...did I mention I love you? I mean like, fully love you..."

"That's enough, Heather," Freddie put his hands on her shoulders and started pushing her towards the door.

"You're just mad I don't like you anymore..." she argued as he forced her out the door.

"Yep, that's it. Really angry over THAT. C'mon, hot blonde wife!" he called over his shoulder to Sam, who just shook her head and laughed.

"Good luck tonight," she leaned down and hugged me. "Everyone out! Celebrity Secret Meeting!"

Everyone cleared out, leaving me alone with Brad, my drop dead gorgeous future husband, and Kendall, my drop dead gorgeous future tourmate. Well, isn't this awkward...

I tried to look nonchalant, turning around in my chair and giving Kendall a smile. Brad leaned against the dressing room table, arms crossed over his chest as he stood a little too close to my chair, as if he were marking his territory or something. I'll be honest, I didn't mind it all that much. Brad had always been a little too cocky when it came to our relationship, like I was steal-proof. While of course I was, Brad didn't need to walk around thinking he had me on lock!

"Hey, Kendall. What can I do for you?" I asked.

"Just wanted to stop by and wish you luck, and tell you that I'm really looking forward to the tour this summer. I think if your first single does as well as is predicted, you're gonna blow up, and we kinda need that for an opening act right now."

"I'm sorry, what?" Brad asked, glaring at me. My eyes squeezed shut in mortification.

"I uh, forgot to tell you in the midst of all the chaos..." I began.

"You think?" he responded.

"So this must be the fiance," Kendall observed. "I'm Kendall Knight."

"I know who you are," Brad responded with a nod. "Brad Harrison. Filmmaker."

"Right, right, you're doing that film that everyone's talking about...Dirty Little Secrets or something?"

"Our Little Secret," Brad corrected.

I tried to give Brad an ego boost in front of Kendall.

"Yeah, it's going to be pretty intense. Bunch of teenagers beating the shit out of a rapist, an underage marriage, a really weird love triangle...or square, in this case."

"Epic," Kendall agreed. "Where'd you get the idea for that?"

"Uh..." I glanced over at Brad, who shrugged.

"I watched a lot of John Hughes movies when I was a kid, Tarantino later. Makes for really weird inspiration," Brad improvised. Smooth, Brad. I nodded at him, and he just winked.

"I'll say," Kendall responded. "Yeah, I wouldn't worry about Carly here, we'll take good care of her on the road."

"That's what I'm worried about," Brad shot back. "Okay, so you got your congratulations and good luck out of the way, so maybe..." he waved towards the door, and I smacked him on the leg.

"Brad!" I exclaimed.

Kendall looked uncomfortable – and annoyed. "Okay, well, I should be going before my bandmates start looking for me...it's really not a good idea to leave James and Logan alone for too long..."

The more names Kendall dropped, the more irritated Brad looked, and I could already see this unfolding into a tabloid nightmare. I stood up, coming between the two of them.

"Okay, well, I'll see you later, Kendall. Um, just have your people call my people, and..." I trailed off. "Oh my god, did I really just say have your people call my people?"

Kendall burst out laughing. "It was weird for me the first time too. I think we start rehearsals in a month or so, somebody will be in touch. Hey, congrats on you guys getting married too!"

"Thanks," I said with a smile, sighed when I felt Brad put an arm around me.

"Yep, married. OFF the market."

Kendall held his hands up, as if to say 'chill, bro', and with a final nod and smile to me, off he went. I sighed, shaking my head. I couldn't believe I had to pull my fiance out of a confrontation...with a celebrity...over ME. Was this my life now? And was it just me or was Kendall Knight WAY hotter in person?

Before I could ponder the matter further, Brad cleared his throat, and I turned to look at him.

"That was a little much," I stated, sitting back down in my makeup chair so Callum could finish my makeup. I glanced over at him. "Callum, stop fangirling."

"Oh my lord, I cannot help it! That boy is...mmm."

Brad glared at Callum, shaking his head. "Carly, when were you planning on telling me that you accepted the tour? I mean, you wanna leave me totally blindsided for press? That's not going to look very good for either of us."

"Well, no...but you picking fights with Kendall is going to land us in tabloids pretty damn quick too!"

"I don't like the way the guy was looking at you, alright?" Brad shot back.

I rolled my eyes. "You really want to get in a fight the night before our wedding, AND right before I have to go onstage?"

Brad let out a deep breath, looking down at the ground for a second, and then back up at me.

"No, babe, I don't. Sorry, I don't wanna put your performance at risk." He kissed me on the cheek. "I know you'll do great tonight."

A stagehand rapped on the open door. "Ms. Shay, you need to come to stage. You're on in five."

"Oh god..." I said, starting to feel panicky. "Brad, I don't think I can do this. I mean, this is live, in front of celebrities and the media and it's televised! I've never done anything this big before!"

"Babydoll, you'll be fine," Brad responded. "You've been rehearsing for weeks, you've got in the bag. Everyone will love you."

"Walk with me?" I asked as I hastily pulled the rest of my outfit on.

Brad nodded, taking my hand. "Down to the stage, down the aisle, wherever you want, babe." He leaned down to kiss me, and I smiled against his lips.

"AAH, LIPGLOSS!"

~*Brad*~

"This is a disaster..." I grunted as I looked at myself in the mirror.

Freddie eyed my tuxedo critically, cocking his head like one of those confused golden retrievers. "How did they get the shoulders so off? I thought you got it fitted?"

"I had to run by the set, I kinda blew it off," I responded, smacking Freddie's hand away as he poked at the puffy shoulder.

"Well, looks like you've got a problem now. Shirking off your responsibilities, and it turns into THAT."

"Thanks, DAD," I said rudely, looking back at my reflection. "I really wish he was here today."

"And your mom?"

I shrugged. "Like you guys said, she gave up. And in the most deprecating, spiteful way possible. I really think she took her own life as...for lack of a better pun, the final nail in the coffin. Get back at my dad, punish us for not accepting her back into our lives with open arms."

Freddie nodded. "So you've finally dealt with it."

"LA has a way of doing that to you. You really start to question everything about yourself," I stated. "Dude, what am I going to do with this shit?"

"I bet Melanie could take the sleeves right off and sew them back on the right way before anyone else knows what's going on," Freddie said offhandedly, and I whirled around to look at him.

"Dude, don't just stand there, go find her!" I exclaimed. "Am-scray!"

"On it," Freddie replied, heading for the door.

The door slammed shut behind him, leaving me alone and staring at myself in the mirror. I was in one of the men's rooms at Our Lady of Perpetual Grace Catholic Church, less than thirty minutes away from marrying Carly.

Carly and I had been through a whole host of bullshit, much of it brought on by me, and she was a saint for staying through all of it, and wanting to be with me regardless. I wasn't very happy with how I'd behaved in the past as far as she was concerned. Hell, I wasn't happy with my behavior this week. I'd been way out of line with what I'd said to Sam, and now things were really awkward between us. Sam had let me know, in no uncertain terms, to back off. She'd been removed, sticking closer to Freddie and making a point to be generous with their public displays of affection whenever I was nearby, as if to say "I'm with him, not you, take a clue."

I had. I was with Carly, not Sam, and besides, I loved Carly. She'd stuck with me through everything, and I owed her big time. Watching her onstage last night had been a sobering moment for me. Carly was on the verge of really making it big, and the girl was talented enough, gorgeous enough, and perfect enough to leave my ass in the dust. Judging by the way male celebrities and people in the business reacted to her, she'd have no short supply of suitors to replace me with either. If I wanted to keep her in my life, I needed to shape up.

I heard a light tapping at the door, and it creaked open as Sam poked her head in. "Is Freddie here?"

"He went to go find Mel," I responded. "I kinda need her help."

"With what?" Sam asked as she walked fully into the room.

I didn't respond, just pointed to my puffy shoulders, causing Sam to giggle.

"Alas, poor Yorick. I knew him well..." she recited in a slightly off British accent.

"Very funny," I grunted. "So you done giving me the cold shoulder, or..."

"Dude, you were out of line, and you know it," she replied, hopping up on the sink. "I told you, no more...funny business. All we need is for Freddie to kick your ass and divorce mine."

"Yeah, and for Carly to hook up with some boybander," I grumbled.

"Ah, somebody sounds jealous..." Sam noted, and I rolled my eyes.

"You tell me you wouldn't have a major problem with your husband spending three months on the road with four chicks."

"Dude, come on, she'll have her own bus. They'll barely even see each other."

"We're never going to find time to have a honeymoon," I grumbled. "By the time she gets done doing promo for her album I've gotta start doing promo for my film."

"You'll figure it out," Sam responded, swinging her legs back and forth. "Look, just...I know work's a bitch and everything, but as long as you make Carly first priority in your life, you guys'll be just fine." She bit her lip. "When you lose sight of that, that's why you start having problems."

"Sounds like you speak from experience."

"I do," she replied. "I know that a lot of problems Freddie and I are having are because of me. I lost sight of what we had, last year. Took it for granted. And he resents me. That's why he's never home. He can blame it on bills all he wants, but...he wants to be at that office all day."

I gave her a sympathetic look. "Sam, you can't blame yourself completely..."

"No? I put everyone in front of him. Because I thought he'd always be there...and he's stuck with me through a lot of it, but it's not like it used to be. I hope one day things will be like they were again, but until they are, I'll just spend a lot of time making up for it."

I nodded. I got what she was saying. "Just promise me something."

"Depends."

"In your fervor to put your husband first and restore your marriage, DON'T put off law school, okay? You're one of the smartest people I've ever met, Sam, and if anybody could make an amazing lawyer, it'd be you."

She nodded. "Thanks." She hopped down from the bathroom sink. "Well, I better get out of here, before Freddie walks in and makes all kinds of assumptions. I just wanted to wish you luck." She bit her lip. "I'll be here, Brad. Just...not in the way that either of us want. You know where my heart lies."

"And mine."

She nodded, standing up on tiptoes and kissing me on the cheek. "And that's why we can't hurt them again."

"I know that, Blondie."

"Just checking." She squeezed my shoulder. "Now go get married."

Freddie showed up with Melanie not much later, and just like Freddie had said, she took care of it right away, pulling the tuxedo jacket right off my body and pulling a little miniature sewing kit out of her bag. She ripped the sleeves off with little fanfare, stitching them back on so they were flat and smoothed out in a manner of minutes. I watched in amazement.

"Melanie, you're like a wizard or something," I observed, shaking my head.

"I try," she replied. "Here, try it on." I slid it on, doing a little spin, and both Freddie and Melanie nodded, impressed.

"Perfect," Melanie said. "I think you're ready to get married."

"You want a job, Mel?"

"Don't toy with me, Harrison," she threatened, and I gave her a Look.

"I'm not. You want a job as costume designer on my next film? I've almost wrapped up funding."

Melanie gaped at me. "You're serious?"

"As a heart attack," I replied. "Of course, this does mean you're going to have to move to Los Angeles full-time..."

"Oh my god!" Mel squealed, throwing her arms around me. "Done and done! Oh god, I HAVE to go tell Gibby!" She ran out of the bathroom, squealing happily to herself, leaving Freddie and I alone.

"Boy scout good deed of the day?" Freddie asked.

"Nah, Mel's pretty talented," I responded. "Gibs is gonna owe me majorly."

"Like calling off the prank war?"

"Maybe not that major," I replied. "Geez, I am so nervous. What if she pulls a runaway bride on me?"

"You'll get your cardio work out in today after all," Freddie summed up, and I glared at him. He just laughed. "Come on, man. It's Carly. She wouldn't do that. She loves you." He walked around behind me, putting both hands on my shoulders and steering me towards the door. "Come on, let's go get you hitched..."

~*Freddie*~

I stood next to Brad at the altar, pretty convinced he was going to throw up, pass out, or both. I'd seen the guy nervous a few times before, but nothing like this. Couldn't blame him. I was pretty nervous the day I got married too.

Things had changed so much since that day, nearly four years ago. A child, another on the way, a career change, a move. Sam and I had been tested in so many different ways, and we'd seemed to make it through all of them. Still, I couldn't help but wonder what lay ahead. Still, I loved the girl, that part was unquestionable. I'd never stopped, and I doubted I ever would.

Everyone ooh'ed and aah'ed at Leah as she came wandering down the aisle in her fluffy white flowergirl dress, scattering flower petals here and there. She was certainly adorable. I really, really hoped this time around, Sam and I would have a little girl. I wouldn't mind having a daughter.

Heather was next down the aisle, Carly's bridesmaid, and right behind her came Sam, looking all too gorgeous in a mint green dress. She gave me a smile and I smiled right back. Funny how after all these years, she could still make my stomach do acrobatics.

'I love you,' Sam mouthed to me as she took her place at the altar.

'Love you too,' I mouthed back.

Our concentration was broken when Carly came walking down the aisle. I'll have to be honest, I was a little blown away. She looked absolutely gorgeous in her dress. But she wasn't looking at me. She wasn't looking at anyone but Brad, and he wasn't looking at anyone else either. To them, no one else even existed.

And that's the way it should have been. No childhood friends gumming up the works. No popstars or actress-slash-models inciting jealous rages. Just the two of them.

Carly took her place across from Brad, and he leaned forward to lift the veil from her face, pulling it behind her. Carly turned and handed her bouquet to Sam, who then looked at me and waved it ever so slightly, the look on her face reading 'Look what I got!' I just smirked and shook my head.

"Dearly Beloved," the priest began. "We are gathered together here in the sign of God – and in the face of this company – to join together this man and this woman in holy matrimony, which is commended to be honorable among all men; and therefore – is not by any – to be entered into unadvisedly or lightly – but reverently, discreetly, advisedly and solemnly. Into this holy estate these two persons present now come to be joined. If any person can show just cause why they may not be joined together – let them speak now or forever hold their peace."

Sam looked at the audience, a threatening glare upon her beautiful face, as if to say 'Go ahead, I dare all of you,' but everyone was silent. Satisfied, the priest continued.

"Marriage is the union of husband and wife in heart, body and mind. It is intended for their mutual joy – and for the help and comfort given on another in prosperity and adversity. But more importantly – it is a means through which a stable and loving environment may be attained."

Stable? That part was questionable. I wasn't even sure if any of knew HOW to do stable, but loving? I was pretty sure of it. Brad may have had too many near-indiscretions with my wife for me to be comfortable, but all that aside, I knew he loved Carly. And as much as Carly complained about him and had tremendous jealousy issues, she loved him.

"Through marriage, Bradley and Carly make a commitment together to face their disappointments – embrace their dreams – realize their hopes – and accept each other's failures. Bradley and Carly will promise one another to aspire to these ideals throughout their lives together – through mutual understanding – openness – and sensitivity to each other.

We are here today – before God – because marriage is one of His most sacred wishes – to witness the joining in marriage of Bradley and Carly. This occasion marks the celebration of love and commitment with which this man and this woman begin their life together. And now – through me – He joins you together in one of the holiest bonds.

Who gives this woman in marriage to this man?"

"I do," Spencer said, standing up. The priest nodded to him, and after a quick smile at Carly, which was easily returned, he sat back down.

"This is a beginning and a continuation of their growth as individuals. With mutual care, respect, responsibility and knowledge comes the affirmation of each one's own life happiness, growth and freedom. With respect for individual boundaries comes the freedom to love unconditionally. Within the emotional safety of a loving relationship – the knowledge self-offered one another becomes the fertile soil for continued growth. With care and responsibility towards self and one another comes the potential for full and happy lives.

This relationship stands for love, loyalty, honesty and trust, but most of all for friendship. Before they knew love, they were friends, and it was from this seed of friendship that is their destiny. Do not think that you can direct the course of love – for love, if it finds you worthy, shall direct you."

I glanced at Sam, and I realize that she'd been staring at me the entire time. She looked like she was about to cry. I wasn't sure what was going through her head, and I'd have to wait until after the wedding to find out.

"Marriage is an act of faith and a personal commitment as well as a moral and physical union between two people. Marriage has been described as the best and most important relationship that can exist between them. It is the construction of their love and trust into a single growing energy of spiritual life. It is amoral commitment that requires and deserves daily attention. Marriage should be a life long consecration of the ideal of loving kindness – backed with the will to make it last."

The priest turned to Brad, and Brad took a visible deep breath.

"Do you Bradley Harrison take Carly Shay to be your wife – to live together after God's ordinance – in the holy estate of matrimony? Will you love her, comfort her, honor and keep her, in sickness and in health, for richer, for poorer, for better, for worse, in sadness and in joy, to cherish and continually bestow upon her your heart's deepest devotion, forsaking all others, keep yourself only unto her as long as you both shall live?"

"I do," Brad replied, staring at Carly. 'I love you so much,' he mouthed to her.

"Do you Carly Shay take Bradley Harrison to be your husband – to live together after God's ordinance – in the holy estate of matrimony? Will you love him, comfort him, honor and keep him, in sickness and in health, for richer, for poorer, for better, for worse, in sadness and in joy, to cherish and continually bestow upon him your heart's deepest devotion, forsaking all others, keep yourself only unto him as long as you both shall live?"

"I do," Carly responded.

"What token of your love do you offer?" the priest asked. Carly and Brad both turned and looked Bryson expectantly, all of us groaning as we realized Bryson was holding the rings with one hand and texting with the other.

"Bryson!" Brad hissed, glaring at him.

"One sec," Bryson replied. Brad rolled his eyes, snatching the rings out of his hand as well as his cell phone. He tossed the phone right out over Carly's head, Heather reaching up and catching it effortlessly and tucking it into her bouquet.

"Epic trouble at home," Brad growled under his breath, then turned and presented the rings to the priest.

"May these rings be blessed as the symbol of this affectionate unity. These two lives are now joined in one unbroken circle. Wherever they go – may they always return to one another. May these two find in each other the love for which all men and women yearn. May they grow in understanding and in compassion." He handed Brad Carly's ring, and Brad took Carly's hand in his.

"I, Brad Harrison, take thee Carly Harrison to my wedded wife, to have and to hold from this day forward, for better for worse, for richer for poorer, in sickness and in health, to love and to cherish, till death us depart, according to God's holy ordinance."

Sliding the ring onto Carly's finger, he smiled at her, and she looked like she wanted to laugh and cry all at the same time. Kinda like Sam did on our wedding night. I glanced back over at my wife, who just smiled back at me.

Now it was Carly's turn. She took the ring from the priest, and turned to Brad.

"I, Carly Shay, take thee Brad Harrison, to be my wedded husband, to have and to hold from this day forward, for better for worse, for richer or poorer, in sickness and in health, to love and to cherish, till death us depart, according to God's holy ordinance."

"Bless these Rings, O merciful Lord, that those who wear them, that give and receive them, may be ever faithful to one another, remain in your peace, and live and grow old together in your love, under their own vine and fig tree, and seeing their children's children. Amen." He looked at Brad. "You may kiss your bride."

"About time," Brad responded, looping an arm around Carly's waist and pulling her to him, pressing his mouth against hers urgently. Her arms went around his neck as everyone clapped and hollered.

"Ladies and gentlemen, I present to you Mr. and Mrs. Bradley Harrison."

'Oh my god!' Sam mouthed to me.

They'd actually finally done it, and they didn't seem like they could be any happier. They bounded out of the chapel, barely acknowledging anyone except each other.

I offered my arm to Sam. 'M'lady," I said.

She just laughed. "I am starving. I'm going to my weight in wedding cake, do you know that?" she asked as we walked down the aisle.

I nodded. "Sam, I'm sorry."

"For what?" she asked as we exited the chapel.

"I shouldn't be working so many hours, I..." she covered my mouth with her hand.

"Stop," she replied. "It's okay. It's not like I didn't bring some of it on myself. Freddie, I know I've apologized over and over about the whole Brad thing, but...it was so out of line, and I..."

"Hey bitches, let's move! We got a wedding to celebrate!" Carly yelled as she stood on the sidewalk, letting out a squeal of laughter as Brad threw her over his shoulder and carried her to the limo.

Sam and I shook our heads, and then looked back at each other.

"Sweetheart, I love you, no matter what," I told her. "It's a thing of the past. Besides, I don't think I have anything to worry about anymore, do you?"

Sam glanced over at Brad and Carly, who were leaned up against the limo kissing while Leah was shouting about how gross it was, and then looked back up at me.

"No," she responded, kissing me. "You definitely don't. And it's not because he's married."

"It's not?" I asked.

"No," she replied, interlacing our fingers. "Because we're married. And I love you. More than anything."

I smiled, kissing her. "I love you too."

"Yo, Benson! Blondie! This limo ain't gonna sit here forever!"

Sam and I separated, glaring at Brad.

"Pipe down, Harrison!" I yelled as I led Sam to the limo. "Keep your overpriced pants on!"

Sometimes things weren't perfect with the four of us. Sometimes things were just plain weird. And sometimes everything fell apart. But it always got put back together again. And even though we were in different parts of the country, headed on different paths, the four of us always got put back together again too.

And that was pretty cool.

**A/N: So that's it, the END of The Ballad of Sam and Freddie: Second Verse! I can't believe I've written TWO of these massive drama-fests, but hey, it was fun! Taking a little break to wrap up Gravity, and then I'm going to start writing the third ballad. Just keep checking back on my author profile or my twitter for updates! **


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